Independent Lens - Season 27
Season 27
Episodes
Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution
A groundbreaking look at Phil Sharp's rise from being a rural Kentucky farm boy who battled dyslexia to Nobel Prize-winning scientist. Narrated by Mark Ruffalo with insights from Walter Isaacson, "Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution" reveals how Sharp's RNA discovery transformed biology and launched the biotechnology revolution leading to life-saving treatments for millions.
Ratified
"Ratified" brings the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to life through Virginia's pivotal ratification battle. Led by Black women and with the support of a multi-racial, multi-generational coalition, this documentary traces the legal, political, and deeply personal fight to enshrine gender equality in the U.S. Constitution nearly a century after the ERA was first proposed.
Life After
Filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates assisted dying and uncovers how ableism, policy, and systemic failures can make death seem like the only option. With gripping stories and a personal mission, "Life After" explores who gets real choice, and who doesn't, in life and death.
Vivien's Wild Ride
The Librarians
Librarians across the U.S. examine how restrictions on library content are shaping communities.
The Inquisitor
Keep Quiet and Forgive
The Tallest Dwarf
Backside: The Unseen Hands of Horse Racing
Natchez
Light of the Setting Sun
Third Act
True North: Canadian Myths and Black Power
Through rare archival footage and firsthand accounts, True North revisits 1968 Montreal, where Black liberation movements converged at the Congress of Black Writers. As student protests ignited the Sir George Williams Affair, Black youth faced violent repression, unfolding a powerful chapter of the global Black Power era.
Flood
Returning home to California's Inland Empire, filmmaker Katy Scoggin seeks to reconnect with her estranged father, who works as an elementary science teacher. He is the only evangelical left in the family, and as they face their differences on faith, family, and belonging, their journey becomes a portrait of empathy and resilience. Together, they find new ways to listen and bridge divides.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the decade before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
Reacher
Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. When Reacher arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he finds a community grappling with its first homicide in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest him and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. While he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge, one that will require Reacher's keen mind and hard-hitting fists to deal with. One thing above all is for sure: They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.
Dark Matter
Hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, Dark Matter is a story about the road not taken. The series follows Jason Dessen, a physicist, professor, and family man who – one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago – is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the multiverse of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of mind-bending realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself.
Cape Fear
A storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna and Tom Bowden when Max Cady, the notorious killer they are responsible for putting behind bars, is let out of prison - and he wants vengeance.