Hey kweliTV fam! We’ve added several new shows, films, and documentaries to our platform. There’s everything from a new children’s series, new documentaries including one exploring teen self-discovery in the wilderness, and even some Black futurism! Check out our full list of new titles below:
AFRO ALGORITHMS
From creator Anatola Araba comes this sci-fi animation of Black A.I and rebellion.
Description: This 3D animated short film in the Afro-Futurist genre explores topics of AI and bias. In a distant future, an artificial intelligence named Aero is inaugurated as the world’s first AI leader. However, she soon finds that important worldviews are missing from her databank, including the stories of the historically marginalized and oppressed. A slate of well-known Black actors lend their voices to the film, including Robin Quivers, Ava Raiin, and Hoji Fortuna.
SWEET GEORGIA’S BROWN: IMPACT, COURAGE, SACRIFICE & WILL
This documentary by Lawrence Walker uncovers the contributions made by Black women serving during WWII.
Description: This documentary focuses on black women enlisting in the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) which soon converted to the WAC (Women’s Army Corps), the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), and the Coast Guard SPARS. From its beginning in 1942, black women were part of the WAAC. When the first WAAC’s arrived at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, there were 400 white and 40 black women. Dubbed “ten-per-centers,” recruitment of black women was limited to ten percent of the WAAC population— matching the black proportion of the national population. Enlisted women served in segregated units, participated in segregated training, lived in separate quarters, ate at separate tables in mess halls, and used segregated recreation facilities. Officers received their officer candidate training in integrated units, but lived under segregated conditions. Specialist and technical training schools were integrated in 1943. During the war, 6,520 black women served in the WAAC/WAC.
LOOK, LISTEN AND LEARN TV
If Sesame Street or Lamb Chop are up you and your child’s alley, this Washington State based show created by Val Thomas-Matson will be the perfect edition to your favorites.
Description: Look, Listen and Learn (LL+L) is a children’s television program that follows the loving tradition of Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street and Shari Lewis of Lamb Chop. Along with the program’s hosts, Auntie Lena and Possum, children develop social-emotional skills and a love for learning through educational activities including storytelling, art and cooking. Featuring local BIPOC children, families, artists, teachers, chefs and athletes at learning venues across Washington State, LL+L applies brain development knowledge to foster learning and enhance caregiver relationships. The mission of Look, Listen and Learn TV is to advance early learning in children of color through media and television. Our programming is rooted in brain development research, racial equity and radical joy. We envision a future of racial inclusion where seeing all children succeed and live into their full potential is the norm.
RESPECT OUR SACRED
This documentary from Gabriel Barbosa sees the return of stolen artifacts to the Candomblé and Umbanda people of Brazil after their religions was outlawed nearly 100 years earlier.
Description: When cobwebs come together they can bind a lion, says the African proverb. In the blossoming of the Rio de Janeiro spring, more than 500 sacred objects of the Afro-Brazilian religions were released, under the ceremonial reverence of the clapping and chanting of Babalorixás and Ialorixás of Candomblé and Umbanda. The collection with sacred objects was seized between 1891 and 1946, a period in which Candomblé and Umbanda were officially criminalized in Brazil. Exu hit a bird yesterday with a stone he threw today. Laroye!
BELLY OF THE BEAST
Filmed over the course of seven years, this documentary brings to light the devastating pattern of forced, illegal sterilizations across the state of California.
Description: When a courageous young woman and a radical lawyer discover a pattern of illegal sterilizations in California’s women’s prisons, they wage a near-impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. With a growing team of investigators inside prison working with colleagues on the outside, they uncover a series of statewide crimes – from inadequate health care to sexual assault to coercive sterilizations – primarily targeting women of color. This shocking legal drama captured over 7-years features extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated people, demanding attention to a shameful and ongoing legacy of eugenics and reproductive injustice in the United States.
BACK OF THE MOON
This action film from South Africa follows a gangster and a singer he admires as their worlds collide and danger arises.
Description: A powerful gang leader in a Johannesburg ghetto decides that he will fight to the death for his home rather than face police relocation, but fate thrusts a beautiful singer, whom he has loved from a distance, into his orbit.
THAT’S WILD
Three teens from Atlanta try to conquer the Colorado wilderness in this documentary, discovering truths and overcoming hardships along the way.
Description: The award-winning feature documentary That’s Wild tells the inspiring journey of three teenage boys from Atlanta attempting to climb four 12,000 ft snowcapped peaks in the heart of the Colorado wilderness, all while overcoming their own personal mountains.
SUPA MODO
A community comes together to support the dreams of a little girl in this short film by Likarion Wainaina.
Description: Jo, a witty 9-year old terminally ill girl is taken back to her rural village to live out the rest of her short life. Her only comfort during these dull times are her dreams of being a Superhero, which prove to be something her rebellious teenage sister Mwix, overprotective mother Kathryn and the entire village of Maweni think they can fulfill.
WARD’S HENNA PARTY
In this film from Egypt, a young girl explore a new city while her mother works on a wedding.
Description: A Sudanese henna artist living in Egypt travels to one of Giza’s local areas to prepare a bride for her wedding, bringing along her seven-year-old daughter, who wanders around and discovers the area.
WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT
This show created by Frantzy Moreau, a group of young adults try their best to discover what it means to be an adult on their path to happiness.
Description: R.C. is a young Haitian-American adult who just after college is on a mission to be an adult and do adult things but is hit with the hardships of a present reality in his hometown in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Taught to adhere to the foundations of the American dream, R.C. realizes that his quest for a successful life is already doomed from outdated systems. Together with his pals Errol and Amadi, he seeks to find his own pathway to purpose and destiny, to truth and happiness and to life and love. An honest journey to self-discovery all while asking every step of the way what actually is more important.
EAVESDROPPING ON THE ELDERS
Kiah Clingham and Robinson Vil created this film as a gift to Clingham’s father, a story of reconnecting with the past as we look forward.
Description: A girl is unknowingly challenged with the task of bridging the gap between 2 generations. With a little help from her father, she’s forced into another world where she’s confronted with lessons from the past.
UPPER HAND
Following her roots back through time, filmmaker Sherrell Dorsey’s documentary covers the importance of generational wealth in the Black community.
Description: Upper Hand dives into the nuanced challenges Black and brown communities have faced in finding their pathway into the new economy by way of technology access, skill development, and opportunity. Data journalist and author, Sherrell Dorsey, follows the thread of her grandfather’s story, growing up in the Jim Crow south, his migration to Seattle, and how he leveraged a job in technology to lay the foundation for his family’s economic future. She speaks with technologists, business owners, and provides a glimpse of Seattle’s historic landscape of Black ownership in contrast to the building and development of a tech city that decidedly left its most vulnerable communities out. The short film accompanies Dorsey’s memoir and resource guide, Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us available wherever books are sold.
