(Photo by Ed Araquel/©Lionsgate)
May is Asian-American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. For years, broadcasters and streaming services have recognized the month with specific programming highlighting Asian-American and Pacific Islander voices. 2024 is no exception.
Streaming services have created hubs for AANHPI programming year-round, which continue to add new titles. Recent movies like Quiz Lady and Past Lives and shows like Shogun and The Sympathizer join those hubs.
PBS is also reliable to bring some historical perspective to AANHPI Heritage Month. See the calendar below for airdates on PBS, PBS streaming debuts, and other PBS stations like KQED and KCET.
STREAMING HUBS
(Photo by Kurt Iswarienko/FX)
AMC+
Includes True Terror with George Takei, Steven Yeun in the movie Mayhem, and Justin Lin’s Finishing the Game
Hulu
Includes Shogun, Quiz Lady, Fresh Off the Boat
Journy
Includes Travel Guides New Zealand, Lee Chan’s World Food Tour, Chasing the Sun: Asia and Refugee Chef
Max
Includes The Sympathizer, Tokyo Vice, Dr. Pimple Popper, and a selection of Hayao Miyazaki movies
Netflix
Includes City Hunter, Master of None, Oldboy
Paramount+
Includes Halo, NCIS: Hawai’i, Past Lives, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Peacock
Includes We Are Lady Parts, John Wick, and Ip Man movies
Pluto TV
Includes Anime All Day, Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Lupin the 3rd channels
Starz
Includes Joy Ride, Searching, The Broken Hearts Gallery
May 1
Jackie Chan marathon – 9 a.m., Pluto TV
Pacific Heartbeat: The Healer Stones of Kapaemanu – 11 a.m., KQED World
Pacific Heartbeat: For My Father’s Kingdom – noon, KQED World
Pacific Heartbeat: Ola Hou: Journey to New York Fashion Week – 1 p.m., KQED World
POV Shorts: In the Absence – 4 p.m., KQED World
POV: Liquor Store Dreams – 4:30 p.m., KQED World
May 2
POV: Wuhan Wuhan – 12:30 p.m., KQED World
Behind the Strings
(2020)
– 4 p.m., KQED World
America ReFramed: Chinatown Rising – 5 p.m., KQED World
Asian Americans: Breaking Ground – 7 p.m., KQED Plus
Dwayne Johnson marathon – 8 p.m., Pluto TV
May 3
Lucky Chow: Season 5
(2022)
– noon, KQED Plus Fridays
Come Back Anytime
(2021)
– 1 p.m., KQED Plus
Confucious Was a Foodie Season 2 – 1 p.m., KQED Plus
NOVA: Secrets of the Forbidden City – 7 p.m., KQED Plus
Dev Patel marathon – 8 p.m., Pluto TV
The Story of China With Michael Wood
– 9 p.m. PBS Western Reserve Fridays
Great Performances: The Composer Is Yoo – 9 p.m. KQED
May 4
My Hero Academia Uncut: Season 7
(2024)
– Crunchyroll
American Masters: Tyrus Wong – 7:30 a.m., KQED Plus
The Story of China With Michael Wood
: Ancestors/Silk Roads and China Ships, 9 a.m. KQED Plus
Taste of Malaysia With Martin Yan
– 9:30 a.m., KQED Saturdays
A Thousand Pebbles on the Ground – 10 p.m., KQED
Independent Lens: Try Harder! – 10:30 p.m., KQED
Play Like a Lion: The Legacy of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan
(2011)
– 10 p.m. KQED
House in the Garden: Shofuso and Modernism, 11 p.m. KQED Plus
May 5
The Vow From Hiroshima
(2020)
– 10 a.m., KQED Plus
Taste of Malaysia With Martin Yan
– 11 a.m., KQED Sundays
Asian Americans: A Question of Loyalty – 5 p.m., KQED Plus
Asian Americans: Good Americans – 6 p.m., KQED Plus
Michelle Yeoh marathon – 8 p.m., Pluto TV
May 6
Gandhi’s Awakening & Gandhi’s Gift
: Part 1 – 11 a.m., KQED World
Buddha – noon, KQED World
Local, USA: A Tale of Three Chinatowns – 5 p.m. KQED World
American Masters: Tyrus Wong – 8 p.m. PBS Western Reserve
May 7
Gandhi’s Awakening & Gandhi’s Gift
: Part 2 – 11 a.m., KQED World
American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
(2013)
– noon, KQED World
Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan: Ai-Jen Poo – 1:30 p.m., KQED World
Lucky Chow: Season 6
(2024)
– 7 p.m. KQED Tuesdays
May 8
Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation – 11 a.m., KQED World
Unconditional: Healing Hidden Wounds – 12:30 p.m., KQED World
May 9
American Masters: Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV – 11 a.m., KQED World
A Dream in Doubt
(2007)
– 4 p.m., KQED World
America ReFramed: In Search of Bengali Harlem – 5 p.m., KQED World
POV Shorts: The Calling – 6:30 p.m., KQED World
May 10
Independent Lens: Hidden Letters – 5 p.m., KQED World
POV Shorts: Our Motherland Fantasy Nightmare – 6:30 p.m., KQED World
To Be Takei
(2014)
– 8 p.m., KQED
May 11
The Story of China With Michael Wood
: Golden Age/The Ming – 7 a.m., KQED Plus
The Story of China With Michael Wood
: The Last Empire/The Age of Revolution – 9 a.m., KQED PLUS
Zhang Ziyi marathon – 8 p.m., Pluto TV
American Experience: Plague at the Golden Gate – 10 p.m., KQED
West Encounters East – 11:30 p.m. KCET
May 12
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Hashira Training Arc: Hashira Training Arc
(2024)
– Crunchyroll
80 Years Later – 10 a.m., KQED Plus
Before They Take Us Away – 4 p.m., KQED World
Ink & Linda – 4 p.m., KQED Plus
Asian Americans: Generation Rising – 5 p.m., KQED Plus
Asian Americans: Breaking Through – 6 p.m., KQED Plus
Maggie Q marathon – 8 p.m., Pluto TV
May 13
POV: About Love – 11 a.m., KQED World
POV Shorts: Comic Culture – 4 p.m., KQED World
Independent Lens: The Donut King – 4:30 p.m., KQED World, 9:30 p.m., PBS Western Reserve
Fanny: The Right to Rock
(2021)
– 8 p.m. PBS Western Reserve
Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story
(2022)
– 10 p.m., PBS, KQED
Hula: The Language of the Heart – 10 p.m., KCET
Vanquishing Chinatown: The World of Mays Photo Studio – 11 p.m. KQED
May 14
Independent Lens: Writing with Fire – 11 a.m., KQED World
POV: Children of the Mist – 12:30 p.m., KQED World
May 15
Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan: Richard Lui – 11:30 a.m., KQED World
POV: Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust – noon, KQED World
Unsettled History: America, China and the Tokyo Doolittle Raid – 1 p.m., KQED World
China: Frame By Frame – 4 p.m., KQED World
May 16
Doc World: Ganden: A Joyful Land – 11 a.m., KQED World
Doc World: The Accused: Damned or Devoted? – 12:30 p.m., KQED World
The Ito Sisters: An American Story
(2017)
– 4 p.m., KQED World
America ReFramed: Far East Deep South – 5 p.m., KQED World
May 17
Quietest Place on Earth – 4:30 p.m., KQED Plus
Pacific Heartbeat: Tokyo Hula – 5 p.m., KQED World
Pacific Heartbeat: America Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai’i – 6 p.m., KQED World
Bruce Lee marathon – 8 p.m., Pluto TV
May 18
Independent Lens: The Donut King – noon, PBS Western Reserve
Chow Yun-fat marathon – 8 p.m., Pluto TV
American Masters: Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV – 9 p.m., PBS Western Reserve
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
(2009)
– 9 p.m., KCET
American Masters: Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir – 10 p.m. ,KQED
Honor Bound: A Personal Journey – 10:30 p.m., KCET
May 19
Jet Li marathon – 2 p.m., Pluto TV
Betrayed: Surviving an American Concentration Camp – 4 p.m., KQED World
Pacific Heartbeat: Stan – 8 p.m., KQED World
May 20
First Peoples: Asia – 1 p.m., KQED World
Local, USA: Asian-American Stories of Resilience and Beyond, Volume 1 – 6 p.m., KQED World
May 21
Heart Mountain: An All American Town – 10 p.m., KCET
May 22
Independent Lens: Free Chol Soo Lee – 4 p.m., KQED World
The Power of Two – 8 p.m., KCET
May 23
Shinmachi: Stronger Than a Tsunami – 4 p.m., KQED World
America ReFramed: Blurring the Color Line – 5 p.m., KQED World
Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 906 – 6 p.m., KQED World
May 24
Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March – 4 p.m., KQED World
Snapshots of Confinement – 8 p.m. KQED
May 25
Armed with Language – 9 a.m., KQED World
Keanu Reeves marathon – 6 p.m., Pluto TV
Fanny: The Right to Rock
(2021)
– 10 p.m., KQED
POV Shorts: Happiness Is 4 Million Pounds – 11:30 p.m. KQED
May 26
Tony Jaa marathon – 4 p.m., Pluto TV
Independent Lens: Beyond Utopia – 11 p.m., KQED World
May 27
Epic Train Journeys from Above: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway – 2 p.m., KQED Plus
American Masters: Waterman — Duke: Ambassador of Aloha – 4:30 p.m., KQED World
Local, USA: Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond, Volume 2 – 6 p.m., KQED World
May 28
Finding Your Roots: Children of Exile – 9 p.m., KQED
Frontline: South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning – 10 p.m., PBS
May 29
How to Have an American Baby
(2023)
– 4 p.m., KQED World
May 30
Reel South: South by South Korea – 4 p.m., KQED World
America ReFramed: Geographies of Kinship – 5 p.m., KQED World
Unadopted – 6:30 p.m., KQED World
May 31
Guru Nanak: Founder of Sikhism – 4 p.m., KQED World
Ang Lee marathon – 8 p.m., Pluto TV
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