This Week:
Dig deeper into this week's episodes of USOA and Patagonia.
Plus, a new CNN Film comes to HBO Max next week.
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Watch W. Kamau Bell's discussion with CNN's Sara Sidner about what's in store for viewers this season on USOA |
This week, United Shades of America takes viewers to Appalachia — a region of the US where Black experiences have often been overlooked. Host W. Kamau Bell sat down with CNN's Sara Sidner to talk about his time in the region.
Sidner: Tell me what it was like being in Appalachia and what you discovered?
Bell: In a previous season, the series focused on coal miners in Appalachia. One of our producers, Geraldine Porras, walked past something called the Lynch Colored School, and she was like, "Kamau would be interested to know what's going on in this building." And we met some Black ex-coal miners in Appalachia.
So this was about going back in and digging deep and really connecting with a lot of the Black communities in Appalachia.
It's definitely not what you would expect if you don't live there. A lot of mixed kids in Appalachia. The communities are not separated and hating on each other in the way we might think in a place like that. They are pretty well mixed in together because they're in the mountains and there's not a lot of places to separate, I think.
To watch their full conversation about all the exciting topics covered this season, click here.
If you want to learn more about the lesser-known diverse population in Appalachia, you can read about Neema Avashia's experience growing up queer and Indian in the region.
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WATCH: Biologist hopes you’ll fall in love after watching this rare, tiny dolphin
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Rare footage of the Chilean Dolphin |
This week, Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World takes you to the Fjordlands. These beautiful, flooded valleys were carved out by ice over millennia. During the summer, these nutrient-rich waters are in high demand from both animals and people, which threatens the natural balance.
The Guaitecas islands are the home to the Chilean Dolphin, one of the smallest dolphins in the world. Marine biologist Carla Christie, who has dedicated her career to studying these dolphins, captured rare footage of their behavior in the wild while filming Patagonia.
"They are an almost endangered species. They could be extinct in 10 or 20 years," said Christie. "I want not only Chileans to know the Chilean dolphin, but also, the rest of the world to know about this special and particular species and make people fall in love."
You can watch an exclusive extended cut of the footage her team captured of the dolphins here.
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First pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope released |
NASA released the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope — the most powerful space telescope ever. NASA called one of the photos "the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the early universe ever taken."
The image released on Monday depicts a massive group of galaxy clusters that act as a magnifying glass for the objects behind them.
Additional images released Tuesday included Webb's study of the giant gas planet WASP-96b, which is the most detailed spectrum of an exoplanet to date; the Southern Ring Nebula, also called the "Eight-Burst," and the Carina Nebula, a stellar nursery where stars are born.
Webb's mission is to peer into the atmospheres of exoplanets, some of which are potentially habitable, which it could uncover clues in the ongoing search for life outside of Earth.
You can follow along for updates from the JWST here.
Webb was an expensive undertaking that took years longer than expected. CNN covered the efforts of hard-working scientists devoted to bringing the telescope to life in the CNN Film The Hunt for Planet B. You can watch it now on Amazon Prime Video.
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Watch an all-new CNN Film on HBO Max next week |
The 6-part documentary from CNN Films and HBO Max The Last Movie Stars follows actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s iconic careers and decades-long partnership. The film directed by Ethan Hawke is coming to HBO Max next Thursday, July 21.
Central to The Last Movie Stars is a long-abandoned project that Newman commissioned from friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern. Stern interviewed Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet, Karl Malden, Sidney Pollack, Gore Vidal, Jacqueline Witte, Joanne Woodward and others for the unfinished memoir.
In addition to archival interviews with Woodward and Newman, Hawke enlisted actors Karen Allen, George Clooney, Oscar Isaac, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Zoe Kazan, Laura Linney, Sam Rockwell and more to bring the interviews to life.
“Exploring Woodward and Newman through their 50-year love affair has proven more rewarding than I could have imagined. Their work, philanthropy, and lives serve as a kind of North Star, illuminating what a substantive, meaningful life can look like,” said director Hawke.
You can watch the trailer now on HBO Max.
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