7.5/109 votes#1 - Stray Dog
Season 17 Episode 1 - Aired 11/9/2015
The portrait of a motorcycle-riding Vietnam veteran. There’s much more to Ron “Stray Dog” Hall than meets the eye. Behind the tattoos and leather vest is a man dedicated to helping his fellow vets and immigrant family as he also comes to terms with his combat experience.
Director: Debra Granik
Writer: N/A
8.9/1019 votes#2 - India's Daughter
Season 17 Episode 2 - Aired 11/16/2015
The story of the brutal gang rape and murder in Delhi of 23-year-old medical student Jyoti Singh, which sparked outrage and protests in India, a country beset by extreme poverty and gender inequality.
Director: Leslee Udwin
Writer: N/A
7.8/1017 votes#3 - Mimi and Dona
Season 17 Episode 3 - Aired 11/23/2015
What happens when love runs out of time? For 92-year-old Mimi, who has spent much of her life caring for 64-year-old Dona, her daughter with an intellectual disability, it means facing the inevitable — the likelihood that she will not outlive her daughter and the need to find her a new home.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/1012 votes#4 - East of Salinas
Season 17 Episode 4 - Aired 12/28/2015
Born in Mexico but living in Salinas, California, 3rd-grader Jose loves school. With little support at home, he turns to his teacher, Oscar Ramos, who like Jose was born the son of migrant farm workers, and who inspires him to imagine a life beyond the fields.
Director: Jackie Mow
Writer: N/A
7.0/1026 votes#5 - Chuck Norris vs. Communism
Season 17 Episode 5 - Aired 1/4/2016
1980s Romania: thousands of American movies were smuggled through the Iron Curtain, opening a window into the free world. A black market racketeer and a courageous female translator brought the magic of film to the people, and helped spark a revolution.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/109 votes#6 - Autism in Love
Season 17 Episode 6 - Aired 1/11/2016
Finding love can be hard enough for anyone, but for those on the autism spectrum, the challenges may seem overwhelming. The disorder can jeopardize the core characteristics of a successful relationship — communication and social interaction. Autism in Love offers a warm and stereotype-shattering look at four people with autism as they pursue and manage romantic relationships.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/1010 votes#7 - No Más Bebés (No More Babies)
Season 17 Episode 7 - Aired 1/25/2016
The story of a little-known but landmark event in reproductive justice, when a small group of Mexican immigrant women sued county doctors, the state, and the U.S. government after they were sterilized while giving birth at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#8 - In Football We Trust
Season 17 Episode 8 - Aired 2/1/2016
Transporting viewers deep inside the tightly-knit and complex Polynesian community in Salt Lake City, one of the chief sources of the modern influx of Pacific Islander football players to the NFL. Shot over a four-year period with intimate access, this is the story of four young men striving to overcome gang violence and near poverty through the promise of American football.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/106 votes#9 - A Ballerina's Tale
Season 17 Episode 9 - Aired 2/8/2016
Misty Copeland is on a mission to make history by becoming the first African American principal dancer of a major ballet company.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1019 votes#10 - The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Season 17 Episode 10 - Aired 2/16/2016
Weaving together a treasure trove of rare footage with the voices of a diverse group of people who were there, Stanley Nelson tells the vibrant story of a pivotal movement as urgent today as it was then.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.5/1012 votes#11 - (T)ERROR
Season 17 Episode 11 - Aired 2/22/2016
With twists and turns fit for an espionage thriller, (T)error goes deep inside an active terror sting without FBI consent.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.9/108 votes#12 - Wilhemina’s War
Season 17 Episode 12 - Aired 2/29/2016
A Southern grandmother struggles to help her granddaughter survive the health risks and social stigma of living with HIV in South Carolina.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/1025 votes#13 - An Honest Liar
Season 17 Episode 13 - Aired 3/28/2016
Fed up with faith healers, fortune-tellers, and psychics using his beloved magician’s tricks to swindle money out of credulous people, James “The Amazing” Randi dedicated his life to exposing frauds with the wit and style he brought to his stage show. An Honest Liar is part detective story, part biography, and a bit of a magic act itself.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.8/1014 votes#14 - Welcome to Leith
Season 17 Episode 14 - Aired 4/4/2016
When a notorious white supremacist and his followers hatch a scheme to gain electoral control of Leith, North Dakota, the residents of the tiny town desperately seek to expel their frightening new neighbors.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#15 - Democrats
Season 17 Episode 15 - Aired 4/25/2016
Rival political operatives attempt to make history as they navigate Zimbabwe's volatile political landscape to draft a new constitution.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#16 - My Nazi Legacy
Season 17 Episode 16 - Aired 5/2/2016
My Nazi Legacy explores the relationship between two men, each of whom are the children of Nazi war criminals who were responsible for thousands of deaths. Through frank interviews with internationally renowned British human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, whose family perished in the Holocaust, the men reflect on the crimes of their fathers and the price of forgiveness.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/1012 votes#17 - Peace Officer
Season 17 Episode 17 - Aired 5/9/2016
Meet Dub Lawrence, a crusading former sheriff whose investigations highlight increasingly militarized state of American police. Dub established Utah’s first SWAT team, only to see that same unit kill his son-in-law in a controversial standoff.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#18 - The Armor of Light
Season 17 Episode 18 - Aired 5/10/2016
The Armor of Light follows the journey of Evangelical minister Rob Schenck, who is trying to find the courage to preach about the growing toll of gun violence in America, and Lucy McBath, the mother of an unarmed teenager who was murdered in Florida and whose story cast a spotlight on the state’s “Stand Your Ground” laws.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.6/1010 votes#19 - Dogtown Redemption
Season 17 Episode 19 - Aired 5/16/2016
Dogtown Redemption is the story of three recyclers struggling to survive in West Oakland, a neighborhood already decimated by unemployment, addiction, and violence. Their only lifeblood is a controversial recycling center threatened with closure.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.0/109 votes#20 - TRAPPED
Season 17 Episode 20 - Aired 6/20/2016
Trapped goes inside the contentious issue of abortion rights through the story of health care providers in Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama who are struggling to comply with controversial new TRAP laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers). The current case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, will decide whether these laws are constitutional.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/1012 votes#21 - T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold
Season 17 Episode 21 - Aired 8/2/2016
Flint, Michigan’s Claressa "T-Rex" Shields won a Gold Medal in 2012, the first time women were allowed to box in the Olympics. T-Rex is a coming-of-age tale of a girl who learns that in Flint, a gold medal doesn't always make life easier.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Independent Lens Season 17
Every episode of Independent Lens Season 17 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Independent Lens Season 17!
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...
Genre:Documentary
Network:PBS
Season 17 Ratings Summary
"Stray Dog" is the best rated episode of "Independent Lens" season 17. It scored 7.5/10 based on 9 votes. Directed by Debra Granik and written by N/A, it aired on 11/9/2015. This episode is rated 1.4 points higher than the second-best, "India's Daughter".