Season eight of AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange opens with an unflinching portrait of life as an immigrant, as concerns about illegal immigration and refugees reach fever pitch in America and across the world. The documentary series leads off Monday, January 18, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on WORLD Channel with director Ditte Haarløv Johnsen’s Days of Hope. The season premiere follows three African immigrants who brave it all for a better life in Europe. Jussie Smollett, star of the hit FOX TV showEmpire, serves as eighth season host for the series, which is produced by National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) and co-presented by American Public Television (APT).
AfroPoP takes on important issues facing the global black community, and here it is especially on point. Episode one of the series, Days of Hope, puts a face—or three—on the immigration issue, showing the lengths to which brave souls will go to better their lives and their families’ dire circumstances. But the dangerous journey these individuals take is nothing in comparison with the horrors they face in their adopted countries.
“The scale and sheer numbers of immigrants from Mexico and Central America as well as the Syrian refugee crisis overshadow any conversation about immigration from other communities of color, where the human rights concerns are just as critical. “ said NBPC Director of Programs and Acquisitions and AfroPoP Executive Producer Kay Shaw. “The opportunity to broadcast a beautifully told story about the plight of West Africans facing the same risks and challenges is a reminder that the issue is global, multi-faceted and multi-racial.”
New episodes of the five-part series premiere weekly through February 15.
