Premieres Tuesday, July 22, 2025 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app
POV explores the journey of the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Civil Rights Memorial, and other major public art in director Freida Lee Mock’s Academy Award®-winning film, "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision." The documentary, produced by Mock and Terry Sanders, tells the story of Lin’s vision and character, whose impact resonates deeply with the millions who have touched and been touched by her work.
The film tells the gripping drama behind the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the story of a young woman and the power of art to provoke important conversations surrounding issues of national memory, mourning, service, and sacrifice.
Freida Lee Mock shows how an unknown architecture student was able to create, against great odds and intense political opposition, stunning memorials with a profound impact on the American people. Lin’s memorials are described as “...places of pilgrimage, where merely to touch seems to heal long broken hearts, reconciling armies of veterans, assuaging historic wounds of activists…she has rendered stones into compelling American shrines.”
Using Maya Lin’s first-person account, the film explains the creative and political process by which she conceived and developed these monumental projects over a decade of work. Maya Lin became a prominent designer at the age of 21 by winning the largest design competition in American history to construct the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, now considered to be one of the greatest cultural achievements of the 20th century. Exploring art, politics, and censorship in the creative process, the film poses questions about the intersection of art and politics, as well as artistic freedom in the face of public pressure.
Watch On Your Schedule: POV "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision" will make its encore presentation on POV Tuesday, July 22, 2025 and will be available to stream until October 20, 2025 at https://video.kpbs.org/show/pov/, and the PBS app.
Filmmaker Quotes:
“POV’s encore presentation of 'Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision' is the perfect platform for a new generation of public television viewers to discover the extraordinary work of the global artist Maya Lin,” said director Freida Lee Mock. “For those who saw her in her 20s when the film premiered on PBS thirty years ago, this encore broadcast confirms that they witnessed the creative foundations of an artist of singular vision. I’m very excited for viewers to experience Maya Lin’s impact and story.”
“Maya Lin reimagined what a memorial can look like with a minimalist approach that, somehow, captured all the pain and sacrifice of a generation,” said Chris White, Executive Producer, POV. “'Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision' illustrates how art can push the needle towards change. We’re eager for a new generation of Americans to discover, after 30 years, how resonant this film remains.”
Film Awards:
The film premiered in Beverly Hills in 1994 and won the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Feature Documentary Film at the 1995 Academy Awards® ceremony. It was also an official selection at the 1995 Chicago International Film Festival and the Hawaii International Film Festival.
Raves include:
"Ms. Lin emerges as an impressive figure, whether she is describing how her thoughts evolve or presiding authoritatively over works in progress." - Janet Maslin-THE NEW YORK TIMES
"If you have been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, you will want to see it. If you have not, it will make you want to go."- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
“...a powerful, inspiring account of a supremely talented woman’s professional transformation…” -THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
Credits: A production of Sanders & Mock Productions and the American Film Foundation. Freida Lee Mock is the director, producer, and writer. Terry Sanders is a producer; Don Lenzer, Eddie Marritz, and Bestor Cram are the directors of photography, and William T. Cartwright Sr. is the editor. Jessica Yu is the associate producer, and Charles Bernstein is the composer. Steve Flick and Weddington Productions, Inc. are the sound designers, and Rick Ash is the sound mixer. The executive producers are Eileen Harris Norton, and Erika Dilday, and Chris White for American Documentary.
