PBS joins season 16 of “AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange”

For a decade and a half, AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange has brought documentary films about the global Black experience to the small screen. This year, PBS Plus joins Black Public Media and WORLD in presenting season 16 of the award-winning series, which takes a turn to embrace narrative films with two award-winning Kenyan Afrofuturistic titles. The season premieres on Monday, April 1 on WORLD and continues weekly through April 22. AfroPoP also streams on various platforms and PBS Plus will release the film to additional public TV stations (check local listings). View the sizzle reel here: https://bit.ly/APOP16SizzleReel. Can you do a story/piece?

Season 16 kicks off with rising star director Nailah Jefferson’s Commuted, a deep dive into the impact of the criminal justice system on the formerly incarcerated through the story of Danielle Metz as she returns to New Orleans. Mets is nationally known for President Barack Obama having commuted her triple life sentence and the work she has done post-release to educate herself and to fight for justice for others. The film is scheduled during April, Second Chance Month.

The season continues with Likarion Wainaina’s beautiful film Supa Modo, which sees a village rally around a terminally ill girl to make her wish of becoming a superhero come true. The Kenyan film won Special Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival and International Jury Special Mention at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Another Kenyan film, Mbithi Masya’s Afrofuturist Kati Kati follows a young woman as she navigates the afterlife, a story of redemption that won Best Movie at the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards.

The season finale is Freedom Hill about the first town in America chartered by the formerly enslaved and the devastating floods that threaten to destroy it, a documentary exploring environmental racism. The film was a finalist at the 2022 Essence Film Festival and winner of Best Documentary Short at the 2022 Middlebury New Filmmakers Film Festival.

A press release is below. A press kit with details on the series and season as well as photos can be found at: https://bit.ly/AfroPoP16.

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