Independent Lens

Season 18 Episode 6: The Witness

25 Seasons Jan 23, 2017 TV-14 1h 7.8

After Kitty Genovese was repeatedly attacked on a street in Queens, New York in 1964, The New York Times published a front-page story asserting that 38 witnesses watched her murder from their apartment windows and did nothing to help. Genovese's death quickly became a symbol of urban apathy. The Witness follows the efforts of her brother Bill as he uncovers the truth buried beneath the story.

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Season 18 Episodes:

Episode 1 Best of Enemies

1. Best of Enemies

Aired: Oct 2, 2016

A documentary on the series of televised debates in 1968 between liberal Gore...

Episode 2 Meet the Patels

2. Meet the Patels

Aired: Dec 26, 2016

Actor Ravi Patel, whose traditional Hindu parents are eager for him to find a...

Episode 4 Containment

4. Containment

Aired: Jan 9, 2017

Left over from the Cold War are a hundred million gallons of radioactive slud...

Episode 5 What Was Ours

5. What Was Ours

Aired: Jan 16, 2017

A tribal elder and Vietnam vet, who hasn't left the Wind River Indian Reserva...

Episode 6 The Witness

6. The Witness

Aired: Jan 23, 2017

After Kitty Genovese was repeatedly attacked on a street in Queens, New York ...

Episode 7 Birth of a Movement

7. Birth of a Movement

Aired: Feb 6, 2017

The story of William Monroe Trotter, the nearly forgotten editor of a Boston ...

Episode 8 Accidental Courtesy

8. Accidental Courtesy

Aired: Feb 13, 2017

Renowned musician Daryl Davis has an unusual, controversial hobby: meeting an...

Episode 9 TOWER

9. TOWER

Aired: Feb 14, 2017

Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation in a dynamic, never-befo...

Episode 10 The Bad Kids

10. The Bad Kids

Aired: Mar 20, 2017

Located in an impoverished Mojave Desert community, Black Rock Continuation H...

Episode 11 Ovarian Psycos

11. Ovarian Psycos

Aired: Mar 27, 2017

Ovarian Psycos is about a new generation of fierce, unapologetic and feminist...

Episode 12 Newtown

12. Newtown

Aired: Apr 3, 2017

Filmed over the course of nearly three years, Newtown uses deeply personal, n...

Episode 14 The Last Laugh

14. The Last Laugh

Aired: Apr 24, 2017

The Holocaust would seem to be an absolutely off-limits topic for comedy — bu...

Episode 15 National Bird

15. National Bird

Aired: May 1, 2017

National Bird follows whistleblowers who, despite possible consequences, are ...

Episode 17 Forever Pure

17. Forever Pure

Aired: May 15, 2017

The story of how Beitar Jerusalem, the most popular and controversial soccer ...

Episode 19 Farmer/Veteran

19. Farmer/Veteran

Aired: May 29, 2017

Home from three combat tours in Iraq, Alex Sutton forges a new identity as a ...

Episode 20 Real Boy

20. Real Boy

Aired: Jun 19, 2017

A transgender teen works to repair a strained relationship with his family an...


Info about Independent Lens

Current Status: Returning Series

Network: PBS

Production Country: United States

Genres: Documentary