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Black Public Media and WORLD celebrate the series’ 17th season with a mix of features and shorts from around the globe.

AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange – is back this year with a fresh mix of features, documentaries, narratives, and short films presenting contemporary stories from across the globe. Co-produced by Black Public Media and WORLD, the series reflects the spirit, ingenuity and resilience found among people of the African diaspora.

“It is hard to believe we’re about to launch our 17th season,” says Leslie Fields-Cruz, series creator and executive director of Black Public Media. “This year’s slate includes stories from the Netherlands, Suriname, Ghana, Florida’s Panhandle, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and imagined places that don’t yet exist. We’re thrilled to be able to offer these thought-provoking stories to the public media audience.”

Season 17 of AfroPoP includes four episodes comprising three documentaries, one narrative feature, one documentary short and one narrative short. The run-time for each episode varies from 60-120 minutes.

“Once again, WORLD is pleased to join Black Public Media to bring this dynamic series to the viewing public,” says Nina Chaudry, Executive Producer of WORLD. “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.”

The Slate

Key art for Mother Suriname courtesy of Tessa Leuwsha

Extending beyond conventional norms is something AfroPoP has done since its inception. Season 17 is no exception. The premiere episode kicks off on Monday, June 9, with Mother Suriname, a feature documentary by Tessa Leuwsha. It delivers a deeply evocative portrayal of Suriname’s history, woven through the personal story of a woman reflecting on her life. The film uses captivating, colorized archival footage to illustrate the lives of Surinamese women, including the director’s grandmother, who was a washerwoman in Suriname before migrating to the Netherlands to be with her children. Much of the story is delivered through narration and song. The film’s themes will resonate easily with communities that have large migrant populations.

Still from The Changing Same courtesy of Michèle Stephenson. 

Episode 1 also includes The Changing Same, a short film by Michèle Stephenson. It is set in Marianna, Fla., where resident poet L. Lamar Wilson runs a particular marathon in hopes of lifting the veil of racial terror caused by the town’s buried history.

 Still shot from Tongo Saa courtesy of Nelson Makengo
 

Episode 2 presents Tongo Saa (Rising Up at Night), a feature documentary by Nelson Makengo that is set in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It follows residents of a community that is forced to navigate life in the dark every time the sun sets due to their city’s uneven distribution of electricity.

 Still shot from Neptune Frost courtesy of Saul Williams

Episode 3 features Neptune Frost, an Afrofuturistic, romantic musical by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman. Executive-produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the film is set in post-civil war Rwanda and spans past, future, and present times. It follows the relationship between Neptune, an intersex hacker, and Matalusa, a coltan miner. In a village made of computer parts, Neptune and Matalusa join a hacker collective to challenge the authoritarian regime exploiting their region’s natural resources. The film uses music, African oral tradition, and song-poetry to explore themes of patriarchy, feminism, and liberation.

Still from Tsutsue courtesy of Amartei Armar

Episode 3 also includes Tsutsue, a narrative short by Amartei Armar that is set on the edge of a large landfill site that spills into the ocean. The story finds protagonists Sowah and Okai, the young sons of a fisherman, struggling to cope with the loss of their eldest brother, who drowned during a fishing expedition.

Still from Mama Gloria courtesy of Luchina Fisher

The season closes out with an encore presentation of Mama Gloria, the award-winning documentary feature by Emmy-winning Luchina Fisher, that first premiered as part of AfroPoP 13. It profiles the life of Gloria Allen, a Black transgender woman who grew up in Chicago amid a loving family. She went on to become the proprietor of a charm school for young transgender people.

Where to Watch

Episodes 1-3 of AfroPoP 17 will be available to stream and broadcast from WORLD, the BPM website, the PBS app, PBS.org and YouTube. The encore presentation of Mama Gloria will broadcast from WORLD, and stream on WORLDchannel.org, the BPM website and YouTube. For details about each film, visit https://blackpublicmedia.org/afropop

This article was written and sponsored by Black Public Media. Learn more at- blackpublicmedia.org.