CINEMA NOMAD: SEASON TWO

New York, NY June 2026 – American Public Television (APT) is proud to announce the return of Cinema Nomad for a landmark second season, premiering Fall 2026 on public television stations nationwide, and streaming on PBS.org and the PBS App. Produced by Steadmans Go Global Productions and expanding from its original half-hour format to one-hour episodes, Season Two offers audiences a richer, more immersive exploration of the world through the lens of the filmmakers who live and create within it.

What does it take to truly know a place? Cinema Nomad argues it starts with knowing one person who calls it home.

Created, directed, and hosted by award-winning filmmaker Stephanie Gardner, Cinema Nomad explores the world through the lens of a country’s cinematic past, present, and future. The series spans thirteen episodes, with Gardner taking viewers to a new country in each one, introducing them to a different filmmaker, or group of filmmakers, whose personal story guides the journey. Through the eyes and experiences of these emerging and established filmmakers, most in their thirties and deeply connected to the places they call home, Gardner immerses audiences in the history, culture, and politics that shape each destination. Cinema serves as the entry point, but the series is ultimately about curiosity, empathy, and connection, and the universal power of filmmaking and storytelling to bridge cultures and deepen understanding.

Season Two travels to Zimbabwe, Albania, Belgium, Argentina, Jamaica, Nepal, Montenegro, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, North Macedonia, Tunisia, and Colombia.  Gardner’s journeys were guided not so much by geography alone as by each filmmaker’s passion, perspective, and dedication to storytelling, qualities that ultimately became the driving force behind the final lineup of episodes. The series also maintains a deliberate commitment to gender parity, with equal representation of women and men among the featured filmmakers.

“We present timeless and universal stories centered around human emotions, relatable struggles, and inspiring journeys through life, while overcoming its many obstacles,” said Gardner. “For filmmakers we feature, some of these obstacles include censorship on freedom of expression, gender inequalities, lack of funding, and the lack of distribution options. Cinema Nomad is a support structure for these filmmakers, to encourage them to continue to produce compelling content and help provide an audience for their work.”

Season Two builds on the acclaimed foundation of Season One with a deeper, more intimate exploration of filmmakers and the countries they inhabit. As Gardner comes to know each filmmaker more personally, spending time in their world and absorbing the stories they share, the viewer comes to understand ever more intimately a country through the eyes of the people who know it best. Season Two moves beyond introduction into genuine connection, offering audiences a richer, more immersive portrait of a rapidly evolving world through the voices and experiences of the people shaping its cinematic future.

The expansion to one-hour episodes marks the most significant change from Season One. The additional time allows each episode to develop the relationship between Gardner and the featured filmmakers with greater depth, incorporate a broader range of community voices, and explore the cultural and historical layers of each country more fully.  Episodes in Season Two explore the lasting impact of the economic crisis in Argentina, the legacy of dictatorship in Albania, and the lasting effects of colonialism in the Philippines, among many other historical threads woven throughout the season. Throughout, the history of each country is presented not so much as a backdrop but as a living force that continues to influence the lives and work of the people it profiles.

Highlights:

• The first episode on Zimbabwe (free to stream PBS.org and the PBS App) features married filmmakers Charles and Thandie Mawungwa, who produce genre-defying work amid power outages, fuel shortages, and political instability, bringing an extraordinary resilience to their craft while navigating challenges that would stop most productions before they began.
• In Colombia, traverse Cali during a period of political tension with filmmaker Diana Montenegro, in a city alive with murals, protest art, and salsa.
• In the Philippines, discover an independent film culture far deeper and more vibrant than international audiences typically recognize, through the work of Martika Ramirez Escobar, whose film Leonore Will Never Die won the World Cinema Jury Special Innovative Spirit Award at Sundance.
• In Saudi Arabia, meet filmmaker Fahmi Farahat, who navigates a rapidly evolving cinematic landscape in a country where cinema itself has undergone a historic transformation.

The Cinema Nomad team has chosen to cross borders and connect across cultures to foster positive experiences around the globe through cinema. At a moment when global headlines often reduce other countries to conflict and crisis, the series offers a different lens, one rooted in curiosity rather than judgment and in relationship rather than distance. By integrating into the daily lives of filmmakers it features, visiting their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and the people and places that shape them, Cinema Nomad captures nations not as abstractions, but as places shaped by individual courage, creativity, and resolve.  Season Two carries that mission further than ever, inviting public television audiences into a wider, more connected understanding of the world, one filmmaker and one country at a time.