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The Best Episodes of Independent Lens Season 14

Every episode of Independent Lens Season 14 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Independent Lens Season 14!

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This acclaimed Emmy Award-winning anthology series features documentaries and a limited number of fiction films united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement and unflinching visions of their independent producers and featuring unforgettable stories about a

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 1 - As Goes Janesville
    6.7/10(8 votes)

    #1 - As Goes Janesville

    S14:E1

    Filmed in 10 countries, the series follows Nicholas Kristof and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde on a journey to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous individuals. Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 2 - Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Part 2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Part 2)

    S14:E2

    Filmed in 10 countries, the series follows Nicholas Kristof and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde on a journey to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous individuals. Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 4 - Love Free or Die
    8.1/10(41 votes)

    #3 - Love Free or Die

    S14:E4

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 5 - Solar Mamas
    7.2/10(28 votes)

    #4 - Solar Mamas

    S14:E5

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 6 - Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream
    8.3/10(11 votes)

    #5 - Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream

    S14:E6

    No description available

    Director:Alex Gibney
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 7 - Soul Food Junkies
    7.0/10(10 votes)

    #6 - Soul Food Junkies

    S14:E7

    Food traditions are hard to change, especially when they're passed on from generation to generation. Baffled by his dad's unwillingness to change his traditional soul food diet in the face of a health crisis, filmmaker Byron Hurt sets out to learn more about this rich culinary tradition and its relevance to black cultural identity.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 8 - Beauty Is Embarrassing
    7.8/10(24 votes)

    #7 - Beauty Is Embarrassing

    S14:E8

    Raised in the Tennessee mountains, Wayne White started his career as a cartoonist in NYC. He quickly found success as one of the creators of the Pee-wee's Playhouse TV show which soon led to more work design some of the most arresting and iconic images in pop culture. Recently his word paintings featuring pithy and and often sarcastic text statements finely crafted onto vintage landscape paintings have made him a darling of the fine art world. The movie chronicles the vaulted highs and crushing lows of an artist struggling to find peace and balance between his professional work and his personal art. This is especially complicated for a man who struggles with the virtues he most often mocks in his art...Vanity, ego and fame.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 9 - The Revisionaries
    6.0/10(13 votes)

    #8 - The Revisionaries

    S14:E9

    The Texas State Board of Education rewrites teaching and textbook standards once every decade.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 10 - The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights

    S14:E10

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 11 - Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
    7.0/10(9 votes)

    #10 - Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

    S14:E11

    Profiling Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei, who helped design Beijing's iconic Bird's Nest Olympic stadium and later criticized the Games as party propaganda. His opposition to his country's autocratic rule, which he voices in his art and on social media, has caused him many difficulties, as filmmaker Alison Klayman witnesses during the making of this documentary: Government authorities shut down Ai's blog, beat him up, demolish his studio and hold him in secret detention for 81 days.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 12 - The House I Live In; As I Am
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - The House I Live In; As I Am

    S14:E12

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 13 - Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
    5.2/10(14 votes)

    #12 - Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines

    S14:E13

    Wonder Women! explores the nation’s long-term love affair with comic book superheroes and raises questions about the possibilities and contradictions of heroines within the genre. The film goes behind the scenes with Lynda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna, comic writers and artists, and others who offer an enlightening and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 14 - The Island President
    7.4/10(12 votes)

    #13 - The Island President

    S14:E14

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 15 - The Undocumented
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - The Undocumented

    S14:E15

    Thousands of migrants have perished in recent years while trying to cross the unforgiving Sonora desert in search of a better life in the United States. The film gives a face to some of the dead, and follows them on their long journey home.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 16 - Seeking Asian Female
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Seeking Asian Female

    S14:E16

    Two strangers — an aging white man and a young Chinese woman — pursue a marriage brokered by the Internet. They get more than they bargained for when she moves to America to be his bride in this quirky, appealing documentary.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 17 - The Invisible War
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - The Invisible War

    S14:E17

    The most shameful and best-kept secret in the U.S. Military? The epidemic of rape and sexual assault within the ranks. An American female soldier in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 18 - Detropia
    7.0/10(1255 votes)

    #17 - Detropia

    S14:E18

    Can the Motor City rise from its ashes? A dynamic cluster of local innovators, entrepreneurs, and proud, self-proclaimed "hustlers” are poised to resurrect Detroit. The result could be a radically new city for the postindustrial age.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 19 - The Revolutionary Optimists
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - The Revolutionary Optimists

    S14:E19

    Amlan Ganguly, a lawyer-turned social entrepreneur, has sown hope in the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta by empowering children to become leaders in improving health, health, transforming their communities for the better.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 20 - Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman's Journey
    7.8/10(8 votes)

    #19 - Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman's Journey

    S14:E20

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Independent Lens Season 14 Episode 21 - The Waiting Room
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - The Waiting Room

    S14:E21

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 14 Ratings Summary

"As Goes Janesville" is the best rated episode of "Independent Lens" season 14. It scored 6.7/10 based on 8 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 10/8/2012. This episode is rated 6.7 points higher than the second-best, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Part 2)".