The debut of “Echoes,” a sequel series to “Orphan Black," and the documentary “Bread & Roses” looking at how Afghan women’s lives were impacted after Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021 are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Jack Black returns to voice “Kung Fu Panda 4,” R&B-pop artist Kehlani has a new album and Kevin Hart’s interview show “Hart to Heart” is back for a fourth season on Peacock.
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Sunlight streams through a skylight at the Stephane Diagana stadium in the base camp for the U.S athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Eaubonne, a suburb north of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Sunlight streams through a skylight at the Stephane Diagana stadium in the base camp for the U.S athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Eaubonne, a suburb north of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
This combination of album cover images shows "Exodo" by Peso Pluma, left, and “Crash” by Kehlani. (Double P Records via AP, left, and Atlantic Records via AP)
This image released by AMC+ shows Kathy Baker, from left, Amanda Fix and Krysten Ritter in a scene from "Orphan Black: Echoes." (Sophie Giraud/AMC via AP)
This image released by AMC+ shows August Winter, left, and Krysten Ritter in a scene from "Orphan Black: Echoes." (Sophie Giraud/AMC via AP)
This image released by AMC+ shows Krysten Ritter in a scene from "Orphan Black: Echoes." (Sophie Giraud/AMC via AP)
This combination of photos shows promotional art for the film "Aftersun," left, the animated film "Kung Fu Panda 4, center, and the series "Perfect Wife." (A24/Universal/Hulu via AP)
— Jack Black returns to the world of Kung Fu Panda for the fourth installment in the series, coming to Peacock on Friday. In “Kung Fu Panda 4” his character Po has been asked to depart the position of Dragon Warrior and pick a successor. AP critic Mark Kennedy wrote in his review that, “The series’ first new installment in eight years is a reliably funny, sweet and wonderfully realized passing of the torch, with a paw in the past and another into the future — an elegant goodbye and a hello.” The film also features the voices of Awkwafina, Bryan Cranston, Viola Davis, Ke Huy Quan and James Hong.
— If those “Gladiator II” set photos have you craving more Paul Mescal before that film is out in November, you’re in luck: “Aftersun” is coming to Netflix on Friday. His poignant performance as a single father on vacation in Turkey with his 11-year-old daughter scored him an Oscar nomination in 2023 (the award that year went to Brendan Fraser for “The Whale”). The film itself, from writer-director Charlotte Wells, topped the AP’s list of the best films of 2023. Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that it is, “such a keenly observed accumulation of detail and feeling that you hardly notice the undertow of heartache that will, in the end, absolutely floor you.” Or for something completely different, you can watch Jessica Alba as a Special Forces commando in “Trigger Warning,” also streaming on Friday.
— The documentary “Bread & Roses” looks at how three Afghan women’s lives were impacted after Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021. Filmmaker and producer Sahra Mani explained that “Closing girls’ schools in Afghanistan is not just a matter of feminist concern; rather, it is a matter of international security… the Taliban recognizes that the children of educated mothers are difficult to indoctrinate and are less susceptible to becoming their future soldiers." Produced by Jennifer Lawrence and Justine Ciarrocchi, and executive produced by Malala Yousafzai, “Bread & Roses” will be available on Apple TV+ on Friday.
— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
— The Grammy-award winning R&B-pop artist Kehlani will soon return with her fourth studio album, “Crash,” a follow-up to 2022’s critically-acclaimed “Blue Water Road.” (That one, AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy described as showcasing her “effortless ability to move from pop, R&B, rap, trance and dance.”) On “Crash,” those eclecticisms have only continued to flourish. On the single “After Hours,” Kehlani brings her smooth vocals to the club atop a dancehall beat; on “Next 2 U,” she weaves big, explosive electronic beats into an energetic love anthem. “They gon’ have to come get me/They gon’ have to see about me/To get next to you,” she sings.
— In 2023, Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola” single surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify last month, becoming the first regional Mexican Top 10 hit on Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100, peaking at No. 4. The song became synonymous with what appeared to be a new, global musical movement: All around the world, regional Mexican music — a catchall term that encompasses mariachi, banda, corridos, norteño, sierreño and other genres — was being embraced. Pluma, in many ways, has become a figurehead for the worldwide phenomenon, and on Friday, he’ll release a new album, the double disc titled “Éxodo.” In interviews, he’s promised to explore many different sounds in and outside of the corridos that made him an international name — as already evidenced on “Peso Completo,” which features reggaetónero Arcángel.
— Disco, for many, is the sound of resilience and joy – which makes it so odd to consider that its history is, many decades from its inception, still overlooked and under-celebrated. On Tuesday, PBS looks to challenge any leftover vintage biases with a three-part documentary series titled “Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution.” It features disco greats the past and present: Labelle’s Nona Hendryx, Sylvester’s Jeanie Tracy, Kim Petras and Jessie Ware among them.
— On Saturday, HBO and MAX will debut a new documentary chronicling the life of Stevie Van Zandt, beloved actor, musician and member of Bruce Springsteen ’s E Street Band, titled “Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple.” It promises to deliver a treasure trove of never-before-seen footage — from “The Sopranos” to early days in Jersey clubs to headlining stadiums and everything in between. And, yes, of course, Springsteen is featured – with other talking heads including Paul McCartney, Bono and Darlene Love.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— Kevin Hart’s interview show “Hart to Heart” is back for a fourth season on Peacock on Wednesdays. This season, the actor and comedian will sit down for one-on-one chats with Ben Affleck, George Lopez, Cynthia Erivo, Andy Samberg, Judd Apatow and Niecy Nash.
— Hulu is delving into the wild true story of Sherri Papini, the California woman who faked her own kidnapping in 2016. Her claims were so bizarre, it took investigators six years to piece together what happened. All three episodes of “Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini” dropped Thursday.
— “Echoes,” a sequel series to “Orphan Black” debuts Sunday on AMC and BBC America. The show, executive produced by and starring Krysten Ritter, takes place in 2052, nearly 40 years after the events of the original. Ritter plays Lucy, a woman whom we meet after she has had a medical procedure that she can’t remember. Her wife is Kira, the now adult daughter of Sarah Manning. “Orphan Black” fans may remember Manning (played by Tatiana Maslany) was the protagonist of the original show. At the recent premiere, Ritter told The Associated Press that “Echoes” is different than its predecessor saying, “How we’re approaching the clones is my character is played by different actresses at different ages.” Episodes will also stream on AMC+.
— Erin French, the TV personality, chef and owner of the famous Maine restaurant called Lost Kitchen, has a new non-scripted series on Magnolia Network called “Getting Lost with Erin French.” She travels the country in an Airstream with her husband, Michael, looking for recipe ideas. The series debuts on Magnolia Network on Sunday. It streams the same day on Max and Discovery+.
— Alicia Rancilio
— It’s December 1975, and you’re stuck on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland. To make this Christmas even bluer, you’re all alone — except for some mysterious entity that seems to have wiped out the rest of the crew. That’s the setup for Still Wakes the Deep, the latest mystery from U.K. studio The Chinese Room. The developers are known for off-kilter interactive tales like Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, and their new adventure aims to combine the creeping dread of those titles with full-bore Lovecraftian horror. Take a deep breath and dive on Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 or PC.
— Lou Kesten
This story has been updated to correct the title of Kevin Hart’s show to “Hart to Heart.”
Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.
Sunlight streams through a skylight at the Stephane Diagana stadium in the base camp for the U.S athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Eaubonne, a suburb north of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Sunlight streams through a skylight at the Stephane Diagana stadium in the base camp for the U.S athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Eaubonne, a suburb north of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
This combination of album cover images shows "Exodo" by Peso Pluma, left, and “Crash” by Kehlani. (Double P Records via AP, left, and Atlantic Records via AP)
This image released by AMC+ shows Kathy Baker, from left, Amanda Fix and Krysten Ritter in a scene from "Orphan Black: Echoes." (Sophie Giraud/AMC via AP)
This image released by AMC+ shows August Winter, left, and Krysten Ritter in a scene from "Orphan Black: Echoes." (Sophie Giraud/AMC via AP)
This image released by AMC+ shows Krysten Ritter in a scene from "Orphan Black: Echoes." (Sophie Giraud/AMC via AP)
This combination of photos shows promotional art for the film "Aftersun," left, the animated film "Kung Fu Panda 4, center, and the series "Perfect Wife." (A24/Universal/Hulu via AP)
AJACCIO, Corsica (AP) — Pope Francis on the first papal visit ever to the French island of Corsica on Sunday called for a dynamic form of laicism, promoting the kind of popular piety that distinguishes the Mediterranean island from secular France as a bridge between religious and civic society.
Speaking at the close of a Mediterranean conference on popular piety, Papa Francescu, as he is called in Corsican, described a concept of secularity “that is not static and fixed, but evolving and dynamic,” that can adapt to “unforeseen situations” and promote cooperation “between civil and ecclesial authorities.”
The pontiff said that expressions of popular piety, including processions, communal payer of the Holy Rosary, “can nurture ‘constructive citizenship’ on the part of Christians. At the same time, he warned against such manifestations being seen only in terms of folklore, or even superstition.
During off-the-cuff remarks, the pope relayed his experience attending a festival in northern Argentina before his pontificate where he witnessed the importance of popular piety for the faithful “that seeks a healthy complicity.”
The visit to Corsica’s capital Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon, is one of the briefest of his papacy beyond Italy’s borders, just about nine hours on the ground, including a 40-minute visit with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Francis was joined on the dais by the bishop of Ajaccio, Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo, who organized the conference that brought together some 400 participants from Spain, Sicily, Sardinia and southern France. The two-day meeting examined expressions of faith that often occur outside formal liturgies, such as processions and pilgrimages.
Often specific to the places where they are practiced, popular piety in Corsica includes the cult of the Virgin Mary, known locally as the "Maddunuccia," which protected the island from the plague in 1656 when it was still under Genoa.
Corsica stands out from the rest of secularized France as a particularly devout region, with 92 confraternities, or lay associations dedicated to works of charity or piety, with over 4,000 members.
“It means that there is a beautiful, mature, adult and responsible collaboration between civil authorities, mayors, deputies, senators, officials and religious authorities,’’ Ajaccio Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillo told The Associated Press ahead of the visit. “There is no hostility between the two. And that is a very positive aspect because in Corsica there is no ideological hostility.”
The visit was awash in signs of popular piety. The pope was greeted by children in traditional garb and was continually serenaded by bands, choruses and singing troupes that are central to Corsican culture from the airport, to the motorcade route, convention center and cathedral. Thousands stood along the roadside to greet the pontiff and more waved from windows.
Renè Colombani traveled with 2,000 others by ship from northern Corsica to Ajaccio, on the western coast, to see the pope.
“It is an event that we will not see again in several years. It may be the only time that the pope will come to Corsica. And since we wanted to be a part of it, we have come a long way″ Colombani said.
The island, which Genoa ceded to France in 1768, is located closer to the Italian mainland than France.
From the conference, the pope traveled to the 17th-century cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta to meet with clergy, stopping along the way at the statue of the Maddunuccia.
Francis will later celebrate Mass at the Place d’Austerlitz park, where it is said Napoleon played as a child. Around 7,000 faithful are expected. He will meet privately with Macron at the airport before departing for the 50-minute flight back to Rome.
They are expected to talk about the world’s crisis, including wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and environment and climate-related issues, Macron's office said.
The pontiff pointedly did not make the trip to Paris earlier this month for the pomp surrounding the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral following the devastating 2019 fire. The visit to Corsica seems far more suited to Francis’ priorities than a grand cathedral reopening, emphasizing the “church of the peripheries.”
It is Francis’ third trip to France, each time avoiding Paris and the protocols that a state visit entails. He visited the port of Marseille in 2023, on an overnight visit to participate in an annual summit of Mediterranean bishops, and went to Strasbourg in 2014 to address the European Parliament and Council of Europe.
Corsica is home to more than 340,000 people and has been part of France since 1768. But the island has also seen pro-independence violence and has an influential nationalist movement, and last year Macron proposed granting it limited autonomy.
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Associated Press writers Colleen Barry in Milan and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Francis in Ajaccio on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis greets faithful after praying in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary in Ajaccio on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis blows a candle as he prays in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary in Ajaccio on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis greets faithful after praying in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary in Ajaccio on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis gestures near the Notre Dame of the Assumption cathedral Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 in Ajaccio, Corsica island. Pope Francis' one-day visit to the French island of Corsica puts a dual focus on the Mediterranean, highlighting local traditions of popular piety on the one hand and migrant deaths and wars on the other. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Pope Francis greets faithful as he arrives outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Ajaccio on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Francis outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Ajaccio on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Faithful greet Pope Francis arriving outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Ajaccio on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Faithful wave for Pope Francis Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 in Ajaccio, Corsica island. Pope Francis' one-day visit to the French island of Corsica puts a dual focus on the Mediterranean, highlighting local traditions of popular piety on the one hand and migrant deaths and wars on the other. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Pope Francis gestures near the Notre Dame of the Assumption cathedral Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 in Ajaccio, Corsica island. Pope Francis' one-day visit to the French island of Corsica puts a dual focus on the Mediterranean, highlighting local traditions of popular piety on the one hand and migrant deaths and wars on the other. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at the Baptistery of St. Jean in Ajaccio during the Pontiff one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis arrives at Ajaccio International Airport on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A woman holds a placard reading: "Welcome, 108 year's old the eldest of Ajaccio" as she waits for the arrival of Pope Francis at the Baptistery of St. Jean in Ajaccio during the Pontiff one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis greets the journalists aboard his flight bound for Corsica for his apostolic journey in Ajaccio, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (Remo Casilli/Pool Via AP)
Pope Francis arrives at Ajaccio International Airport on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis arrives at Ajaccio International Airport on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis is welcomed by children as he arrives at Ajaccio International Airport on the occasion of his one-day visit in the French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Workers set up the altar prior to Pope Francis' visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A woman carries bags bearing the Pope Franci' image prior to Pope's visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A man sits in the chair that the Pope Francis will use to celebrate a mass on Sunday, for a photo souvenir, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
People walk near the seafront of Ajaccio prior to Pope Francis' visit, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
People walk past a mural featuring Pope Francis prior to the Pope's visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
People walk past a mural featuring Pope Francis prior to the Pope's visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
People walk past a mural featuring Pope Francis prior to the Pope's visit, in Ajaccio, in the southern French island of Corsica, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Pope Francis boards an airplane at Rome's Fiumicino, airport as he leaves for his one-day visit to Ajaccio in he French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis boards an airplane at Rome's Fiumicino, airport as he leaves for his one-day visit to Ajaccio in he French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis boards an airplane at Rome's Fiumicino, airport as he leaves for his one-day visit to Ajaccio in he French island of Corsica, Sunday, Dec.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
