"Africa in the Picture," a series of films from Africa is being shown on some PBS stations during February. The three programs of films are hosted by Danny Glover and presented by California Newsreel and San Francisco PBS station KQED.

The first film is Ousmane Sembene's Faat Kine, which tells the story of "everyday heroism of African women." Sembene who will turn 80 this summer made the first African film in 1965. Faat Kine wanted to be a lawyer, but became pregnant with a daughter while still in high shool. She later had a son by a different father out a wedlock. As the film opens, she owns a gas station and her children have just passed their exams and will go to college. The film is a slow but compelling exploration of the relationships in her life.

The second program features two short films, "Le Franc" and La petite vendeuse de Soleil, by the late Djibril Diop Mambety. Both filmmakers are from Senegal. The last film is Daresalam (Let There Be Peace) by Issa Serge Coelo from Chad.

This is a rare chance to see African films outside of film festivals. California Newsreel has six pointers for viewing African cinema.

The webpage for the series has a list of PBS stations which are airing the programs. If your station isn't listed, you can contact them and ask them to pick up the series.

Also, most programs on PBS have a window of one to three years when they can be repeated, so the series will probably be shown again.

This originally appeared on TVBarn.