Descendant is a Sundance Award-winning documentary directed by Margaret Brown. The production is set to air on Netflix, and the streaming service has released the first trailer.
Africatown is the setting of the documentary, a place where members of a small community in Alabama recall their personal stories as descendants of the Clotilda-the last known ship to illegally transport enslaved Africans to the U.S.
The ship made its trip to America 40 years after the outlawing of slavery. Its remnants have been burned, but the documentary uncovers some striking details. The film’s logline states, “after a century shrouded in secrecy and speculation, descendants of the Clotilda’s survivors are reclaiming their story.”
“It’s slowly been erased, and as far as I can remember, it’s never been in history books,” explained a member in the trailer.
“The film follows the community members as they seek justice and healing” another said. “I don’t want the momentum of the story to just be focused on the ship. It’s not all about that ship.”
“I don’t want our history to be taken the same way our people were taken.”
Netflix acquired the rights to the documentary last January after its run at Sundance. President Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground, produced a feature on the documentary’s historical significance.
Descendant will screen at the 60th New York Film Festival on Oct. 1. It launches on Netflix and select theaters on Oct. 21.