For over thirty years, American children grew up watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on PBS. Mr. Rogers offered a calm and stable presence, tackling life’s weightiest issues in a simple, direct way. Won’t You Be My Neighbor reflects on Fred Rogers’ legacy of kindness, and the profound and lasting effect his innovative approach to television had on millions of children.

Rodents of Unusual Size is a real-life horror “tail” about the various and eccentric methods Louisiana residents have employed to tackle a growing menace that lurks in the bayous and backwaters: hordes of monstrous 20-pound swamp rats known as nutria.

Welcome to Lancaster is a short documentary looking at differing views on refugees in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a place famous for its own persecuted religious communities. While a former member of the Amish church has started a conservative PAC and is against allowing refugees to settle in the United States, a couple who are reformed Mennonites take Somali war refugees into their home.

Following the rise and fall of the oil boom in North Dakota, My Country No More paints a portrait of a rural American community in crisis split by a high-stakes divide.

In 2014, 79-year-old white Methodist minister drove to an empty parking lot in his old hometown of Grand Saline, Texas, and set himself on fire. He left a note on his car’s windshield calling the act his final protest against the virulent racism of the community and his country at large. Man on Fire uncovers the truth about the town’s past and what drove Moore to his shocking final act.

Showing Shari’a law in a way we’ve never seen before–through the story of the first-ever female judge in Palestine’s religious courts–The Judge is a portrait of a remarkable woman that also provides rare insight into both Islamic law and gendered justice.

“Everything above our heads and below our feet, we’re all connected to.” This season, from fall to spring, Independent Lens presents a new group of award-winning films that will thrust viewers into the heart of conversations in the diverse national neighborhood that is America.

“Delete…Ignore…Delete… Ignore…” Someone is out there censoring your social media feed.
Do their decisions distort your understanding of the world as much as clever hoaxes and “fake news”? The Cleaners charts social media’s evolution from a shared vision of a global village to a dangerous web of fake news, extremism, and radicalization.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Wildland, a group of newly trained wildland firefighters working long, tiring hours in the backcountry are starved for more adventure. But they should be careful what they wish for. Suddenly, they get the call.

Dawnland is the untold story of Indigenous child removal through the government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission investigating the devastating impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on the Wabanaki people. Dawnland offers a painful reminder that the traumatic legacy of forced child removal goes far back, but also shows getting to the heart of the truth can offer a flicker of hope.

Filmed during two recent wildfire seasons, Wildland is a sweeping yet deeply personal account of a wildland firefighting crew as they struggle with fear, loyalty, dreams, and demons. This is the story of ordinary people with nothing left to lose — as they trudge through an unforgiving face a test of mind, body, and spirit.

RUMBLE is the electric story of how Native American influence shaped blues, jazz, folk, and rock ‘n’ roll, a missing chapter in music history, including Link Wray — the electric guitar pioneer whose titular instrumental hit was banned from the radio.

Renowned jazz musician–and chef–Kermit Ruffins and other famous local chefs try to convince New Orleans residents to appreciate their artful ways of cooking nutria, an unappealing “swamp rat” that is also an invasive species eating away at Louisiana wetlands. If anyone can find a way to make it tasty–and help the local ecosystem at the same time–it’s these clever chefs.

Charley Patton was the “grandfather of Delta blues,” a true legend–and part-Native American. He was a profound influence on blues musicians over the years as well as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jack White, Bonnie Raitt, and many others. You can hear the Native music influence in his sound. Learn more about him in this clip from RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World.

Told directly through the eyes of the children themselves, Tre Maison Dasan is an up-close and unfiltered look at the lives of three Rhode Island boys, each navigating childhood and adolescence with a parent in prison. Society writes these parents off as criminals, but in their hearts their children still see them as mom and dad.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film People’s Republic of Desire, despite often destitute circumstances, fans of the most famous livestreaming performers in China–like Big Li and Shen Man–spend loads of their own money to see them become number one. Dabao, a talent manager and wife of Big Li, tearfully wonders what he’s done to deserve such fervent followers.

In an age where the power of technology helps us connect, are we as isolated as ever?
People’s Republic of Desire exposes the baffling reality of how virtual relationships are replacing real-life human connections through China’s video-based social network YY––a hugely popular gathering place for over 300 million people in China.

In this excerpt from the Oscar-nominated Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Nate and his friends imagine a movie called “A World without Guns” in which police can only throw spears at suspects. Just some of the day-to-day moments in Hale County, Alabama.

Does your zip code determine your life? Those in rural America sometimes lack access to the most basic health care. The Providers gives a very human face to the physician shortage and opioid epidemic in rural areas, following three healthcare professionals in northern New Mexico who offer care to anyone walking through their doors, regardless of ability to pay.

In this excerpt from The King, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki goes to Tupelo, Mississippi in search of the childhood home of Elvis Presley’s and ends up exploring the dilapidated state of the American Dream. After Jarecki finds the home young Elvis briefly lived in while his dad was in prison, neighbors talk about the town’s class divide, and whether they think the American Dream is even achievable.

RaMell Ross’s Hale County This Morning, This Evening, one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films, is a dreamy and intimate journey through the world of Hale County, Alabama, a richly detailed glimpse into life in America’s Black Belt.

What does it mean when Americans rebuke racism yet hold on to nostalgic objects that embrace it? Black Memorabilia explores the world of racist material, both antique and new, that pushes demeaning representations of African Americans. From industrial China to the rural South to Brooklyn, the film shines a light on those who reproduce, consume–and reclaim–racially-charged items.

Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki takes the King’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across America. From Memphis to New York, Las Vegas, and beyond, the journey traces the rise and fall of Elvis as a metaphor for the country he left behind.

“I grew up understanding my Mexican roots more than my Native roots,” says Black Eyed Peas’ rapper/singer/songwriter Taboo in this clip from the Independent Lens film RUMBLE. He learned about the other side of his heritage from his Shoshone grandmother, which helped him appreciate how his style was influenced by the whole mix.