New Doc World films continue in June, featuring stories demonstrating the parallels that exist between communities even thousands of miles apart, from a 13-year-old aspiring journalist in Kenya, a gaggle of first-graders in Tokyo, and a gay couple trying their hand at screenwriting in Hungary.
Premiering this month, AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange returns with its 17th season, including new documentaries along with narrative features and shorts capturing Black communities making their mark on the world through art, innovation, and activism.
And celebrate Pride Month on WORLD with streaming films and a new episode of Stories from the Stage, “Taking Pride,” that champions LGBTQ+ storytellers striving to embrace their identities and protect their community.
PREMIERING THIS MONTH
Searching for Amani | Doc World
June 8 on TV, YouTube & the PBS app
What begins as a young aspiring journalist’s search for answers to his father’s death becomes a powerful coming-of-age story. Set in a Kenyan conservancy facing extreme drought, Searching for Amani follows a 13-year-old’s pursuit of truth as he uncovers the invisible forces of climate change threatening his home and future. Presented as part of PBS SoCal’s Link Voices Collection.
Mother Suriname / The Changing Same | AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange
June 9 on TV, YouTube & the PBS app
Mother Suriname: 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 filmmaker Tessa Leuwsha's grandmother, who was a washerwoman.
The Changing Same: In the Florida Panhandle lies the provincial town of Marianna, where resident and poet L. Lamar Wilson runs a particular marathon in hopes of lifting the veil of racial terror caused by the town’s buried history.
The Making of a Japanese | Doc World
June 15 on TV, YouTube & the PBS app
From the Oscar-nominated short comes the full-length feature The Making of a Japanese, an intimate portrait of childhood inside a Tokyo public school. Over the course of a year, 1st and 6th graders navigate daily routines and small dramas while learning discipline, empathy, and community, finding the balance between individualism and being respectful toward others. Presented as part of PBS SoCal’s Link Voices Collection.
Tongo Saa | AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange
June 16 on TV, YouTube & the PBS app
In Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government's plans to build a large hydroelectric power plant leave many residents in darkness and insecurity. The city’s uneven distribution of electricity causes many locals to navigate life after sunset using torches and other means to provide their own infrastructure and security amid constant violence.
Narrow Path to Happiness | Doc World
June 22 on TV, YouTube & the PBS app
Gergo and Lenard are a young gay male couple living in a remote Roma community, where being gay is considered an unforgivable sin. They move to Budapest with a dream to make a musical film about their lives and become famous. But when a death in the family who disowned them takes them back home, they seek another chance for acceptance. Presented as part of PBS SoCal’s Link Voices Collection.
Neptune Frost / Tsutsue | AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange
June 23 on TV, YouTube & the PBS app
Neptune Frost: This Afrofuturist romantic musical, executive produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is set in a 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. The story unfolds in a village made of computer parts, where 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.
Tsutsue: In this Afrofuturistic narrative film set in a small Ghanaian town at the edge of an oceanside landfill, two sons of a fisherman – Sowah and Okai – struggle to cope with the death of their eldest brother who drowned during a fishing expedition.
SPECIAL ENCORE Mama Gloria | AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange
June 30 on TV & YouTube
The life story of the late Gloria Allen, a Black transgender woman from the south side of Chicago. Explores Gloria's journey, through growing up with a supportive family, her realization that she was a girl, time on the drag ball scene, and her coming out and gender reassignment surgery, and follow her later-in-life career as the proprietor of a charm school for young trans people. The film highlights Gloria's resilience and the unconditional love she received from her family, as well as the love she gave to her chosen children.
STREAMING FOR PRIDE MONTH & JUNETEENTH
Proud to Be | Stories from the Stage
June 2 on TV | Available now on the PBS app
To embrace PRIDE, you often need to define yourself in your own way. Srilatha Rajamani's world turned upside down when she discovered the hidden 'A' in LGBTQI_+; queer stage and film director Kevin Newbury receives a time capsule gift from their late loving grandfather; and Jamie Mulligan takes us on a 20-year journey of transition and self-love.
Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts | Local, USA
June 14 on TV | Available now on PBS Passport, Prime Video and Apple TV+
Established by Congress, the 14th Amendment promised citizenship in exchange for enlistment, prompting many African American men. They were denied due to Jim Crow laws but still served. The film examines the profound and often-contradictory roles played by Buffalo Soldiers in U.S. history, and how they fought on two sets of front lines: military conflicts abroad and civil rights struggles at home.
Growing Up Black: Part 2 | Stories from the Stage
June 16 on TV | Available now on the PBS app
Green Bank, West Virginia, is home to the world’s most sensitive radio telescope – and the only U.S. town where Wi-Fi and cell phones are banned. Here, scientists search for signs of extraterrestrial life while residents navigate pivotal moments in their own lives. This film explores the community’s deep connection to the universe and each other.
The Cost of Inheritance | America ReFramed
Available now on the PBS app, Prime Video & Apple TV+
Explore the complex issue of reparations in the United States through a thoughtful approach to history, historical injustices, systemic inequities, and the critical dialogue on racial conciliation. Using personal narratives, community inquiries, and scholarly insights, the film aims to inspire understanding of the scope and rationale of the reparations debate.
Jack & Yaya | America ReFramed
Available now on PBS Passport
From a young age, Yaya and Jack saw each other as they truly were, a girl and a boy, even though most of the world didn’t see them that way. As they grew older, they supported each other as they both came out as transgender. JACK & YAYA follows these two friends for a year and explores their unique, thirty-year relationship.
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