Black Public Media launches new digital shorts series

On the heels of a successful Season 15 of its signature documentary series,Black Public Media brings a monthly digital short film series to its YouTube Channel

NEW YORK (May 11, 2023) - Harlem-based Black Public Media (BPM), a national arts nonprofit known in part for its award-winning documentary series AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange (now in its 15th season) is unveiling AfroPoP Digital Shorts. The new series, which delivers contemporary stories about life, art and culture from all corners of the African diaspora, will launch its inaugural season on Black Public Media's YouTube channel on Monday, May 22.

Unlike AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange (BPM's broadcast and streaming series), which frames each season around a central theme (such as season 15's art focus), AfroPoP Digital Shorts explores different subjects and storylines, in both documentary and narrative forms.

"With our new digital shorts series,we look forward to providing our filmmakers with a platform to reach a larger, often younger, audience that is eager to engage around a variety of issues and themes," said BPM Director of Program Initiatives Denise A. Greene.

AfroPoP Digital Shorts' premiere film is carrie hawks' Inner Wound Real, an animated short about three BIPOCs with a history of self-injury as they seek out new coping methods.

Future monthly offerings will be released on the third Monday of the month. They include:

• The Black Disquisition by Quincy Ledbetter, a true story of the traumatic event in a boy's life that fractures his self-image and the difficult conversation his parents must have with him about race in America.

• Descended From The Promised Land: The Legacy of Black Wall Street by Nailah Jefferson and Laurens Jefferson, which asks, "If the Tulsa Race Massacre had never happened, would Black Wall Street have influenced the entire nation?

• Lakeside's Treasure by Rasheed Peters, afilm portrait of Betty McDaniel, owner of Lakeside Treasures, an antique and vintage shop in Rogers Park, Chicago. Once just a post-retirement dream, the shop has been open for over 10 years and has become a staple in McDaniel's life and for many living in Rogers Park and the greater Chicago area. This portrait personifies perseverance, dedication and most importantly, heart.

• Midnight Oil by Bilal Motley, which draws on director Bilal Motley's 15 years of experience as a steelworker at a large oil refinery. The film chronicles his struggle to reconcile his love and kinship for his distressed refinery brothers and sisters with his growing awareness of the surrounding communities' fight for environmental justice.

• Portal by Rodney Evans, ashort non-fiction film about the lack of touch for single people during the COVID-19 pandemic and how two queer, BIPOC friends sustain each other through communication and connection.
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To find out more about AfroPoP Digital Shorts, visithttps://blackpublicmedia.org/afropop/.

ABOUT BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA:

Black Public Media (BPM) supports the development of visionary content creators and distributes stories about the global Black experience to inspire a more equitable and inclusive future. For more than 40 years, BPM has addressed the needs of unserved and underserved audiences. BPM continues to address historical, contemporary, and systemic challenges that traditionally impede the development and distribution of Black stories. For more information, visit blackpublicmedia.org and follow BPM on Instagram and Facebook and @BLKPublicMedia on Twitter