Official Trailer for ‘Descendant’ Doc About Descendants of the Clotilda
by Alex Billington
September 29, 2022
Source: YouTube
“I think the book of secrets is gonna be opened.” Netflix has revealed the official trailer for an acclaimed documentary film titled Descendant, from director Margaret Brown. This premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won a Special Jury Prize. It played at numerous other film festivals including SXSW, CPH:DOX and is also showing at the New York Film Festival coming up. Descendant tells the story of the Clotilda – the last known ship to smuggle stolen Africans to America – the unthinkable cover-up, and the huge impact of that crime on generations of descendants living in Africatown. Once the past is revealed, can the future be reclaimed? The film meets with and follows descendants of the survivors from the Clotilda as they reclaim their story and attempt to find the ship to prove the truth about what really happened to their ancestors. It’s a remarkable film, and has earned great reviews out of the festivals so far.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Margaret Brown’s doc Descendant, direct from Netflix’s YouTube:
Documentary filmmaker Margaret Brown returns to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to document the search for and historic discovery of “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. Descendant is directed by award-winning American doc filmmaker Margaret Brown, director of the doc films Be Here to Love Me, The Order of Myths, and The Great Invisible previously, plus many other projects. Produced by Margaret Brown, Kyle Martin & Essie Chambers. This initially premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and it also played at SXSW and CPH:DOX. Netflix will debut Brown’s Descendant streaming on Netflix starting October 21st, 2022 this fall. Who’s interested?
