The PBS documentary series “Independent Lens” returns to a new season on October 6th with Bill Haney’s “Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution.” The document is told by Mark Ruffalo about the life and legacy of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Phil Sharp.
In addition to “code cracking”, the fall slate includes two additional DOC features that speak directly to today’s most pressing issues.
On October 20th, Deborah Reedraper and Sabara Folayan’s “ratification” will debut. The Doc, which premiered the world at the 15th Bronze Lens Film Festival in August 2024, is about the path back to life of equal rights amendments through Virginia’s vital battle for ratification led by black women. This document traces the legal, political and profound personal battle to embarrass gender equality in the US Constitution almost a century after the ERA was first proposed.
Closes the fall lineup of independent lenses on November 3rd is “Life After” from disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport (“I Didn’t See You”). In the film, Davenport investigates the support of death and reveals how possibilities, policies and systematic failures can make death seem like the only option. The documentary, the winner of the 2025 Sundance Special Juju Award, explores who makes the real choices and who doesn’t in life and death.
The final two episodes of the short form docusary “The Opioid Trilogy” will air on an independent lens just before the fall slate release. The second installment of the series entitled “Do No Harm” follows the 17-year struggle with heroin addiction and the path to recovery. The third and final episode, “Coming Home,” follows Tahira Malik, reconstructing his life after opioid addiction and imprisonment. (The first article in “The Opiod Triology” debuted in July 2022 with an independent lens.)
“Helping us understand our world is the goal of independent filmmakers,” says independent lens executive producer Royce Vossen. “This fall we explore the complex realities of scientists and biotechnology innovation, surviving opioid addiction, ongoing efforts for gender equality, and the aid of death.
Last month, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it was closing in nearly 60 years. CPB funded NPR and PBS. In July, Congress officially passed President Donald Trump’s action to bring previously approved funds back to $9 billion, including $1.1 billion from PBS and NPR.
“With the elimination of federal funding to public media and CPB closure, the independent lens relies on years of preparation for this moment, and our key funders who ensured that these resulting stories continue to reach the American people,” Vossen said. “We’ve had an incredible season ahead and are actively talking with PBS to bring this work to 2026-2027. Our vision and team are strong, but sustainable multi-year funding is needed to maintain this mission.”
All fall slates with independent lenses are available via linear TV and various streaming sites, including PBS YouTube, PBS app, PBS passports.
