WXXI TV

A special concert that honors our country’s veterans, servicemen and women and military families.

National Memorial Day Concert 2024 airs Sunday, May 26 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

The concert unites the country in remembrance and appreciation of those who gave their lives for our nation and serves those who are grieving through the mission put forward by Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address, “Let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.”

Shares the fascinating story of a top-secret WWII unit that used inflatable tanks, sound effects, and illusions to fool the Germans on the battlefields of Europe.

The Ghost Army airs Monday, May 27 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

War, deception, art and glory come together in the documentary film The Ghost Army, the astonishing true story of American G.I.s — many of whom would later have illustrious careers in art, design and fashion — who tricked the enemy with rubber tanks, sound effects and carefully crafted illusions during WWII. Filmmaker Rick Beyer tells a remarkable story of a top-secret mission that was at once absurd, deadly and amazingly effective.

Tells the story of Eva, who promised her brother, Heinz Geiringer, that she would retrieve his paintings and poetry, hidden under the floorboards of the attic where Heinz and his father were hiding, if he should die in the concentration camps.

Eva’s Promise airs Monday, May 20 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

While on a train to Auschwitz in 1944, 17-year-old Heinz Geiringer told his younger sister Eva that he hid the paintings and poetry created during their time in hiding beneath the attic floorboards in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Heinz made Eva promise that if he should die in the camps, she would retrieve the artwork. Eva’s Promise introduces Heinz and his artistry, as well as his sister’s efforts to find and share his remarkable legacy after the war.

A survivor of the Holocaust and World War II, Eva became the posthumous stepsister of Anne when her mother married Anne’s father Otto Frank. Today, Heinz’s story sits in the shadow of the Diary of Anne Frank, but this film showcases Heinz’s artistry and Eva’s dedication in sharing both his work and their incredible life stories.

Highlights the history, heritage, and present-day plight of Western New York’s agriculturally and architecturally significant Wells barns.

Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons airs Sunday, August 18 at 1 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons creatively explores ways that remaining barns can regain their relevance through adaptive reuse while fostering community engagement in their preservation before these barns disappear from the landscape entirely due to development, decay, and obsolescence.

The film introduces viewers to six Wells Barns and their owners. Nathan Ruekberg, a fifth-generation farmer, and his wife, Hannah own one of the earliest Wells barns, built in 1892. The second barn, formerly known as the Avon Century Barn, is owned by Sandy Howlett and Melissa Stanton, a dynamic mother-daughter business team who have transformed their Wells barn into a wedding venue. The third barn, situated on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology, has been adapted into a rock-climbing gym. The fourth barn is owned by Gillian Conde who transformed it into a one-of-a-kind home that she shares with Jean Dombroski and their menagerie of animals. The final story features two barns that were relocated by their passionate owners Jennifer and Jerry Hall.

Breaking away from post and beam construction, John Talcott Wells, Sr. defied barn-building tradition to create an ingenious truss system – patented trusses (1889) specifically designed to balance outward and inward forces while creating soaring, open interior storage spaces for hay and grain. Historically significant in terms of their agricultural origins and their architectural artistry, Wells barns stand as physical testaments to the ingenuity of the master and family that built them.

Committed to protecting, preserving, and promoting the history of Wheatland, New York, the Wheatland Historical Association under President Kip Finley served as Churchbell Creative, LLC.’s fiscal sponsor, supporting producers with their goal of securing grant funding for the production of their independent television documentary. 

Grant support for this project came from the Lloyd E. Klos Fund at Rochester Area Community Foundation to support historical preservation, education and information. This documentary is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Churchbell Creative’s co-owners Katie Andres and Jillian Kuchman, two founding members of a grassroots volunteer organization known as the Wells Barn Legacy Team, served as executive producers on the film.

A landmark documentary about some of the last survivors of the Holocaust.

Frontline “The Last Survivors” airs Tuesday, May 7 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

A landmark documentary about some of the last survivors of the Holocaust. Only children at the time, these now elderly survivors reflect on how the trauma of the Holocaust has affected the rest of their lives.

Raising the curtain on the new Great Performances lineup is Hamlet from The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park starring Tony nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (“Slave Play”) in the title role with direction by Tony winner Kenny Leon.

Great Performances: Hamlet airs Friday, May 10 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

This Shakespearean classic is directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, featuring Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (“Slave Play”) in the title role and Solea Pfeiffer as Ophelia (“Hadestown”). Set in a desolate post-George Floyd world, this contemporary production is a present-day take on the Bard’s tale of family and betrayal.

A riveting documentary that explores how the monumental task of keeping astronauts mentally stable in space is tested to the extreme in anticipation of NASA’s pending Mars mission and its required three-year absence from Earth.

Independent Lens “Space: The Longest Goodbye airs Sunday, May 12 at 2:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

Space: The Longest Goodbye follows NASA’s real-life attempts to prepare astronauts for a journey to Mars. NASA’s goal to send astronauts to Mars would require a three-year absence from Earth, during which communication in real time would be impossible due to the immense distance. We meet the psychologists whose job is to keep astronauts mentally stable in outer space, as they are caught between their dream of reaching new frontiers and their basic human need to stay connected to home.

Photo: Cady and son speaking while she’s on the space station. • Credit: ITVS