Coming off of its recent Emmy Award win for Outstanding Short Documentary for Through Our Eyes, Sesame Workshop, the producers behind Sesame Street, announced the start of Season Two production of the docuseries. Through Our Eyes is an intimate and inspiring journey into the lives of American families, from the perspective of children themselves as they navigate formidable yet all-too-common challenges along with parents and siblings. The new season is anticipated to debut in fall 2023.
Comprised of two new 30-minute episodes, Season Two will focus on 8-11 year-olds learning about their own race, ethnicity, and culture; facing and fighting racism; and taking positive steps to mitigate negative effects on mental health.
For Season Two, Sesame Workshop is partnering with Multitude Films, a queer and women-led independent production company dedicated to telling nonfiction stories by and about historically excluded and underrepresented communities. Geeta Gandbhir, who directed the Emmy-winning incarceration episode of Season One, Apart, will collaborate with an emerging talent (TBD) as her co-director. Award-winning independent filmmaker Grace Lee is slated to direct the second episode.
“Our goal for Through Our Eyes is to uplift previously unheard voices,” said Kay Wilson Stallings, EVP, Creative and Production, Sesame Workshop. “We hope to show kids building cultural pride, because pride around heritage does the opposite of what racial discrimination does—it connects kids to something bigger about which they can feel good. We want to see how kids celebrate their own race, culture, and identity, and the myriad ways they affect positive change.”
Season One of Through Our Eyes is streaming on HBO Max.
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, the pioneering television show that has been reaching and teaching children since 1969. Today, Sesame Workshop is an innovative force for change, with a mission to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. We’re present in more than 150 countries, serving vulnerable children through a wide range of media, formal education, and philanthropically funded social impact programs, each grounded in rigorous research and tailored to the needs and cultures of the communities we serve. For more information, please visit www.sesameworkshop.org.
Multitude Films is a queer- and women-led independent production company dedicated to telling nonfiction stories by and about historically excluded and underrepresented communities. Multitude’s critically-acclaimed films have been programmed at dozens of festivals internationally including Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Telluride, and IDFA and distributed by Netflix, Topic, POV, Independent Lens, and HBO Max among others. Oriented by a representational storytelling approach, the company prioritizes equity on screen and behind the camera. Their team has been recognized with the inaugural Doc10 Vanguard Award, Doc NYC 40 Under 40 Award, Cinereach Producers Award, and SIMA Vital Voices Award. Recent releases include Peacock Original Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, presented by Participant; Emmy-nominated Netflix Original Pray away, executive produced by Ryan Murphy and Blumhouse; Apart, an Emmy-winning and NAACP Image Award-nominated episode of Through Our Eyes on HBO Max; Sundance Award-winning and IDA-nominated Always in Season; and Livingston Award-winning The Feeling of Being Watched. multitudefilms.com