By Mabel Pais

This winter season of INDEPENDENT LENS, a Public Broadcasting Station’s subsidiary, presents two acclaimed, Oscar®-contender documentaries that will debut in January. ‘Beyond Utopia,’ the gripping story of families who risk everything escaping North Korea, and the documentary short ‘If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis’ which explores the lives of people living in the rural South with limited or no access to healthcare, both recently made the shortlist for the 96th Academy Awards®.

‘Beyond Utopia’ will debut on January 9, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET on PBS and the 

PBS App (pbs.org/pbs-app) – check local listings. They grew up believing their land was paradise. Now, they risk everything in escaping it. In an unforgettable documentary, follow families on a treacherous journey to defect from their homeland of North Korea, as the threat of severe punishment and possible execution looms over their passage, revealing a world many have never seen.

‘If Dreams Were Lightning’ will be available to stream on January 10, 2024 on the PBS App and will also be accessible via PBS’s flagship YouTube Channel (youtube.com/PBS). Rural hospitals around America are closing at alarming rates, leaving communities without care. Oscar and Emmy-nominated director Ramin Bahrani visits Appalachia, where American communities are left with limited or no access to healthcare. Explore the rural healthcare crisis in the South through the eyes of those struggling in it and the dedicated doctors trying to reach them.

The films enter the Winter Slate on INDEPENDENT LENS, the award-winning PBS documentary anthology series presented by ITVS. The films cover a wide range of timely issues including racial tensions, gentrification, mental health, representation, and humanity through the lens of individuals, families, and tight-knit communities.

THE INDEPENDENT LENS WINTER SEASON Continues

Rounding out the slate includes two films chronicling the fights of two distinct Black American neighborhoods—’Racist Trees’ on January 22 and ‘Razing Liberty Square’ on January 29. Continuing on February 5 with the inspiring end-of-life story ‘Sister Úna Lived a Good Death,’ and on February 19 with the headline-making ‘Breaking the News,’ the season closes on March 25 with ‘Greener Pastures,’ an intimate look at farmers’ lives in the American Midwest.

For more information, visit pbs.org/independentlens

Independent Lens

Independent Lens is an Emmy® Award-winning PBS documentary series. With founding executive producer Lois Vossen, the series has been honored with 10 Academy Award nominations and features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Stream anytime on the PBS App. For more visit pbs.org/independentlens.

 ITVS

Independent Television Services (ITVS) is the largest co-producer of independent documentaries in the United States. For more than 30 years, the San Francisco nonprofit has funded and partnered with documentary filmmakers to produce and distribute untold stories. ITVS incubates and co-produces these award-winning titles and premieres them on its  Emmy® Award-winning PBS series, Independent Lens. ITVS titles appear on PBS, WORLD, NETA, and can be streamed on various digital platforms including the PBS App. For more information, visit itvs.org.

(Mabel Pais writes on Social Issues, The Arts and Entertainment, Spirituality, Education, Health & Wellness, Cuisine, and Business)