Kristina Motwani

Editor

An intimate portrait of five families who lives in SROs in San Francisco 

Home Is A Hotel

Explores Marlee Matlin's life as a groundbreaking performer.

Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore

After leading her all-female team to develop a life-saving COVID-19 vaccine, Dr. Nita Patel returns home to India to fulfill a childhood promise she made to her father and heal the parts of herself she sacrificed along the way.

A Shot at History

Breaking the News chronicles the tenacious efforts of female and nonbinary journalists as they build a journalism "startup" to highlight perspectives left out of mainstream media.

Breaking the News

Oakland as a tantalizing case study. In a city that struggles with rising crime and health care woes, its public school systems aren't exactly equipped to prepare youth for the travails of young adulthood.

Homeroom

Fruits of Labor follows the day-in-a-life of a young farm and factory worker in California, who dreams of being the first in her family to graduate from high school and go to college.

Fruits of Labor

From a single mother trying to find her missing daughter to an elderly woman who is going blind and facing eviction, the low-income residents of San Francisco's single room occupancy housing tell their stories.

Home Is a Hotel

With unfettered access, THE BODY POLITIC follows Baltimore's idealistic young mayor into office where he puts his personal and political future on the line to save his beloved city from chronic violence.

The Body Politic

In Summer 2021 Kabul falls to Taliban, members of the Under-18 Afghan Women's Football Team attempt a daring evacuation from their homeland.

Ayenda

From deep red to true blue, Asian Americans represent a spectrum of political identifications, and their varied voting habits inform the ongoing dialogue around race, whiteness, and voter suppression in the US.

First Vote

Kristal is a young, ambitious Philadelphian driven to keep families connected to their incarcerated loved ones. But when her father and brother return from prison, she confronts the ultimate question: can she reunite her own family?

A Woman on the Outside

Midnight Traveler

FIRST FRIDAY is a documentary that follows a diverse group of residents and community leaders, in the aftermath of a tragedy, as they work to preserve the event that symbolizes Oakland's recent renaissance.

First Friday

Selling trinkets on the beach, 7 year old Nasima's attention is caught by something out on the water and immediately she is transfixed: surfing has come to Bangladesh. Nasima instantly knows what she wants and that is to surf the waves. She will become the first female surfer in Bangladesh, a place where women don't even swim in public, let alone ride waves.

Nasima - The Most Fearless

This documentary takes you into the lives of two high school students: One is a DACA applicant who's navigating the reality of his immigration status, and the other was born in California, but lives in fear that her undocumented parents may be deported.

Futbolistas 4 Life

This thought provoking, sometimes troubling documentary examines the personal and ethical imperatives that drive abortion providers to continue in the face of often dangerous legal and personal harassment.

After Tiller

A behind-the-scenes look at the world famous Sundance Film Festival, featuring interviews with filmmakers and producers, previews of films coming to PBS and much more.

PBS at the Sundance Film Festival

Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

An intimate portrait of 76-year-old jazz vocal legend Jimmy Scott. The film explores Scott's odyssey of loss and redemption through reminiscence, song, and lush Japanese travelogue.

Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew

Different celebrity hosts present new independent documentaries..

Independent Lens

Series showcasing the best in international documentaries.

Storyville

POV, a cinema term for "point of view," is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. Since 1988, POV has presented more than 300 of the best, boldest, and most innovative documentaries to PBS audiences across the country.

P.O.V.

Nasima is the first female surfer in Bangladesh, a place where women don’t even swim in public, let alone ride waves. Standing atop her board, she has been both a target and an icon, with new generations of young female surfers wondering if they too could surf their way to personal freedom. Now 21, Nasima shoulders impossible pressure. Will the door she has opened be slammed shut, not only for her, but also for the next generation?