NHK has scooped up Black Nation, a documentary from Toronto’s Open Door and Sweden’s Herrland Pictures. The film will air in January, concurrent with U.S. President Barrack Obama’s first full year in office.

The agreement was reached by Open Door’s Tom Powers and NHK producer Ken Imamura, and follows recent deals with SBS in Australia and Sweden’s SVT. Negotiations are underway with U.S. and Canuck broadcasters.

Powers (Cracked Not Broken, Independent America) met Nation producer Claes Herrlander at a Hot Docs event two years ago and says he was immediately taken with the documentary, in which director Mats Hjelm retraces the footsteps of his filmmaker father, who recounted racial problems in Detroit for 35 years.

‘I thought ‘This is something I would love to be involved in,” Powers tells Playback Daily. The film explores the state of black manhood in America and the lingering effects of slavery.

The film was financed by Canuck private investors alongside SVT and the Swedish Film Institute.