KALECHE: Where am I?

THOMA: This is Kati Kati.

And you're here because you're dead.

ANNOUNCER: Afterlife.

Redemption.

Universal questions with singularly personal answers.

No one stays here forever.

But how do we leave, if we don't know what brought us here in the first place?

(lightning strikes, thunder rumbles) ANNOUNCER: "Kati Kati," directed by Mbithi Masya, on "AfroPoP."

♪ ♪ Hey!

♪ ♪ Hey!

♪ ♪ Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

(lights buzzing) (exhales sharply) GRACE, MAN, MIKEY (speaking Swahili): MAN and MIKEY: (laughing) WOMAN: Rambo!

MIKEY: (laughing) (laughing) (talking in background) THOMA: We have a visitor.

MIKEY (chuckles): MAN: (others chuckling) ♪ ♪ Where am I?

My name is Thoma, and this is Kati Kati.

And you're here because you're dead.

MAN and WOMAN (audio muffled): MAN: (woman murmurs) (others laughing) WOMAN: (thuds) (audio distorts) (normal audio resumes) (talking in background) (woman laughs) (conversations continue) MAN: Here she comes, here she comes, here she comes.

Six, six.

(man clears throat) (others murmuring) MAN: Wait, wait, wait, you don't want to do that.

(calling) Don't!

(stick thuds dully) (others yelp) Hey!

♪ ♪ (voices echoing) (breathing heavily) Don't.

THOMA: I know it's hard.

You wake up hoping for paradise.

And this is what you get.

(lights buzzing) THOMA: Mm?

MIKEY: THOMA: Mm.

- Kaleche.

THOMA: Yes, um... That's your name.

You hit your head hard back there.

Not to worry.

Just get some rest-- it'll be okay.

In fact, can come tomorrow and, you know, just take you out to see the rest.

Here.

Thanks.

- Okay.

- Is this hell?

- Sorry?

- Hell-- is this hell?

- (chuckles): No.

Why don't you get some rest, Kaleche?

(door closes) (heavy winds blowing) (door opens) THOMA: Hey, it's time for breakfast.

Um, but I thought you might want to change into something else, so, here.

I'll wait here.

(door closes) ♪ ♪ THOMA (through door): How did you sleep?

KALECHE (through door): I didn't.

- Ah, yeah, first nights are usually the worst.

But don't worry, with time, you'll just get used to it.

- Thoma.

- Yeah?

- Where did you get these clothes?

- Why?

(laughing) (laughs) Let's go for breakfast.

KALECHE: Who's he?

THOMA: I'll introduce you another time.

(groans) KALECHE: Hi.

THOMA: Don't.

MIKEY: THOMA and MIKEY: THOMA: MIKEY: Oy!

(men laughing) MIKEY and THOMA: THOMA: (chuckling, murmuring) (silverware clinking) (eating rapidly) (rumbling) (dishes clattering) (rumbling) (rumbling ends) It would be much easier if you don't question everything.

MAN: (Thoma laughs) THOMA: MIKEY: You died in '96, but you've been here six months.

(basketball passes) Um, we don't arrive here when we die.

So where was I, then?

Mm.

THOMA and MIKEY: MIKEY: Shoot.

THOMA: Check it, check it.

Check it.

(men playing basketball) MIKEY and THOMA: Oh!

(Mikey murmurs, Thoma chuckles) ♪ ♪ THOMA: Grace left three boys behind.

GRACE: THOMA and GRACE: GRACE: (door opens, footsteps departing) THOMA: Kaleche.

Kaleche, are you okay?

Not, uh... You just get some more rest.

Actually, the others will be at the pool, so you can join us.

Of course, when you're ready.

Thoma, wait.

Yes?

How can I get new clothes?

- Oh, yes.

The notepad.

Write whatever it is that you want, um, and then you'll find it in the morning.

Anything?

Whatever I want?

- Well, okay.

Most people ask for simple things, like books, albums, old sweaters... - How about people?

Uh... No, you know, they'd have to die so they are here first, so... We can start with simple things, like clothes that fit.

Yeah.

Okay.

("Till We Try" by Just a Band playing softly) WOMAN: So, nothing?

KALECHE: Nothing.

Not even how you died?

♪ Till we try, till we try ♪ - No, nothing.

- What?

That's hard, though.

Don't know anything about your life, about your family, your friends, your job-- nothing.

(water sloshing, music continues) (woman laughing) ♪ For certain, never really sure of nothing ♪ ♪ Don't really know if or what ♪ ♪ Until we try, till we try, till we try ♪ ♪ Until we try ♪ (audio distorts) (normal audio resumes) ♪ Yes, no, or maybe ♪ ♪ We can never tell what will be ♪ (water splashes) ♪ Until we try, till we try, till we try ♪ ♪ Until we try, till we try, till we try ♪ - Mikey.

- (chuckling) - Mikey!

Mikey!

(song continues) Guys.

(song continues) Guys, come and help him.

Move back, move back, move back!

(song continues) (Mikey coughing, sputtering) (muted), Mikey.

(Mikey coughs) You almost died.

(others laughing) (laughter and song continue) (Thoma murmuring) Let me help you up.

(chuckles) Oh!

KALECHE: No, no, Thoma!

Thoma, no!

THOMA: Oh!

(Kaleche yelps) (laughing) (glass taps on bench) (glass taps on bench) (finger taps glass) (Mikey takes glass) (coughs) (Thoma laughing) MIKEY: THOMA: MIKEY: (Thoma laughs, Mikey murmurs) MIKEY: The madness, nightmares.

THOMA: MIKEY: Hm.

(papers shuffling) (knock at door) THOMA: Oh... Hey.

(cabinet closes) - Did you request this?

- Yeah.

- You play?

- Yeah.

- I think I used to be a doctor.

- (chuckles): Okay, why do you say that?

- I don't know-- I mean, it only makes sense, the way I saved Mikey by the pool.

- You did save Mikey by the pool.

- I know, but that's besides the point.

I don't know, I just feel like I've done it a dozen times before.

- (exhales) (begins playing) - (humming melodic line) (song continues) (both stop) (chuckles) I, I know that.

I know that.

Play it again, please.

- (resumes playing) (song continues) - (begins playing hesitantly) (song continues) (grass rustling) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (grunts) ♪ ♪ (grunts) (people talking in background) WOMAN: Mm.

MIKEY: WOMAN: You're looking nice.

Thanks.

(Mikey slurping) (ball bouncing) (Mikey chuckles) You're so lucky.

You remember everything.

- Ah!

- (laughing): I can't play.

MIKEY: Oy.

- (laughs) MIKEY: KALECHE and MIKEY: ("Nwomkro Jam 2.0" by Nwomkro All Stars playing) (ball bouncing) (singers vocalizing) (Kaleche laughs) (child speaking in song) (Mikey talking softly) (song continues) (Mikey murmuring) KALECHE: MIKEY and KALECHE: - Why do you wear it?

MIKEY: (song continues) (Mikey murmurs) - What's the score?

- Ten-one.

(speaking Swahili): (Kaleche chuckles) Mikey, how did you die?

MIKEY: - What do you remember?

MIKEY: - Tell me.

I wish tell me.

MIKEY (clapping): - Tell me.

MIKEY: (clicks tongue) (song ends, Mikey clicks tongue) MIKEY: (Mikey clicks tongue) THOMA: Mm-hmm.

KALECHE: GRACE: (Mikey talking in distance) We have to keep hope alive, okay?

MIKEY (laughing): Hope?

(clicks tongue) - Do you want a drink?

(Thoma takes glass) (footsteps approaching) MIKEY: I'm not in the mood.

KALECHE: I know.

(exhales) Look, I'm-- I'm sorry.

Thoma will be back soon.

- I'll just wait for him, then.

- (exhales) When I was 14, my mom walked in, and she found me on the bathroom floor.

(exhales) She carried me in her own two hands.

I have never felt that safe in my life.

You remind me a lot of her.

- Is that a good thing?

- Sort of.

When I entered university... Out of the blue.

He used me to get close to Mom.

He used Mom, and then fled.

It almost broke my mom.

But it broke me.

(gasps softly) I failed her.

I just, just failed.

- Failed her?

I mean, if you were used to get to her, she knows you weren't to blame.

(chuckles) You know, if I'd, if I'd met you in the other life, I'd wife you quick.

- (chuckles) (exhales) (rumbling in distance) (rumbling continues) MIKEY: MOM: Michael.

MOM: On your knees.

- (exhales deeply) Oh, my God, I am...

I'm heartily sorry for offending You.

Go on.

- Because I dread... (together): ...the loss of Heaven and the pain of Hell.

MOM: Michael... - I resolve, with the help of Your grace, I'll confess all my sins.

- Your sins will never leave you.

- I'll confess all my sins, do penance, and, and amend my life.

- Your what?

- Amend my life, amen.

- Amend your life?

Mikey.

(laughs) MIKEY: - Your prayer?

(speaking Swahili): Amend your life?

(chuckles) (laughing, Mikey sighs) (chuckles softly) (chuckles) (exhales) (thunder pounding) (thunder rumbling) MAN: Who's missing?

- I don't know, man.

- Mikey?

Thoma-- Thoma!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ KALECHE: What happened to Mikey?

- Um, he's moved on.

- What?

Moved on to where?

- Let's talk in the morning.

We all need some rest.

(footsteps retreating) ♪ ♪ DOPPELG ÄNGER: Another one is gone.

And you're still here.

♪ ♪ (shoe falls to floor) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (audio distorts) ♪ ♪ (woman yelling, distorted) (distorted yelling resumes) (distorted yelling resumes) (normal audio resumes) WOMAN (speaking loudly): (continues, gasping for breath) (speaking loudly, gasping) (woman continues) (rumbling in distance) (knock at door) (door opens) KING: Kaleche?

What are you doing here?

(door shuts) - I'd have never figured you for a painter.

- You won't figure me for many things.

(chair creaks) - Your hands.

What is that?

- It happens to some of us here.

- Why?

- It's not my place to question things.

- It's all the same place?

- Yes.

Mauru, where I'm from.

I was a priest there.

- How did you die?

- 2007, post-election violence.

I was killed in a revenge attack on my church.

It was His will.

I served my purpose.

I did my duty.

God knows I did my duty.

The only way to move on now... We will all leave this place.

No one stays here forever.

- But how do we leave if we don't know what brought us here in the first place?

Are you okay?

- Kaleche, I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to leave.

There's something I need to take care of.

If you wouldn't mind.

(chair creaks) ("Winning in Life" by Just a Band playing) (people laughing and talking in background) KALECHE: So, these transitions, do they happen often?

ANTO: Most of us have seen it, what, three times?

Yeah, that's counting Mikey's.

KALECHE: So you've had matangas for all of them.

- It was actually Thoma's idea.

He said that it would be nice if we celebrated the people who actually manage to get out of this place.

And since then, it's become something of a nice little tradition for all of us.

KALECHE: So, really, everything that we do here, that's all him.

- Look, Thoma hasn't exactly forced us to do any of these things.

(music continues in background) - It looks like you're having fun.

- (chuckles) For Mikey.

- For Mikey.

- This is nice.

- (chuckles): Thanks.

(flames crackling) (exhales) Why do you do all this?

- Good Samaritan?

Hey, let's go dance.

- Oh, gosh, okay.

- (laughs) (music continues) ♪ ♪ KALECHE (voiceover): I'm tipsy.

THOMA (voiceover): Mm.

It's like the...

The second glass.

- Yeah.

I'm a lightweight.

- Yeah, yeah.

- (chuckles) - That's, that's about right.

♪ ♪ THOMA: It's like my... KALECHE: Twelfth.

(both chuckle) - Really?

- Yeah, I think so.

- It's my twelfth?

- Yes.

- (murmurs) - (chuckles) So, I have this little gift for you.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- (chuckles) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (Thoma talking in background) - King.

THOMA: You just stretch and release.

We're gonna be in two teams.

There's gonna be the red team and the black team.

We're gonna be throwing these little eggs that have... - Don't let anyone see that.

- Why?

What is it?

THOMA: The team that has the most color on the other team is the one that wins.

- It means your time at the lodge is already counting down.

THOMA: Don't hit someone point-blank.

- So I get to leave, like Mikey?

- No, you don't understand.

You need to remember your life.

You need to know why you're here.

(Thoma continuing) - I'm here because I'm dead.

THOMA: As much as you're having fun... King, Kaleche.

Are you together?

("Thank You/Rebel and a Cause" by Just a Band playing) ♪ ♪ ♪ Rebel and a cause and the cause and effect ♪ ♪ And the pause and rewind and the diamonds in my mind ♪ ♪ Are rugged, unrefined to the untrained eye ♪ ♪ So the treasure is all mine ♪ ♪ Half this job is to separate the wheat and the chaff ♪ ♪ So many false thoughts ♪ ♪ That they called it a bluff, oh, no ♪ ♪ My faith, it falters when I wade through muddy waters ♪ ♪ So I play the blues as I look to the sky above ♪ ♪ For some news in the hope ♪ (woman shrieks) ♪ That tomorrow will bring a bright morning ♪ ♪ And the morning will lead to a... ♪ (song stops) KALECHE (chuckles): Gotcha.

Thoma.

THOMA: Mm?

- What if my time here is almost over?

- Why would you say that?

(others laughing in background) - King said that's what this means.

♪ ♪ THOMA: Hey, hey!

What's your problem, huh?

Hey, hey, I'm asking you a question: What's your problem?

You just had to drag her into this.

Ever since you came here, that whiteness has been spreading faster and faster.

I mean, what do you stand to gain by all this?

KALECHE: Thoma, just leave King alone.

THOMA: Huh?

Hey, I'm asking you a question.

What do you stand to gain by all this?

No, hey, I'm asking you a question.

KALECHE: Thoma, leave King alone.

THOMA: So now you want to defend him?

Hey, hey, I'm talking to you.

You want to defend him?

KALECHE: Just leave him alone.

THOMA: You think I don't know what you did?

Did he tell you how he died?

KALECHE: Yes.

He was killed in an attack.

THOMA: Oh, so you tell her the story, but you only tell her half the story.

(chuckles) He was killed in a revenge attack, because he stood by and watched as his parishioners, his parishioners, were surrounded, killed, and burnt.

The one place they called home, the one place where they could be safe, he locked them out.

You're the reason they died.

KING (quietly): That is not true.

KALECHE: Stop!

Thoma!

Thoma, just... (brush rubbing on canvas) CHOIR (singing in Swahili): (choir distorting) KING: Just shut up!

There was nothing I could do-- I couldn't save you.

If I had let you hide in the church, they'd have burnt it down with you in it.

Why can't you understand that?

What do you want me to say, huh?

That I was a coward?

No.

I was protecting the house of God!

(choir continues, distorted) You avenged through my death.

I died because of you!

Why can't you understand that?!

(choir continues, distorted) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ KALECHE: No, he can't... (barrier thud echoes) (wind blowing softly) What happened?

THOMA: Oh.

You knocked yourself out.

(breathes deeply) - What was that, Thoma?

- King gave in, and got what he deserved.

- Is that going to happen to me?

♪ ♪ (breathing slowly) (giggling, murmuring) - We can't do this.

- What?

- I need you to leave.

♪ ♪ DOPPELG ÄNGER: You know what I like about you?

What I like about us is that whatever we touch, it turns to (muted).

You really need to tell her.

ANTO: In this space, very safe.

If you feel like you have something to say, because this place can really get you, feel free.

Kaleche?

Is there anything you want to share with the group?

It's, it's okay.

This is...

This is a totally safe space.

Anything that's been on your mind.

KALECHE: Um... No.

(Anto speaks Swahili) It's okay.

You will hopefully get there, soon enough.

Jojo?

- Um, wow.

I wish they were here with me.

Which is twisted.

- (whispering) - Because I know that they're still going through it.

And I'm here.

THOMA (softly): Grace, what the hell are you doing?

Huh?

(audio fades) GRACE (muffled): (normal audio resumes) THOMA: Grace.

GRACE: Tell her that you were married.

KALECHE: What's she talking about, Thoma?

Why didn't you show this to me?

(papers shuffling) Why did you keep this from me?

(yells): Answer me!

- I didn't want you to know.

- Know what?

- That I killed you.

♪ ♪ - (quietly): What?

- I was driving drunk.

♪ ♪ (scene audio stops) ♪ ♪ (scene audio distorts) (Kaleche sobbing) DOPPELG ÄNGER: Thoma.

(cabinet opens) Now they see you for who you really are.

(objects shuffling) Because I was getting tired of this good person nonsense.

We all know you were born a (muted)-up.

And Kaleche.

Kaleche.

(swallows) Hm.

And everyone else who left you, hm?

They're all better than us.

Than you.

Just give up.

(sighs): Give in.

There's nothing you can do to change anything.

(wind blowing) (wind whistling) KALECHE: Go away.

(door bursts open) MAN: Thoma!

(Kaleche gasps) MAN: (crowd clamoring) WOMAN: (clamoring continues) (all yelling) MEN: MAN: WOMAN: You're trying to keep us here.

(yelling): (crowd yelling) MAN: WOMAN: (clamoring continues) MAN: MAN: WOMAN: Kaleche, your hands.

(clamoring stops) MAN: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (thunder pounds) ("Bush Baby Disco" by Just a Band playing) (people talking in background) (cheering) (song continues, people talking in background) WOMAN (in song): Where do you go?

(song continues) (people talking in background) WOMAN (in song): Where do you go?

(song continues) (song stops) MAN: Already.

- Hi.

- What place is this?

- I'm Kaleche, and this is Kati Kati.

And you're here because you're dead.

MAN: Bingo.

- We're all dead.

(people murmuring) MAN: Wait, wait, wait!

(all clamoring) (earlier piano tune resumes) (woman humming melodic line) ♪ Fallen star ♪ ♪ We will never be who we were ♪ ♪ Faded glow ♪ ♪ Nothing but past glories to show ♪ ♪ I want it all back ♪ ♪ Don't even tell me it's not that ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ What prophets will say ♪ ♪ I know we'll find us a way ♪ ♪ I know there's nothing to say ♪ ♪ I know we'll find us a way ♪ ♪ I wonder what prophets will say ♪ ♪ ♪ KALECHE: Where am I?

THOMA: This is Kati Kati.

And you're here because you're dead.

♪ ♪ MBITHI MASYA: "Kati Kati" is a story of an amnesiac who wakes up in the afterlife and finds herself stuck with a few other people in this wilderness lodge, trying to figure out why she's there, trying to see if she can remember who she was, and also just kind of learning why everyone else is there.

It would be much easier if you don't question everything.

MASYA: The story came from a place of grief.

At the time, I had lost a very close friend.

The film came from one moment during one of the wake meetings.

Someone said, "Oh, she's now in a better place.

She's left all these things behind."

And the question that I posed to myself was, is, is death really that release?

Or what if you were forced to deal with your baggage before moving on to the next stage in life?

It kind of felt like the most expensive therapy session I could ever have imagined having.

(laughs) ♪ ♪ KALECHE: So, these transitions, do they happen often?

ANTO: Most of us have seen it, what, three times?

MASYA: This film was one of the places that I had to put that grief.

I had to move it somewhere just to put her spirit's energy somewhere, and also just kind of process a lot of things.

No one stays here forever.

But how do we leave if we don't know what brought us here in the first place?

MASYA: Because it wasn't just the grief that came from the story.

I was also using it as a chance to reflect on a few things about Kenyan society and community that I don't like.

We are a very shame-based society in many ways.

A lot of the historical injustices are never reckoned with in Kenya.

We just forget and move on.

So this film just gave me a perfect place to take some of these bigger thoughts and kind of crystallize them into personal stories.

(lightning cracks, thunder rumbles) MAN: Who's missing?

- I don't know, man.

MASYA: Our stories have started getting seen internationally, respected, and in a way that, for lack of a better way to describe it, it doesn't feel voyeuristic.

With foreign cinema, sometimes people like the idea of peeping into another society, another culture, and just going away.

But it's these universal human themes that are starting to come across in all the materials.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ DENISE A. GREENE: "AfroPoP" is Black Public Media's series on public television that is an anthology of films from across the global Black diaspora, and it spotlights all kinds of stories that will take us around the world, from the U.S. to Jamaica, to Ghana to Germany, highlighting stories that are lesser known but familiar to the Black diasporic community.

There are stories of resilience and hope... MIKE: Goodbye.

(speaking Bantu language) Maweni is now safe.

Hallelujah-- thank you, Lord, thank you.

GREENE: ...and strength.

WOMAN: The first run, 107 people came up out of this cemetery.

WOMAN: Came up out of, right.

- Daddy came up.

WOMAN: Your daddy, okay.

"AfroPoP" has really carved a tremendous path in terms of stories that are bringing contemporary African diaspora to our viewers.

(man grunting and shouting, nunchucks swooshing) ♪ ♪ "AfroPoP" has been able to leverage our Black Public Media community of filmmakers in supporting their work for the last 16 seasons.

LESLIE A. FIELDS-CRUZ: Black Public Media is a 40-plus-year-old nonprofit media arts organization, and our mission is to support innovative and interesting and smart stories about the Black experience and to support visionary content creators.

- On the call today, we have all the filmmakers, and we're all in different time zones.

So this is truly the global Black experience.

DANIELLE METZ: Mama!

BARBARA BERNARD: Hey!

GREENE: For this season in particular, the film that kicks off the season is "Commuted," directed by Nailah Jefferson.

DANIELLE METZ: I kept telling myself that freedom is a state of mind.

Everyone will be able to step inside Danielle's shoes and experience the emotions that she's experiencing as she's reintegrating into the free world.

GREENE: She participated in our PitchBLACK event, which is a forum that funds filmmakers at a very early stage.

And so we were very happy to be one of the early funders of that project, now see it in full circle.

FIELDS-DIAZ: Our investment in these makers early in their career, mid-career, and as they're seasoned filmmakers ensures that we are bringing the stories about the Black experience and the global Black experience to the American public.

- We're going to keep going, Tico-- we strong.

I wanted to show people that we still had these vibrant communities in the face of these storms.

MAN: They know we are strong, and, and, you know, resistant people.

(man grunting and yelping) (speaking Bantu language): GREENE: This upcoming season is really taking a bold step in offering films that explore some of the same critical issues, but in very different ways... ♪ ♪ ...using narrative and Afrofuturistic themes.

No one stays here forever.

But how do we leave if we don't know what brought us here in the first place?

GREENE: For Black storytellers, whether it's in books or visual arts and in film, that Afrofuturistic narrative space is a very powerful tool to create your own realities.

- It would be much easier if you don't question everything.

MAN (speaking Swahili): MBITHI MASYA: A lot of the historical injustices are never reckoned with in Kenya.

We just forget and move on.

So this film just gave me a perfect place to take some of these bigger thoughts and kind of crystallize them into personal stories.

Afrofuturistic films allow you to reimagine and redefine yourself on your own terms.

MWIX (speaking Bantu language): There's no harm in a little pretending.

I just wanted to do a realistic superhero film and base it on the love I have for my family that honors the relationship of my mother and my sister.

♪ ♪ FIELDS-CRUZ: The diaspora is here.

The diaspora is in the U.S. We have to make sure that we are bringing in those stories that are not just steeped in the history from the African Americans that are descendants of the African slaves from 400-plus years ago, but from the recent immigrants that are here and those that came in the 20th centuries, and having a space where those stories can exist and be shared with the American public.

♪ ♪