Descendant
ABOUT
Documentary filmmaker Margaret Brown (“The Order of Myths", “The Great Invisible”) returns to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to document the search for The Clotilda, the last known ship to arrive in the United States illegally carrying enslaved Africans. After a century of secrecy and speculation, the 2019 discovery of the ship turns attention toward the descendant community of Africatown, and presents a moving portrait of a community actively grappling with and fighting to preserve their heritage while examining what justice looks like today.
Margaret Brown’s documentary work examines the American South, from a seminal film on Townes Van Zandt “Be Here to Love Me,” to the impactful story of the BP oil spill’s lasting impact “The Great Invisible,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW a few years ago. Her film “The Order of Myths,” which examined Brown’s native Mobile, Alabama and its still segregated Mardi Gras celebration, won numerous awards including a Peabody and the Truer Than Fiction Independent Spirit Award. She’s also done short form work for the New York Times and Field of Vision, and recently directed an episode of “Dirty Money” for Netflix.
CREDITS
ESSIE CHAMBERS
MARGARET BROWN
Dr. Kern Jackson
Geoffrey Richman