AAPI Heritage Month Programming on WETA World

Thursday, May 1 at 8 p.m. 

This Peabody Award-winning WETA co-production explores the impact of Asian Americans, the fastest-growing population in the United States, on the country’s past, present and future. The episode examines how new immigrants from China, Japan and beyond, despite anti-Asian laws, build railroads, dazzle in Hollywood, and fight for equality

Thursday, May 1 at 9 p.m.

Ngāti Manu woman Isey Cross lives with her youngest son, James, on a farm in Kawakawa, a small town on New Zealand's North Island. Cheeky and vivacious, the 99-year-old is preparing to celebrate her centenary with the party of a lifetime. The film captures their devoted bond – to each other and the spirit world – and their infectious aroha/love.

Friday, May 2 at 7 p.m.

This documentary explores the life and career of the groundbreaking author of The Joy Luck Club through home movies, personal photographs, and original interviews. 

Saturday, May 3 at 7 p.m.

Travel to India and explore the origins and legacy of iconic Indian sarodist Ali Akbar Khan's music—through the eyes of his son Alam. Carlos Santana, Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, slide guitarist Derek Trucks, and many other musicians provide commentary.

Saturday, May 3 at 8 p.m.

Using his camera as a "weapon against injustice," photographer Corky Lee's art is his activism. His images of Asian American life empowered generations. This intimate portrait reveals the triumphs and tragedies of the man behind the lens.

Saturday, May 3 at 9 p.m.

Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker Bill Einreinhofer reflects on his time in China, what he discovered and learned, and the dramatic changes he witnessed. He interviewed countless people about China, its culture, and its history. Many of those people are now gone. But their stories live on through him.

Monday, May 5 at 3:30 p.m.

The award-winning film chronicles the life and revival of the legendary all-woman rock band, Fanny. Founded by two Filipina American sisters an the group .  is the first all-female band to release an album with a major record label. Fighting barriers of race, gender, and sexuality, Fanny made a groundbreaking impact on modern music.

Monday, May 5 at 7 p.m.

Portrait of Setsuko Thurlow, an 85-yea-old survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II, through the lens of her friendship with second-generation survivor Mitchie Takeuchi.

Tuesday, May 6 at 2:30 p.m.

Kelly Corrigan talks with journalist and author Richard Lui about selflessness and caretaking. 

Thursday, May 8 at 8 p.m.

Meet an American-born generation tied to the U.S. and their parents' homelands in Asia. Loyalties are tested during World War II when families are imprisoned in detention camps, and brothers find themselves on opposite sides of battle lines. 

Saturday, May 10 at 8 p.m.

Explore how two antiwar protests in the fall of 1969 pressured President Nixon to cancel what he called his "madman" plans for a massive escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam, including a threat to use nuclear weapons. 

Saturday, May 10 at 9:30 p.m.

The film chronicles the unjust incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, specifically focusing on the 7500 held at Camp Amache in Southeastern Colorado. For years, archeologists and survivors have been digging into the past and discovering how the incarcerees built a life behind barbed wire and created a desolate desert community.

Sunday, May 11 at 11 p.m.

Shot with a mix of smartphones and GoPros, filmmaker Taku Aoyagi documents his daily bike rides as an Uber Eats worker. But while pedaling on Tokyo's deserted streets and delivering boba tea to cloistered condos, he starts to wonder what Ken Loach said about the Uberization of society. And what does gig-work offer an unemployed person with student debt?

Monday, May 12 at 3 p.m.

Travel from the Silk Road to the Yellow Sea with host Michael Wood as he explores the history of the world's newest superpower. This episode explores China’s early history as Wood joins a million people at a festival devoted to ancient gods, hears the tale of China’s bloodthirsty first emperor, and travels the Silk Road to discover the brilliant Tang dynasty.

At 21, he was a leader of Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution. By 23, he became Hong Kong's youngest elected lawmaker. At 26, Nathan Law was Most Wanted under the National Security Law. Who's Afraid of Nathan Law? offers a close look at the city's most famous dissident to uncover what happens to freedom when an authoritarian power goes unchecked.

Tuesday, May 13 at 3 p.m.

Learn of the stunning achievements of two of China’s most brilliant dynasties: the Song, creators of a Chinese Renaissance, and the Ming, builders of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. 

Wednesday, May 14 at 2 p.m.

Gandhi's Awakening documents Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in his young, transformative years in South Africa before he became known as Mahatma (Great Soul) and Father of the Indian nation. In South Africa, he faces prejudice and hatred as an Indian immigrant, undergoes a spiritual epiphany of purpose, and creates a revolutionary nonviolent method to fight injustice and oppression that millions around the globe will later adopt.

Wednesday, May 14 at 3 p.m.

Host, Michael Wood spotlights the splendor of the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing. Learn about the fateful First Opium War, which sparked the fall of the empire, and, after the 20^th century revolutions, the birth of today’s China. 

Wednesday, May 14 at 7 p.m.

This film captures the unbelievable life story of Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant wrongfully convicted of a 1973 murder in San Francisco. 

Wednesday, May 14 at 8:30 p.m. 

Follow the Philippines' turbulent 2022 presidential race, with the son of ousted former dictator Ferdinand Marcos waging a combative social media campaign against his more progressive opponent, incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo. 

Thursday, May 15 at 8 p.m.

Learn how Asian Americans are targeted as perpetual foreigners during the Cold War. 

Thursday, May 15 at 9 p.m.

Filmmaker Anna Marbrook takes us with her friend, Lilo Ema Siope, an extraordinary ocean-going waka captain, on an emotional healing journey in the last months of her life. Strongly tied to Ema's Samoan culture, the film is an intimate exploration of a family shattered by shame but working to liberate themselves from the shackles of the past.

Friday, May 16 at 7 p.m.

More than a century before the recent COVID-19 pandemic set off a wave of fear and anti-Asian sentiment, a deadly outbreak of bubonic plague in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1900 caused a similar furor. The film is based on David K. Randall’s book “Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race of Save America from the Bubonic Plague.”

Saturday, May 17 at 8 p.m.

A real-life romantic comedy about Ravi Patel, an Indian American actor/comedian who enters into a love triangle between the woman of his dreams — and his parents.

Monday, May 19 at 2 p.m.

Follow fashion designer Sharayah Chun-Lai and her family as they put it all on the line to bring Ola Hou Designs to the New York runway.

Monday, May 19 at 3 p.m.

Two stories about the uncertain futures for two Hawaiian paniolos. One prepares to graduate from high school and must make the decision whether to stay home or leave; the other plans for the future of her ranch while facing the uncertainty of the state-held lease of the land expiring soon. 

Monday, May 19 at 4 p.m.

Although only 20, Vahine Fierro is undaunted by the Teahupo'o wave, considered the most dangerous in the world. Vahine surfs as no other Polynesian girl has ever surfed. In Tahitian culture, riding the waves is an ancestral activity from which women had been gradually eliminated, but now surfing is open to women, just in time for the Olympics.

Monday, May 19 at 8 p.m.

Mumbai fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh are inheritors of the great Koli knowledge system - a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has embraced technology. The story is the tale of the best friends’ bond fractured by the weight of a changing world and a sea threatened by climate change.

Tuesday, May 20 at 2 p.m.

New Zealand teenagers join the global School Strike for Climate. But planning a movement and building momentum are the easy parts as they face political indifference, their own white privilege, and the ongoing struggle to be heard.

Tuesday, May 20 at 3 p.m.

Three short films that explore the delicate balance in Hawai'i's ecosystems, that encourage us to reflect on our relationship with the natural world and show us that even the smallest species, like Hawaiian tree snails, and ornamental trees, like the coconut, are worth saving.

Tuesday, May 20 at 4 p.m.

The design philosophies of Antonin and Noemi Raymond, George Nakashima, and Junzo Yoshimura continue to influence architecture and design today. The film showcases three significant sites in Philadelphia that highlight the influence of traditional Japanese architecture on modernist architecture and design.

Thursday, May 22 at 8 p.m.

A younger generation fights for equality in the fields, on campuses and in the culture, and new immigrants and war refugees expand the definition of Asian American.

Thursday, May 22 at 9 p.m.

On Honolulu's famous Waikiki Beach stand four large stones that represent a Hawaiian tradition of healing and gender diversity that is all but unknown to the millions of locals and tourists passing by. According to legend, the stones are a tribute to four mahu, people of dual male and female spirit, who brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii and used their spiritual power to cure disease.

Saturday, May 24 at 8 p.m.

The bonds of sisterhood, and the parallels of struggles among generations of women in China, are drawn together by the once-secret written language of Nüshu, the only script designed and used exclusively by women.

Monday, May 26 at 8 p.m.

The film traces the story of Di, a 13-year-old girl coming of age in an indigenous Hmong community in the mountains of Northwest Vietnam. As part of the first generation in her village with access to formal education, Di navigates the cultural and social challenges young girls face while balancing inherited tradition with change.

Thursday, May 28 at 8:30 p.m.

The film is the coming-of-age story of Ashley Chea, a Cambodian American basketball prodigy in Southern California whose life intensifies as recruitment heats up. As she overcomes injury as well as racial and class differences between her home and private school worlds, in peer groups, and against rival schools, Ashley strives to become her own person and leave a legacy behind.

Thursday, May 29 at 8 p.m.

Revisit the turn of the millennium, when Asian Americans are empowered by growing numbers and rising influence but face a reckoning of what it means to be an American in an increasingly polarized society.

Friday, May 30 at 9 p.m.

The film explores the racial inheritance of Japanese American family incarceration during World War II through multigenerational conversations with survivors and their descendants. 

Saturday, May 31 at 8 p.m.

Following the aftermath of the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta, this film chronicles how the Asian American community came together to fight back against hate – and also explores the struggles and triumphs of AAPI communities.