Streaming TV Platform Featuring Stories and Culture of Global Black Community, kweliTV, Launches Beta Site
Take the word Africa. What is the first thing that comes to mind? Famine? Warlords? AIDS? Without thinking, what comes to mind when you hear the words “Black America”? Welfare? Poverty? Anger? Fatherless? Thug?
The black community is all too familiar with these stereotypes. What they also know is that they do not make up the reality of the African diaspora. Often times, the messages most dominant in today’s media are negative towards people of color and pervaded with false perceptions. kweliTV’s mission is to change the narrative for this very reason.
kweliTV, Inc., is an interactive, streaming TV platform dedicated to the stories, issues and culture of the global black community. kweliTV’s beta—which launches today—offers indie films, documentaries, web shows and news programming exclusively for the African diaspora. Visit the beta by visiting www.kweli.tv.
“With the Black Lives Matter movement and other recent events, we want to create a platform that goes deeper than what mainstream media is contributing to the conversation on race by offering content that celebrates our rich culture while also discussing issues that are most important to us,” said kweliTV Founder and CEO, DeShuna Spencer. “Kweli means ‘Truth’ in Swahili. Our mission is to preserve the African Diaspora by sharing the true stories about our community, not reinforce false stereotypes.
kweliTV beta has nearly 40 films in its growing library with plans to release new content every Monday. Some of the award-winning and critically acclaimed films streaming now on kweliTV’s beta include:
Afraid of Dark, a documentary by filmmaker Mya B
The Czar of Black Hollywood, a historical documentary by filmmaker Bayer Mack
Golden Parachute, a short film by French filmmaker Wally Fall
La Source, a Haitian documentary by filmmaker Brandon Fedder
The Value of Ex, a web series by filmmaker Bridgett Lawrence
“Many of the films on kweliTV may not be recognizable by name and that’s on purpose,” Spencer said. “Dozens of award-winning black films, many of which are directed by filmmakers of color, are released each year but never get the same distribution as mainstream films with mostly white casts and/or subjects. In many ways, we see kweliTV as the bridge between a new crop of up and coming black filmmakers and our audience looking for great content.”
kweliTV also provides the opportunity for underrepresented filmmakers who make create content for and about the African Diaspora to make money for their content beyond the film festival circuit. kweliTV is currently accepting film and web show submissions. Interested filmmakers can submit here.
kweliTV, Inc. is offering customers the first month of service free and thereafter, customers will receive a 50 percent discount on any subscription plan for the duration of beta. “The beta will allow us to open a dialogue with our community and help us build an even greater experience for our customers,” Spencer said.
The official launch for kweliTV is slated for the end of 2015.