This film tells the story about the Pope’s call to care for our planet. In 2015, Pope Francis wrote Laudato Si’, a letter to the world confronting the looming calamity of human impact on Earth and ourselves. It is one of the most ambitious and revolutionary papal statements in history and outlines the most critical environmental and social issues that we collectively face. The Letter: A Message for Our Earth airs Sunday, April 2 at 2:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Great Performances at the Met: The Hours
Premieres Friday, March 17 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Rochester’s own Renée Fleming makes her return to the Met in this new opera by from Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Kevin Puts, adapted from Michael Cunningham’s novel, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.” Also inspired by the 2002 Oscar-winning film, the opera follows three women from different eras who each grapple with inner demons and their roles in society. The opera also stars Tony winner Kelli O’Hara and opera star Joyce DiDonato. Phelim McDermott directs with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting. Christine Baranski hosts.
PBS KIDS Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage On-Demand
In the United States, May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. Many people use the month to honor the accomplishments of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States while celebrating their diverse heritages. Learn more with some of your friends from PBS KIDS! Asian Pacific American Heritage celebration started as a week in 1979 under the Carter administration but was extended to a full month on the first Bush administration.
All About Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month
39 Videos in a PBS KIDS Celebrate Asian-American Pacific Islander Month Playlist Watch Here:
PBSKIDS.org Asian-American, Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Month Playlist: Connect Here
A Good Life • On-Demand
Life is full of joys and challenges for us all — but the experiences of individuals living with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) is something that not everyone understands or appreciates.
A Good Life, a WXXI production, takes an intimate look into the lives of six adults living with I/DD and their families. The film shares the challenges and opportunities they face, while leading national experts and historians in the field offer insight.
The film’s producers were able to imbed themselves with these adults and their families, filming moments from their everyday lives. A Good Life provides the unique opportunity to share their stories from a first-person perspective. Viewers will see each family dealing with aging in a unique way that is specific to the time period and constructs they were born into.
The film also offers professional perspective and historical context from local and national experts including Dan Meyers, Al Sigl Community President Emeritus; Jeiri Flores, an advocacy specialist with the Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities; Professor Tamar Heller of the Insitute on Disability and Human Development; Dr. Allison Carey, Disability Activism Sociologist, Professor, and Author; Nicole VanGorder of Upstate Special Needs Planning; Professor Jorge Matos of City University of New York Center for the Humanities; and Dr. Stephen Sulkes of Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities.
Credit: WXXI
Produced by WXXI. A Good Life was produced in conjunction with Move to Include, a partnership between WXXI and the Golisano Foundation designed to build a more inclusive community by inspiring and motivating people to embrace different abilities and include all people in every aspect of community life. Move to Include grew out of WXXI and Al Sigl Community of Agencies initiative, Dialogue on Disability, which is an annual week-long programming event that encourages community dialogue about the lives and abilities of people with disabilities.
Watch The Trailer:
The U.S. and the Holocaust Educational Resources:
PBS LearningMedia Collection: U.S. & The Holocaust Video Clips and Lessons
PBS Website for U.S. & the Holocaust (See Extras and Specials)
THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST: Combining the first-person accounts of Holocaust witnesses and survivors and interviews with leading historians and writers, THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST dispels competing myths that Americans either were ignorant of the unspeakable persecution that Jews and other targeted minorities faced in Europe or that they looked on with callous indifference. The film tackles a range of questions that remain essential to our society today, including how racism influences policies related to immigration and refugees as well as how governments and people respond to the rise of authoritarian states that manipulate history and facts to consolidate power.
Local News Coverage and Survivor Stories from WXXI News
- Connections Podcast: Memoir Authors: Sam Rind and Jerry Elman on remarkable stories of surviving the Holocaust
- Connections Podcast: Holocaust survivor Lea Malek shares her story 9/20/2022
- Connections Podcast: Connections: Former White Supremicist Christian Picciolini On Disengaging From Extremist Movements
- A local Holocaust survivor says she’s haunted by images of the Russian invasion of Ukraine via WXXI News
- ‘RISE’: Rock musical honoring Jewish resistance fighters hopes to inspire today’s battle for democracy
- ‘State of Hate in Greater Rochester’ report shows majority of Jewish residents feel discrimination has increased
- More NPR & WXXI Issues Coverage Connected to the Holocaust
- Photo Essays: Local Survivors from MCC Holocaust, Genocide, & Human Rights Center
Specials: The Holocaust and Authoritarianism Today
Specials: The Holocaust and Refugees: Lessons for Today
Prelude: The Legacy of Garth Fagan Dance On-Demand
Explore the life and career of Tony award winning choreographer Garth Fagan and meet three of his long-time disciples, who are now tasked with bringing his technique and legacy to the next generation.
PRELUDE l The Legacy of Garth Fagan Dance takes you on a journey through the twists and turns of the Tony award-winning choreographer’s storied, collaborative, and prolific career. The WXXI production also looks at three of Mr. Fagan’s long-time disciples – William J. Ferguson II, Natalie Rogers-Cropper, and Norwood Pennewell – who are now tasked with bringing his technique and legacy to the next generation. Through an immersive, cutting-edge documentary film style, PRELUDE reveals the many facets of Garth Fagan.
In celebration of 50 years of Garth Fagan Dance, the hour-long documentary explores the experiences that make up this Jamaican-American dance treasure and his work. Through Mr. Fagan’s own words, PRELUDE sheds light on how he was able to build a multi-cultural dance company that incorporates African-American, Jamaican, and American dance styles into a whole new dance technique.
Mr. Fagan’s choreography was launched into the spotlight in 1997 in Julie Taymor’s Broadway production of The Lion King, and PRELUDE reflects on what that experience meant to the choreographer and his close collaborators. Using archival video of rehearsals, performances, and interviews shot throughout the last 50 years, the film looks at the evolution of the virtuoso and his company of dancers who shared his vision and mastered his technique.
Interviews with The Lion King director Julie Taymor, Kennedy Center award-winning dancer Judith Jameson, SUNY Brockport Dancer Professor Emeritus Jacquie Davis, and many others provide a multifaceted view of all stages of Fagan’s illustrious career and a look at the next generation of Garth Fagan Dance.
Produced by WXXI and distributed by American Public Television
Credit: Jason Milton
Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa On-Demand
Honoring the heritage, unity, culture, and rich contributions of African Americans, Kwanzaa is more than just a celebration; it’s a way of life. Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa explores the seven principles that are the foundation of Kwanzaa by sharing seven real-life stories of impact. These stories reveal how each principle plays a role in the Black community, illustrated through cultural elements of dance, storytelling, music, and spoken word. Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa explores the seven principles that are the foundation of Kwanzaa by sharing seven real-life stories of impact.
Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa features interviews with Dr. David A. Anderson/Sankofa, Rochester Kwanzaa Coalition; Ms. Melba Ayco, Artistic Director and Owner, Northwest Tap Connection; Delores Jackson Radney, Rochester Kwanzaa Coalition; Melanie Funchess, Principal & CEO, Ubuntu Village Works LLC; Reenah Golden, Founder and Artistic Director, Avenue Blackbox Theatre; Anthony and Zakiya King, Owners of Cerebral Kingdom Bookstore; Dr. Shaun Nelms, EPO Superintendent, East High School; Shawn Dunwoody, Digital Designer Dunwoodē Designs; Terrie Ajile Axam, Founder Artistic Director, Total Dance/Dancical Productions Inc., and Terry Chaka, Rochester Kwanzaa Coalition.
Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa is a WXXI Public Media production from 2022. The production team includes: Teej Jenkins-Routier, producer/director; Joanne V. Gordon, editor/producer; and Rhonda Austin, associate producer.
Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space On-Demand
American Experience presents Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space. Meet the influential author and anthropologist whose groundbreaking anthropological work challenged the assumptions about race, gender, and cultural superiority that had long defined the field in the 19th century.
Raised in the small all-Black Florida town of Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston studied at Howard University before arriving in New York in 1925. She would soon become a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, best remembered for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. But even as she gained renown in the Harlem literary circles, Hurston was also discovering anthropology at Barnard College with the renowned Franz Boas. She would make several trips to the American South and the Caribbean, documenting the lives of rural Black people and collecting their stories. She studied her own people, an unusual practice at the time, and during her lifetime became known as the foremost authority on Black folklore. (Available through: January 16, 2026 11:59 pm)