DESCENDANT
SPIRIT | DOCS
US 2022, 108 min, Director: Margaret Brown
Margaret Brown’s important and thought-provoking documentary may prompt a reevaluation of everything you’ve been taught about slavery and the Jim Crow era. In 2018, marine archaeologists uncovered the long lost remains of Clotilda, the last known US slave ship, along the riverbanks of Mobile, Alabama. While many have focused on the ship’s discovery, Brown turns her lens on the residents of Africatown, a community founded by survivors and their descendants—people long denied the freedom to speak about their family history for fear of retaliation. By giving them the opportunity and agency to tell their stories, Brown crafts a powerful testimonial highlighting the effects of the slave trade on modern Black Americans, and accords the Clotilda survivors the respect denied them during their lifetimes. Interspersed throughout the film is footage of the last known survivors of the Clotilda shot by famed writer, filmmaker, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. —Bri’anna Moore
Guest expected: director Margaret Brown
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