Have you ever watched a web series? For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, a web series is like the ones you can watch on TV but this time over the Internet. They are usually free and is a way for many filmmakers to reach an audience without intermediaries and with a much lower budget.
There are websites only devoted to them and you can find one about almost any subject; fiction and non-fiction; professional and not so much. I thought it would be a great idea to highlight some web series that I like to watch and expose them to a bigger audience
Today I’m starting with two of my non-fiction favorites: Black Folk Don’t and Surprising Europe.
Black Folk Don’t is a web series based on the popular belief that African Americans don’t do certain things. What are those things? Is it true, or is it a stereotype? Where are the roots of those beliefs?

Each episode explores a different topic, like Black folk don’t tip, of Black folk don’t do therapy, etc. So far there are 5 episodes in which different African Americans are interviewed and express their opinion, and their personal experience. Black Folk Don’t is a great web series, each chapter is short but very well filmed and researched and it puts in the open some stereotypes and the reasons behind them.
The other web series I like is Surprising Europe. In this case, the series documents the lives and troubles of African immigrants in Europe. The project was started as a documentary by Ssuuna Golooba, an immigrant from Uganda who left his country for a better life in Europe. Later he developed his project into a web series.
You’ll meet many African immigrants who’ll share what they go through. You’ll also discover certain realities, facts, and procedures that are not usually known by people. I’ve learned for example that British and French police monitor every truck that crosses the border in search of illegal immigrants with quite sophisticated methods. The have many modern instruments that they daily use in every truck, like a device to measure carbon dioxide without opening the truck to check for human breath and see if there is people hidden inside; or a heart beat detection machine to listen inside the truck compartment without opening it. 
Why Africans leave their countries, how is the life of an illegal immigrant, is it worth the risk ? Watch the series and listen to real testimonies of real people.
The Surprising Europe site has also very interesting information about human migration.

AliciA