In 1980, Gloria Karamañites made history by becoming the first Black woman to win Miss Panama. Through her story, the film explores race, national identity, and the effects of a white standard of beauty in a country that is largely Afro-descendant.
In this short docu-series, a diverse group of everyday people recount their arrest stories and reveal the shocking range of encounters one can have with law enforcement.
Hip-hop, ballet, vogue, and so much more. In this competition, 20 fiercely unique dancers show off their moves across five iconic NYC neighborhoods. Host and judge, vogue pioneer Cesar Valentino, will decide: who’s got the Best Walk?
Nominated for an Oscar® in the Live Action Short Film category, The Letter Room follows an empathetic corrections officer (Oscar Isaac) who finds escape in the deeply personal letters written to an inmate on death row. Co-starring Alia Shawkat.
Few hobbies require the technical skills of railway enthusiasts. Get to know the niche world of Garden Rail Magazine and its impassioned community, who find focus, therapy, and camaraderie in the hobby of running large-scale trains outdoors.
On stage he makes crowds laugh with his hilariously biting musings. Off stage, comedian Gastor Almonte talks about how his comedy is rooted in his immigrant roots, parenthood, and his beloved neighborhood of East New York.
The devastating power of tornadoes is undeniable, but have you ever wondered why the Bible Belt and Tornado Alley overlap? Meet survivors, meteorologists, and everyday people whose experiences with tornadoes have confirmed their belief in the Divine.
From ex-gang members to military veterans, the call centers of Tijuana are filled with English-speaking deportees who have been forced to trade the American Dream for a new life wedged between home and displacement.
New Orleans lore collides with dark magic in this horror anthology series. Created by Coodie & Chike and starring Chad Coleman, PJ Morton and Omar Dorsey, these “Twilight Zone”-style tales expose chilling corners of the Big Easy.
To us they’re mundane objects, but to them they’re priceless. House on Fire asks individuals to save one thing if their house were ablaze. The items they choose tell entire stories about culture, identity, and the true value of material possessions.
Heather Havrilesky is a successful author, essayist and humorist best known for her advice column “Ask Polly." In this episode, she tells us why she’d choose to save her childhood teddy bear (and self-described “ally”) if her house was burning down.
Coss Marte recounts his old life as an NYC drug dealer and the day he was arrested. After doing seven years, he founded a gym that hires formerly incarcerated individuals to teach fitness.
During journalist Daniel Genis’ 10-year stint in a maximum security prison, he was sent to solitary four times. His most noteworthy infraction? The unauthorized exchange of five human souls.
Max was protesting police brutality when he was tackled to the ground by officers, but he was immortalized in the process. The moment was captured and became a widely used photo of resistance.
How does an innocuous driving offense lead to having three encounters with the cops and your car being completely torn apart? Was it thorough policing or just plain harassment?
This is the story of how almond milk led to one girl’s arrest. Hannah Laytner walked into a party with Silk and came out with Rolling Rock—guess which one is easier to spot by campus police?
When his crush showed up to the party, Kevin Richards was already in handcuffs for trying to save it from aggressive cops. Being the party hero didn’t exactly make him look like Prince Charming.
Graffiti artist Lee Trice was arrested when cops mistook him for notorious NYC tagger Dick Chicken. After Lee refused to snitch, officers told him “you’re about to go to hell,” aka central booking.
When comedian and carpenter Jordan Jensen was pulled over, the cop found a mighty suspicious combo of items: an axe, wigs, red paint, and syringes. So how did she get off so easy? Laughter.
Her boyfriend beat her up, but she went to jail. This is the story of one woman’s compassion and a broken system that failed to protect Shawnda Chapman Brown.
A deal he made as a young man comes back to haunt a now wealthy New Orleanian, forcing him ultimately to choose between love and self-sacrifice or greed and egotistical desire.
When he was 17, El Sawyer shot someone who was trying to rob him and his brother. After being arrested, they were taken into interrogation and what happened there is a testament to brotherly love.
Recent transplants to New Orleans, Andrew and his wife Sarah are struggling with his insomnia. When a local cab driver recommends a Pillow Shop, a desperate Andrew will do anything to get a wink of shut eye. The shop owner promises good dreams, and Andrew is thrilled when it delivers, curing Andrew’s sleepless woes. But when Sarah snuggles her head on his pillow and gets a glimpse of his dreams herself, she sees that there is a more sinister side to what the pillow is offering.
In 1968, an eight-year-old's drawings take on a power beyond her wildest imaginings after the sudden and unexpected death of her verbally abusive and devoutly religious godmother.
One minute she was driving and the next, Jennifer Montano’s life was forever changed. But her terrible mistake has also given her a new purpose in life.
After two years in prison, Evie Litwok, a Jewish lesbian and daughter to two Holocaust survivors, founded Witness to Mass Incarceration, which advocates for incarcerated women and LGBTQ people.
Woodburn, OR is an agricultural town with a large Latinx population. In this episode, residents choose items that tell their immigrant stories and seemingly banal objects that they can’t live without.
Cascade Locks, OR is a scenic town that was narrowly saved from a forest fire in 2017. This episode explores how almost losing everything changes one’s relationship to property and possessions.
Happy Valley, OR is a storybook upper middle-class suburb known for being safe. Here residents reflect on the importance of maintaining that sense of safety through their material possessions.
Dignity Village and Kenton Women's Village, OR are self-run communities for previously homeless people. Being homeless has given some residents a uniquely profound perspective on material possessions.
A lyrical portrait of a devout Amish woodworker who begins to question his faith. When Kenneth is excommunicated from his insular community, he must find a new purpose in life without God.
What happens to a property after it’s been marred by tragedy? Can it be revived or will it be forever stigmatized? “Distressed real estate” expert Randall Bell shows us what has become of four infamous sites around the US steeped in trauma.
In these documentary portraits inspired by Racquet Magazine, Darius Clarke Monroe examines the role of racquet sports in American culture and sheds light on the unexpected communities, obsessions, and passions built around tennis and handball.
When Mark Kuhn decided to build a homemade tennis court, he never imagined it would become popular or take on such profound significance. The All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club started out as a family project and grew into a beloved public court for his community. But after his family experienced an unthinkable tragedy, it became a very private outlet for healing. Today, it remains a fitting memorial that still conjures many happy memories for Mark.
Built by and for its community, the Maravilla handball courts in East LA have provided an outlet for healthy exercise for almost a century. But they’re so much more than just an athletic space. Amanda Perez gives us a history lesson on the courts, which span back to 1928 and have come to represent the neighborhood’s rich Chicano heritage. Since then, multiple generations have upheld the historic landmark as a sacred site where people can be themselves.
He was crazy about tennis, she was drawn to his passion. Together, they built a life running the South Oxford Tennis Club in Brooklyn from 1981 to 1997. Now Richard and Ann Northern are sharing their favorite memories from those days, from his Tennis Hotline show, to building the courts with their own hands, to having their own wedding at the club, which kicked off a decade and a half of love, labor, and rackets.
This intimate portrait of a tennis instructor is like a meditation on finding strength and peace through the ritual that is bringing ball to racket. She’s tough as nails when she’s training her students, but in her personal life, she’s grieving her mother’s health and old age. The only thing that recenters her is practicing her serve. When she’s on the court, she finds her breath again and transforms into the formidable athlete and instructor that most people see.
Get a glimpse at the future of health and rehab through five individuals testing out groundbreaking new technology and programs. Judging by their stories, the future is bright.
An intimate look at four rising musicians from Chicago and the common issues that young Black women artists have to overcome both in a male-dominated music industry and a marginalizing society, from racism to physical expectations to sexual trauma.
Seven billion people. One act. Infinite ways to do it. Everybody eats, but that’s where the similarities end. With the power to influence cultures, industries, and personal ambitions, eating is a direct entry point into understanding humanity
Jollof rice is a widely celebrated staple dish in both Nigeria and Ghana, but who does it better? In this seriously heated cook-off, Chef Segun of Nigeria and Chef Barbara of Ghana will each make a convincing case for their country’s version.
Sisterhood is more than skin deep. Half-sisters Jazmin and Timeisha are both proud to be Black, but having different skin tones means being impacted by prejudice in different ways. But they share one identical trait: they’ve got each other’s backs.
A great way to earn money or a pyramid scheme? Both Carly and Roberta sold clothes for controversial MLM (multi-level marketing) company LulaRoe, but see why one calls it a healthy outlet and one became an anti-MLM advocate.
He lost nothing and fled. She lost everything and stayed. After surviving the 2018 Woolsey fire, record exec Damon Dash and lifelong Malibu resident LisaJo McGee developed very differing views on the value of home.
With a sound that’s like Erykah Badu meets Little Dragon and an eclectic style, Jean Deaux is poised for breakout success. She revisits her first open mic stages, opens up about a trauma, and reveals how she resists fear.
Akenya, 26, is a quadruple threat: singer, pianist, composer, and arranger. After overcoming a lonely childhood, health issues, and every form of marginalization, she’s now working with Grammy-nominated artists and ready to release her own album.
At 22, singer Christian has already won the respect of Chance the Rapper, but it hasn’t been an easy road. On the South Side, she dealt with redlining; in Freeport, she faced open racism. Now the preacher’s daughter is taking on the music industry.
Shortly after releasing her mixtape, “RETROGRADE,” rapper, teacher, and tarot card reader Jasmine (aka J Bambii) talks about the roots of her anxieties and how music has helped her heal and learn to accept herself.
In 2007, a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. The majority of them were in Norris Hall. Today, the building has been transformed into a center for peace studies, which Randall Bell calls a “textbook” way to revive a tragedy site.
The mere mention of Jeffrey Dahmer’s name sends chills, so imagine being his neighbors. In this case, the stigma was so strong that the building had to be destroyed. But according to Randall, that should have been just the beginning.
The Flight 93 memorial site turned a common field into a national landmark, but not before the landowner demanded a hefty sum for the property increase. Was he profiting off of tragedy or just fighting for fair compensation? Randall Bell explores.
Occupying the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the National Civil Rights Museum honors his legacy by continuing his work. But it’s more than a memorial; it’s a catalyst for ongoing change.
Technology is enabling paralyzed individuals to have more options than ever. Sergio, a quadriplegic, trades his mouthstick for an app that allows him to paint using simple facial movements.
The era of relying on opioids is over. Virtual reality technology is enabling individuals with injury-induced paralysis like Woody to reduce chronic pain through simulating movements with VR limbs.
Technology is enabling paralyzed individuals to have more options than ever. Sergio, a quadriplegic, trades his mouthstick for an app that allows him to paint using simple facial movements.
Like many seniors in the US, Betsy has chronic health issues but not the finances to treat them, until she found TIPS (Telehealth Intervention Program for Seniors). Now she has help, and a new family.
After an accident left him wheelchair-bound, Robert turned his life around with the help of ReWalk, a cutting-edge robotic exoskeleton. A revealing look at how much our bodies rely on walking.
There’s no better—or busier—New York location for the final round than Herald Square. Watch our finalists grand jeté down the crosswalk, twirl around poles, and even arabesque on a moving scooter. Who will Cesar crown the winner of Best Walk?
What do a South Korean breakdancer, a poet, a Taiwanese B-girl, a cheerleading coach, and a 9-year-old girl have in common? They’re all going to be serving their best dance moves down Fifth Avenue. Who will Cesar choose to move on to the finals?
From a Cuban woman whose moves turn heads to an old-school voguer who is a legend on the New York ball scene, today’s dancers will be workin’ it down Pier 35 on Manhattan’s waterfront. Who will wow Cesar and move on to the finals?
Witness a seasoned ballet dancer arabesque next to bok choy stands, a goth dancer do an aerial flip across the street, and a second-grader attempt the worm outside a seafood shop. Who will be named champion out of Chinatown and move on to the finals?
Today we’re outside One World Trade Center and our dancers include a “gothic superhero with ghost powers,” a young Japanese woman new to the city, and a former exotic dancer from 1980s New York. Whose moves will prevail?
Birders aren’t the only folks with expensive lenses and their heads angled upwards. In this very special episode, Jason heads to California to meet another group of flight obsessives: the plane spotters and aviation photographers of LAX.
Every spring, scores of migrating warblers and other songbirds descend on northwest Ohio—followed closely by their biggest fans: serious birders. While visiting Magee Marsh, Jason meets power couple Kimberly and Kenn Kaufman and finds out what brought them to birds, and to each other.
It had to be a peregrine falcon. In this episode, Jason visits a tattoo shop in Forest Park, Georgia, for his first experience getting inked. As he goes under the needle for a beautiful rendering of his favorite bird, Jason opens up about one of most difficult periods of his life.
Jason meets up with celebrated novelist and passionate birder Jonathan Franzen in Chicago, where they spot one of North America's rarest songbirds and discuss how Franzen’s impressive personal bird count (around 4,600 species!) influenced his views on climate change.
Jason meets the keen-eyed members of the Ohio Young Birders Club—one of the first youth birding groups in the country—and finds out what it’s like to be a teenage bird nerd.
Jason visits New York’s AMNH, where collections manager Paul Sweet gives him a special, behind-the-scenes look at one of the largest avian assortments in the world, which includes specimens of the extinct passenger pigeon, as well as parrots, owls, and Jason’s favorites, peregrine falcons.
Jason’s younger brother, Jeffrey, is also a birder, and when they head to Central Park together, their competitive instincts get triggered. In the midst of spotting turkey vultures and cedar waxwings, the duo discuss their “spark” birds and compare notes on what it’s really like to bird while black.
In this premiere episode, Bronx native and bird-lover Jason Ward visits Central Park—“the best place in North America to see migrating birds”—where he joins thousands of warblers and compares the unique sound of a rose-breasted grosbeak to the squeak of rubber soles on a basketball court.
Jason takes a visit to the Wild Bird Fund, an organization that works to rehabilitate thousands of injured birds every year, where he meets a Common Loon, an American Kestrel and accompanies a WBF staffer on a trip to release a group of pigeons back into the wilds of New York City.
What do house sparrows and predatory NYC real estate developers have in common? In this episode, acclaimed actress and Brooklyn resident Lili Taylor and Jason talk birding, acting and defense of one’s home turf.
He’s from the East Coast. They’re from the West Coast. In this episode, Jason teams up with two Audubon colleagues from the LA area for an excursion outside the city and frank conversations about their experiences of birding while brown.
Migration isn’t for the faint of heart. In Cape May, New Jersey, Jason witnesses songbirds battling howling winds, meets a team of migration researchers who outfit birds with high-tech GPS trackers, and gets up close and personal with the highly secretive yellow-billed cuckoo.
So. Many. Birds. Jason throws himself into the joyful mayhem of New Jersey Audubon’s Fall Festival at the Cape May Bird Observatory, where he meets birding legend Pete Dunne and a married couple who moved into a van to become full-time, mobile birders.
This intimate portrait of a tennis instructor is like a meditation on finding strength and peace through the ritual that is bringing ball to racket. She’s tough as nails when she’s training her students, but in her personal life, she’s grieving her mother’s health and old age. The only thing that recenters her is practicing her serve. When she’s on the court, she finds her breath again and transforms into the formidable athlete and instructor that most people see.
An interview with Robin Cloud, creator of the series Passing, about connecting with a branch of her family that had become completely disconnected—both from their relatives and their own history.
The producer and director describe how they came across the story of the Symphony for a Broken Orchestra project, and the men and women who championed it.
Why journalist Dani McClain wrote a book about the politics of black motherhood—and what it means to both raise your own children and connect with the needs of other families.