VIDEO
Below are some video trailers for the current season of AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange. This season the theme of migration brings us four stories that unfold from Oregon to Sierra Leone, from Atlanta to Accra, stories of identity, stories of cultural exploration, and discovery. Check out the clips, and tune in to AfroPoP this October, be sure to check your local listings! If AfroPoP is not available this October on your public television schedule, be sure to request it. Public television is your television.
One of the four documentaries presented in the upcoming second season of AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange, hosted by critically-acclaimed actress Anika Noni Rose. Season premieres in October on public television. Boxing is show business with blood—a tough sport, which has always found its top competitors from the poorest neighborhoods. Bukom, a tiny district in Ghana’s capital city of Accra, is one such locale. Grounded in a long cultural tradition of wrestling that over the years developed into boxing, the tiny fishing village trains young people to fight—and win. Bukom has produced up to five percent of the world’s champion and Olympic medal boxers. The Fighting Spirit tells the story of three fighters from Bukom—two men and a woman—as they battle their way to the glittering rings of Europe and America to compete for the biggest prizes in the business. Viewers watch the athletes fight for respect and reward for their tribe and their home, and witness their triumphs and defeats in and out of the ring.
Living in a housing project in Atlanta, Georgia, 17-year-old Sylvia Dorsey is frustrated by the drug abuse and violence that surrounds her. Black To Our Roots is the inspirational story of the journey Sylvia takes to explore her ancestral home in Ghana in an attempt to escape the cycle of violence and poverty of her Atlanta neighborhood. In Africa, Sylvia confronts several challenges that test her patience and change her life forever. When she returns to the United States, will she be able to adjust to her old world as a new woman? This film is a testament to the power of change.
In the wake of one of the worst natural and humanitarian disasters ever to visit American shores, nearly 600 African Americans were airlifted to the almost entirely white state of Utah…without their knowledge. Desert Bayou seeks to examine whether two cultures can come together in a time of utter chaos, or whether their differences prove too great a challenge to overcome. In their own words evacuees of Hurricane Katrina, tell how they survived the storm of the century and out of the rubble ended up at a military installation in the deserts of Utah. With interviews from evacuees, political, military and religious leaders, community and social figures, the questions of race, politics and religion hurtle towards each other in this truly American story: a story of loss and reunion, of sorrow and rebirth, of anger and rejoicing, but most of all…a story of hope.
“Moving to the Beat” explores how youth in Africa and America are using hip hop music to communicate with one another and as a language for social change. The documentary follows Rebel Soulz, a hip hop group from Portland, Oregon, as they journey to Freetown, Sierra Leone to bring the radical roots of American hip hop to the motherland of Africa. In the process of collaborating and interacting with the local artists, the visitors confront their own stereotypes and fantasies of Africa while shattering the Sierra Leoneans perception of America as a “second heaven.” The result is a deeply forged connection that transcends centuries of misunderstanding and separation, and becomes an inspiring call for people worldwide to transcend boundaries.
