Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease transforms the lives of three families who confront the challenges of becoming primary caregivers. Read More
Interviews
May 20, 2024
“To Film with Your Ears”: Reinventing Cinematic Language with The Tuba Thieves
Independent Lens in Behind the Films
By Rachel Kolb Alison O’Daniel is a visual artist and filmmaker who works with sound, moving images, sculpture, and large-scale installations. She is the director of The Tuba Thieves, an…...
Beyond the Films
April 08, 2024
A Cartoonist Talks About How to Be an Artist with Parkinson’s
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
Cartoonist Peter Dunlap-Shohl was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) at the age of 43. In the documentary Matter of Mind: My Parkinson's, he remarks, "To lose the ability to draw…...
The Tuba Thieves
What is the role of sound and what does it mean to listen? Hard of hearing filmmaker Alison O’Daniel uses a series of tuba thefts in Los Angeles high schools as a jumping-off point to explore these questions. Through several d/Deaf people telling stories in a unique game of telephone,… Read More
Breaking the News
Who decides which stories get told? A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo, banding together to launch The 19th*, a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation. A story of an America in flux, and the voices often left out of the narrative,… Read More
Beyond the Films
November 15, 2022
More Than Just a Hashtag: Disability and TikTok
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Chloe Johnson If you enter the world’s most popular app, TikTok, ADHD might genuinely be the first thing that nondisabled people think of when they imagine what "disability TikTok"…...
Interviews
November 07, 2022
“I Want to Move, I Want to Embrace Change”: Kelsey Peterson’s Journey to Dance Again
Independent Lens in Behind the Films
By Xian Horn Kelsey Peterson and I have had very different experiences of disability—I was born with cerebral palsy, and she became disabled as an adult. But watching her film…...
Beyond the Films
November 01, 2022
“Everybody’s Voice Is Unique”: Disability in the Performing Arts
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Allison Kirkland Kelsey Peterson's journey in Move Me will resonate with anyone who has undergone change and found something different but just as beautiful on the other side of…...
Matter of Mind: My ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neuromuscular… Read More
Move Me
The Great World of Gregory Blackstock
When Gregory Blackstock was born in Seattle, Washington in 1946, “autistic” was not a term that doctors used. Yet it was clear from a very early age that Gregory processed the world around him differently and communication was challenging. After working with specialists and even spending time in an institution,… Read More
A Day in the Life of America
Director Jared Leto crafts a sweeping yet intimate cross-section of America shot on a single July 4th in 2017 with 92 film crews fanning out across each of the United States and Puerto Rico to capture A Day in the Life of America. A… Read More
