BLACK PANTHER Actor and DACA Recipient Bambadjan Bamba Narrates Film on Plight of Undocumented Immigrants

Film and television actor Bambadjan Bamba ("The Good Place," "Black Panther"), narrates the first part of "Brightness of Noon: The Intersect of Faith, Immigration and Refugees," premiering this month on ABC-affiliated stations.

This past November, Bamba risked his family and career when he publicly declared his undocumented immigrant status in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. In doing so, Bambadjan, in solidarity with thousands of young undocumented immigrants whose lives have been upended since the president rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), voluntarily put himself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration's draconian deportation policy.

Bamba is a DACA recipient himself, having been brought to the United States when he was ten by parents fleeing political violence in his native Ivory Coast. By committing to narrate this documentary, Bamba says he hopes to show that "I and 800,000 other DACA recipients are young people who care, work hard and only want the opportunity to give back to this great nation."

"Brightness of Noon," produced by five-time Emmy award-winner Debra Gonsher Vinik of Diva Communications, is a two-part documentary that illuminates the risks people of faith are willing to take to protect the human rights of those fleeing violence, and the struggles and triumphs of undocumented immigrants and refugees as they resettle in the United States.

"I was drawn to the issue two years ago when an exemplary student of mine came to me, unsure if she would receive the college's highest academic honor because she was undocumented," said Gonsher Vinik. "And now every day I read horrific stories of families being torn apart, people who've lived here for decades, accomplishing amazing things and their rights being denied. People whose only "crime" has been fleeing the murder, rape and torture in their native country and coming to the United States, hoping for peace and security."

"Part 1," which focuses on undocumented immigrants, begins airing on ABC-affiliated stations nationwide on February 18, 2018.

"Part 2," which addresses the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, will air in November 2018.

Actor Bambadjan Bamba was born in the Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire) and studied at the Conservatory of Film and Dramatic Arts in New York City. Bamba has racked up a slew of TV credits including stints on "Cold Case," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "Parenthood," "Grey's Anatomy," "The Following" and "Consequences." Most recently, Bambadjan appeared on the first season of "The Good Place" and plays a militant leader on the big screen in Marvel's latest blockbuster "Black Panther."

To post a comment, you must register and login.