What to Stream This Month

Find our streaming recommendations for the previous month here.

Do you ever wish you could binge-watch your favorite PBS programs? If you’re a member you already can; if not, it’s easy to join. With WTTW Passport, members can watch a huge library of PBS and WTTW programming on-demand on any streaming device. To learn more about WTTW Passport, check out our dedicated site. You can activate or sign up for Passport here.

Each month we’ll bring you a few Passport picks. September is Hispanic Heritage Month, so we’re bringing you the stories of a memorable Chicano activist and a Mexican photographer who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as tours of Havana, Mexico, and a vibrant hub of Chicago’s Latino/a community.

The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo

You may not know the name Oscar Zeta Acosta, but you should. Acosta is most famous for his appearance in Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as the sidekick Dr. Gonzo, but this film aims to showcase Acosta’s own radical work fighting racial bias, especially within the criminal justice system. Acosta was a lawyer, writer, and activist in the Chicano movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s who mysteriously disappeared in Mexico in 1974.

Great Performances: Havana Time Machine

Discover the rich musical traditions of Cuba in this performance documentary hosted by Grammy-winning singer Raul Malo of The Mavericks, featuring such Cuban star musicians as Eliades Ochoa and Roberto Fonseca (who also appears in Geoffrey Baer’s Weekend in Havana as a friend and tour guide to his city).

Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer’s Journey

This American Masters documentary expires from Passport in October, so watch it while you still can! It profiles the life and work of the Mexican American photographer Pedro E. Guerrero, who was a preeminent architecture photographer famous for his work with Frank Lloyd Wright. Later in his life, he collaborated extensively with Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson. His career is little-known and mostly unsung; this documentary is a corrective. En Español.

Wonders of Mexico

Broadcast in August, the three-part Wonders of Mexico is still available to stream in case you missed it. The series takes you on a tour of some of our southern neighbor's most remarkable landscapes, introducing you to the people and animals that reside there. From the Yucatán peninsula, with its Mayan ruins and underground cave and reservoir system, to the volcanoes of Mexico's mountainous spine, to the dry deserts and prairies of the north, there are some extraordinary sights, cultures, and biospheres.

My Neighborhood: Pilsen

This WTTW documentary and web initiative focusing on the neighborhood that is a hub of Chicago’s Latino/a community is always free to stream and access, but it’s worth a revisit. Meet some of the people working to transform, preserve, and brighten their neighborhood in both the documentary, web stories, and digital videos, from the struggling immigrant who now owns a restaurant to muralists to immigration activists, and more.

Weekend in Havana

Like My Neighborhood: Pilsen, this national WTTW documentary hosted by Geoffrey Baer can always be streamed, but there’s also a lot more to discover beyond the documentary on our immersive website. Tour Havana in 360 degrees while riding in a classic Thunderbird; visit a tobacco farm where they make Cuban cigars; learn about architecture, cocktails, flamenco, and Santería, and more!

Dishalicious: Mexican

And as a bonus, watch three of Chicago’s top chefs cook up some Mexican food on WTTW’s Dishalicious – and if you get hungry, you can find the recipes here!