Highlights Archive

Cinema Nomad • WXXI-TV

Explores the world through the life and lens of filmmakers in their thirties.

Cinema Nomad airs Saturdays, October 4-November 1 at 11:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app.

Explore nations through the country’s cinematic past, present and future. Cinephile host, Stephanie Gardner, takes viewers on a journey around the world to meet directors in their thirties, delving into their hopes, dreams and desires. Viewers experience the filmmakers’ daily lives, visit their homes, neighborhoods, hangouts, and the locations that inspire their creativity.

La Recua: The Mule Pack Train • WXXI-TV

An aging vaquero who lives in the heart of Baja, guards much of the Old Californio traditional knowledge in his mind and soul.

La Recua: The Mule Pack Train airs Saturday, October 4 at 5 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app.

It’s all about cowboys, mules and desert trails… but it’s so much more! An aging vaquero who lives in the heart of Baja, guards much of the Old Californio traditional knowledge in his mind and soul…. and he wants to tell his story!

Broadcast in Spanish with English subtitles.

Great Performances: The Magic of Grace Bumbry • WXXI-TV

Discover Grace Bumbry’s inspiring rise to global opera fame.

Great Performances: The Magic of Grace Bumbry airs Friday, October 3 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app.

The Magic of Grace Bumbry recounts the story of the African American Missouri native who rose to fame in the 1960s international opera scene. Bumbry’s rise began in the 1950s when she won a radio competition at the age of 17. Encountering racism when she was prevented from studying at the St. Louis Institute of Music, she nevertheless achieved international renown with her breakthrough performance in Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” at the 1961 Bayreuth Festival, in which she appeared for 40 performances. The film explores Grace Bumbry’s groundbreaking career, featuring performances from her early career leading up to her role in the 1966 Salzburg Festival production of “Carmen,” directed by German conductor Herbert von Karajan.

The film follows the format of previous documentaries from Great Performances’ “Magic of” series, including The Magic of Spirituals highlighting opera stars Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman and The Magic of Nureyev, which explored the career of ballet dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev. Featuring interviews with singer and vocal coach David Lee Brewer, opera singer Felicia Weathers, opera singer Anna Tomowa-Sintow and La Scala general director Dominique Meyer.

Songs About Buildings and Moods • WXXI-TV

What do the buildings we create say about us? How does a musical interpretation change our perception of a building?

Songs About Buildings and Moods, Season 2 airs Sunday, September 28 at 3:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app.

How does a musical interpretation change our perception of a building? Songs About Buildings and Moods, a five-part series uses storytelling and performance to create a unique series exploring the connection between music and architecture. The buildings include Saarinen’s masterpiece for TWA, Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum and a Black church in Chicago among others.

Episode titles & dates:
9/28 Ex Teresa Arte Actual and George Peabody Library Discover Ex Teresa Arte Actual in Mexico City and the George Peabody Library in Baltimore.
10/5 Estudios Churubusco and the Fisher Building Visit the birthplace of Mexico’s Golden Era of Cinema, the Estudios Churubusco.
10/12 Biblioteca Vasconcelos and Ohio State Reformatory Get a glimpse of Mexico City’s Biblioteca Vasconcelos with their floating shelves.
10/19 Brooklyn Tower and the Wrigley BuildingExplore Brooklyn’s first super-tall tower and Chicago’s Wrigley Building.
10/26 Stony Island Arts Bank and Cranbrook Academy of Art Discover Stony Island Arts Bank and the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Rush: The Time Machine — Live from Cleveland • WXXI-TV

This live concert, recorded in April 2011 at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, pays homage to the city that first played their music on the radio.

Rush: The Time Machine — Live from Cleveland airs Saturday, September 20 at 4:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app.

Rush’s The Time Machine Tour was a favorite among fans, thanks to its incredible set list, which encompassed songs from the progressive rock trio’s entire career. This live concert, recorded in April 2011 at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, pays homage to the city that first played their music on the radio. Highlights include “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight” and “Closer to the Heart.”

Omara — Cuba’s Legendary Diva • WXXI-TV

Enjoy this celebratory portrait of beloved Cuban singer Omara Portuondo.

Omara — Cuba’s Legendary Diva airs Friday, September 26 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the PBS app.

This heartfelt documentary follows Omara Portuondo, a driving force in Afro-Cuban music for over half a century, as she performs for passionate fans from Cuba to New York to Tokyo.

Omara: La Diva Legendaria de Cuba — Viernes, 26 de septiembre, a las 10 p. m. en WXXI-TV
Este conmovedor documental sigue a Omara Portuondo, una fuerza impulsora de la música afrocubana durante más de medio siglo, mientras actúa para sus apasionados fanáticos desde Cuba hasta Nueva York y Tokio.

Prohibition “A Nation of Scofflaws” • WXXI-TV

Part 2 of this Ken Burns’ production examines the problems of enforcement, as millions of law-abiding Americans become lawbreakers overnight

The Prohibition “A Nation of Scofflaws” airs Friday, September 12 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app.

On January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution goes into effect, making it illegal to manufacture, transport or sell intoxicating liquor. Episode Two, A Nation of Scofflaws, examines the problems of enforcement, as millions of law-abiding Americans become lawbreakers overnight. While a significant portion of the country is willing to adapt to the new law, others are shocked at how inconsistent the Volstead Act actually is. Many had believed that light beer would still be available, but the Act defines “intoxicating beverages” as anything containing a half of one percent of alcohol. Under these draconian terms, even sauerkraut is illegal.

Exceptions and loopholes in the law make a mockery of it: a family can legally make wine at home but not beer, a friendly doctor’s prescription is all that’s needed for whiskey, and anyone claiming to be a rabbi can buy, and sell, “sacramental” wine.

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Episode 3: A Nation of Hypocrites airs Friday, September 19 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV
In the mid 1920s, an unprecedented winning streak continues on Wall Street, and it feels to many like the good times will go on forever. Americans during the Jazz Age, writes F. Scott Fitzgerald, are “a whole race gone hedonistic, deciding on pleasure.” Prohibition, with its moralistic underpinnings, begins to feel anachronistic at best. In Episode 3, A Nation of Hypocrites, support for the law diminishes as the playfulness of sneaking around for a drink gives way to disenchantment with its glaring unintended consequences.

Episode 1: A Nation of Drunkards, aired Friday, September 5 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Americans have argued over alcohol for centuries. Since the early years of the American Republic, drinking has been at least as American as apple pie.
As Episode 1: A Nation of Drunkards begins, clergymen, craftsmen and canal-diggers drink. So do the crowds of men who turn out for barn-raisings and baptisms, funerals, elections and public hangings. Tankards of cider are kept by farmhouses’ front doors, and in many places alcohol is considered safer to drink than water. Alcohol, along with its attendant rituals and traditions, is embedded in the fabric of American culture.

Becoming Thurgood Education Resources • On-demand

With PBS LearningMedia Collection of Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect, bring history and civics to life as students explore the legacy of Thurgood Marshall—visionary lawyer, civil rights leader, and the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Featuring powerful clips from Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect, this collection invites students in Grades 5–12 to examine Marshall’s fight to expand constitutional rights, understand the personal and professional influence of his education at HBCUs, and study landmark cases that defined civil rights history. Known as America’s social architect, Thurgood Marshall reshaped democracy through law as he fought segregation, strengthened voting rights, and challenged injustices, proving one person can make a lasting difference.

Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect Watch Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect on-demand through February 17, 2026 below and then enjoy the on-demand version of the Community Discussion (below) from an event at WXXI Studios from September 4, 2025 screening event. *Becoming Thurgood* The film explores the legacy of Thurgood Marshall—Civil Rights litigator, Brown v. Board architect, and the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. A panel led by Kearstin Piper Brown with Dr. Shaun Nelms, Judge Melissa L. Barrett, and Spencer Ash, Esq., discussed the film’s themes and their relevance to justice and equity today.

Connect to Becoming Thurgood Collection (5th-12th)

Teacher Backgrounders

Listen or watch the Connections with Evan Dawson podcast talk show of The story of a Black lawyer who became America’s “social architect”: Thurgood Marshall

Watch the Community Discussion

About the film:
With a combination of oral history, animation, and evocative sound design, this new one-hour documentary explores the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the visionary lawyer and civil rights leader who became the first Black justice on the United States Supreme Court. Drawing from rare archival recordings, personal photographs, and exclusive interviews, the film traces Marshall’s journey from his birth in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908 to his formative years at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law to his groundbreaking career as a lawyer championing civil rights and dismantling segregation.

A discussion followed the screening of the film, moderated by Kearstin Piper Brown, American Soprano and WXXI Classical Host in addition to graduating from Spelman, an HBCU higher education institution and Northwestern University.

Panelists:

Dr. Shaun Nelms, vice president of community partnerships at the University of Rochester. He previously served as the superintendent as the Educational Partnership Organization (EPO) superintendent for East, to create a school reform model that can be replicated in urban settings throughout the U.S. Since 2018 he has served as the Professor (Clinical), William & Sheila Konar Director of the Center for Urban Education Success at the Warner School. In this role, Nelms leads the center’s efforts to support the success of K-12 urban schools both locally and nationally through a combination of research, relationship building, and a commitment to pursue and share best practices.

The Honorable Melissa L. Barrett, Supervising Judge of the Rochester City Trial Courts, most recently elected for a term of 2020-2029. Barrett earned a B.A. from the SUNY Albany in 1991. She then completed a J.D. at SUNY at Buffalo Law School in 1995. More info:

Her memberships have included the Rochester Black Bar Association. she has also served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town Perinton, and she has been involved in the Genesee Street Business Corridor, the Deaconess Ministry at the Aenon Missionary Baptist Church, the United Way of Rochester African American Leadership Development Program and the Rochester Chapter of The Links, Inc.

Spencer Ash, ESQ, Senior Counsel at the Law Offices of Pullano & Farrow Spencer is an experienced litigation and transactional attorney with vast public and private sector experience. Spencer practices law in New York State Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and is a member of the Supreme Court of the United States. He has worked as counsel for several Fortune 100 companies and currently represents the City of Rochester, New York. Spencer is a Rochester native, a graduate of Pittsford Mendon High School, S.U.N.Y at Buffalo and Touro Law Center. He specializes in state, federal and appellate litigation, as well as contract law.

Spencer is also a passionate community advocate who has served on the Foundation Board of the Monroe County Bar Association, participated in Lawyers For Learning as both a mentor and a Vice-Chair, was President of the Rochester Black Bar Association in 2013 and has contributed to periodicals such as the Daily Record and Our Voice Magazine. He has been named an Emerging Bar Leader, an Emerging African American Leader, received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Rochester Black Bar Association, is a graduate of Leadership Rochester, and a recipient of Dale Carnegie’s Outstanding Performance Award.

Photo: Thurgood Marshall leaves Federal Court in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 29, 1956.
Credit: Library of Congress

Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect airs Tuesday, September 9 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI & PBS apps. The program repeats Wednesday, September 10 at 2 a.m., Thursday, September 11 at 4 a.m., Saturday, September 13 at 3 p.m. , and Tuesday, September 16 at 5 p.m. on WXXI-TV. After the first airing. The documentary will be available on-demand through October 8th.

Promo for Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect

BECOMING THURGOOD: AMERICA’S SOCIAL ARCHITECT is a production of Maryland Public Television, made possible with an appropriation from the State of Maryland for The Center for Maryland History Films. Funding for the film is also provided by Morgan State University, Theralogix, Sage Policy Group, and Allan and Shelley Holt (through the Hillside Foundation).

Watch the Full Program When Available: