Afropop Season 17 Sets New Bar For Drama & Docs

Season 17 of AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange, the Peabody Award-winning series by Black Public Media (BPM) and WORLD, kicks off on Monday, June 9, with an impressive lineup of documentary and narrative films. The season transports viewers around the globe and to places past, present and future with award-winning films that stir the senses and satisfy the soul, including a narrative directed by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams, and executive produced by Lin-Manual Miranda and Stephen Hendel, among others. Presented by Black Public Media, WORLD and PBS Plus, AfroPoP remains the only U.S.-based public media show focused on independent documentaries and narrative films about contemporary life, art and culture from the African diaspora.

Each episode of AfroPoP will broadcast weekly on public television’s WORLD and stream on WORLD’s YouTube channel and the Black Public Media YouTube channel beginning on Monday, June 9. Season 17 episodes will be available to stream on the PBS App on that date. PBS Plus will also release the season to additional public television stations across the country weekly (check local listings).

Season 17 films include:
Mother Suriname, a documentary feature by Tessa Leuwsha, on Monday, June 9. Using colorized archival footage and gripping narration, the touching tribute to the director’s grandmother in colonial Suriname gives a voice to the washerwoman — and her peers — while providing a rare and eye-opening glimpse into Dutch colonialism and its ramifications. The film will be followed by The Changing Same, an award-winning U.S. documentary short by Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster. The impactful short captures Marianna, Fla., resident and poet L. Lamar Wilson who mounts a marathon run attempting to lift the veil on a highly publicized 1934 lynching of a Black farmhand named Claude Neal.

Tongo Saa (Rising Up at Night), an award-winning documentary feature by Nelson Makengo, on Monday, June 16. The film brings viewers to Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where residents are fighting to survive the turmoil and violence rising from the uneven distribution of electricity.

Neptune Frost, an award-winning narrative feature by Uzeyman and Williams, on Monday, June 23. Set in the hilltops of Burundi, this Afrofuturist sci-fi musical follows a hacker collective led by an intersex runaway and an escaped coltan miner as they fight government profiteering off their nation’s natural resources. The film is followed by Tsutsue, a narrative short by Amartei Armar about two Ghanaian boys grappling with the drowning death of their beloved big brother.

Viewers may also stream AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange on WORLD’s YouTube channel and on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App.
As a special bonus, WORLD will broadcast and stream on its website and YouTube channel an encore presentation of Mama Gloria (US documentary feature, 2020), directed by Luchina Fisher, on Monday, June 30. The film is an insightful portrait of Gloria Allen, a trailblazing Black transgender woman from Chicago, who started a charm school for young transgender people and fought to live a life of joy.

The series is executive produced by BPM Executive Director Leslie Fields-Cruz and WORLD (at GBH) Executive Producer Nina Chaudry. Denise A. Greene is series producer/director, Carol Bash is series co-producer/director and Ashton Pina is the series writer.

“AfroPoP continues to evolve each season, showcasing a vibrant array of films fueled by the creativity and boldness of filmmakers within our expanding community,” said Fields-Cruz. “While these stories explore diverse histories, traditions, and even universes, they also reveal the shared connections that unite all of humankind.”

“Once again, WORLD is pleased to join Black Public Media to bring this dynamic series to the viewing public,” said Chaudry. “The beauty of AfroPoP is that it offers stations an opportunity to deliver stories from around the vast African diaspora that American audiences won’t find easily.”

With season 17, since its premiere in 2008, AfroPoP has presented 97 feature and short films on public media, offering a wide range of stories about the African diaspora.