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The Best Episodes of Independent Lens Season 5

Every episode of Independent Lens Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Independent Lens Season 5!

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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 5 Episode 1 - Worst Possible Illusion: The Curiosity Cabinet of Vik Muniz
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Worst Possible Illusion: The Curiosity Cabinet of Vik Muniz

    S5:E1

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 2 - Foto-Novelas 2: `Junkyard Saints' and `Broken Sky'
    7.6/10(13 votes)

    #2 - Foto-Novelas 2: `Junkyard Saints' and `Broken Sky'

    S5:E2

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 3 - Shaolin Ulysses: Kungfu Monks in America
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - Shaolin Ulysses: Kungfu Monks in America

    S5:E3

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 4 - A Wedding in Ramallah
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - A Wedding in Ramallah

    S5:E4

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 5 - Be Good, Smile Pretty
    7.8/10(64 votes)

    #5 - Be Good, Smile Pretty

    S5:E5

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 6 - Livermore
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Livermore

    S5:E6

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 7 - Eroica!
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Eroica!

    S5:E7

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 8 - Loaded Gun: Life and Death and Dickinson
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Loaded Gun: Life and Death and Dickinson

    S5:E8

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 9 - Get the Fire! Young Mormon Missionaries Abroad
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - Get the Fire! Young Mormon Missionaries Abroad

    S5:E9

    Get the Fire: Young Mormon Missionaries Abroad is a United States PBS-sponsored documentary, by the independent filmmaker Nancy du Plessis. It examines the experiences of some Mormon missionaries who questioned their religious beliefs after serving their missions. It premiered in December 2003 and was 60 minutes long. Some Mormon missionaries, including those serving missions in a foreign culture, may begin to question their religious upbringing and belief system. Get the Fire follows three LDS missionaries during their two-year missions in Germany. The documentary opens with the three future missionaries at their respective homes prior to knowing where they will serve. Surrounded by their family, each boy opens a mission call informing them they will serve in the Munich, Germany mission. The documentary follows them along the full two years of their mission from the Missionary Training Center until they leave the mission and return home. The film shows missionaries proselyting in public squares, knocking door to door, struggling with a foreign language, congregating in zone and district meetings, and meeting with the mission president. Topics covered include missionary slang, leaving a girlfriend at home, missionary morale, and relationships with family at home. The three missionaries appear to remain dedicated and faithful to their mission in the film.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 10 - Man Bites Shorts
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Man Bites Shorts

    S5:E10

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 11 - Make 'Em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers' Story
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Make 'Em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers' Story

    S5:E11

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 12 - Life Matters
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Life Matters

    S5:E12

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 13 - Why Can't We Be a Family Again?; Downpour Resurfacing
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Why Can't We Be a Family Again?; Downpour Resurfacing

    S5:E13

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 14 - Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property

    S5:E14

    No description available

    Director:Charles Burnett
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 16 - Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew
    8.2/10(42 votes)

    #15 - Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew

    S5:E16

    Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew is a film portrait of the now famous jazz vocalist who was "rediscovered" decades after he disappeared from the public eye. The documentary blends concert footage, rare photos and candid interviews with Jimmy Scott, his family and his colleagues.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 17 - Sentencing the Victim
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Sentencing the Victim

    S5:E17

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 18 - T-Shirt Travels
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - T-Shirt Travels

    S5:E18

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 19 - Every Child Is Born a Poet: The Life and Work of Piri Thomas
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Every Child Is Born a Poet: The Life and Work of Piri Thomas

    S5:E19

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 20 - Love Inventory
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Love Inventory

    S5:E20

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 21 - Ram Dass: Fierce Grace
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Ram Dass: Fierce Grace

    S5:E21

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 22 - The Weather Underground
    7.6/10(6 votes)

    #21 - The Weather Underground

    S5:E22

    "Hello. I'm going to read a declaration of a state of war... Within the next 14 days we will attack a symbol or institution of American injustice." -- Bernardine Dohrn Thirty years ago, with these words, a group of young American radicals called The Weathermen announced their intention to overthrow the U.S. government. Fueled by outrage over the Vietnam War and racism in America, they went undergound during the 1970s, bombing targets across the country that they felt symbolized "the real violence" that the U.S. government and capitalist power were wreaking throughout the world.From pitched battles with police on Chicago's city streets, to bombing the U.S. Capitol building, to breaking acid-guru Timothy Leary out of prison, this carefully organized clandestine network attempted to incite a national revolution, while successfully evading one of the largest FBI manhunts in history.One of the top documentaries of the year, this award-winning film interweaves extensive archival material with modern-day interviews to explore the incredible story of "The Weather Underground." As former members reflect candidly about the idealistic passion that drove them to "bring the war home," they paint a compelling portrait of troubled and revolutionary times, with unexpected and often striking connections to the current world situation.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 23 - One Night at the Grand Star; Double Exposure
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - One Night at the Grand Star; Double Exposure

    S5:E23

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 24 - Refugee
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Refugee

    S5:E24

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 25 - Death of a Shaman
    7.7/10(10 votes)

    #24 - Death of a Shaman

    S5:E25

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Independent Lens Season 5 Episode 26 - Cosmopolitan
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Cosmopolitan

    S5:E26

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 5 Ratings Summary

"Worst Possible Illusion: The Curiosity Cabinet of Vik Muniz" is the best rated episode of "Independent Lens" season 5. It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 10/14/2003. This episode is rated 7.6 points higher than the second-best, "Foto-Novelas 2: `Junkyard Saints' and `Broken Sky'".