# Descendant (2022 film)

Descendant is a 2022 American historical documentary film directed by Margaret Brown, chronicling the story behind Africatown in Alabama, and the descendants of the last known enslaved Africans brought to the United States aboard the Clotilda. The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it was picked up for wider distribution by Higher Ground Productions and Netflix. It received a theatrical release on October 21, 2022 and was available to stream on Netflix that day as well.

## Synopsis

In 1808, the United States passed an act of Congress that abolished the international slave trade, making it illegal to bring slaves across the Atlantic ocean and back to America. However, in 1860, the owner of the Clotilda, Timothy Meaher, and his crew started their voyage to Africa. Once arriving, they had purchased and taken well over one hundred slaves. On July 9, 1860, 110 African men, women, and children, survived that voyage and were dropped off at the Mobile Bay in Mobile, Alabama. William Foster, the captain, burned the ship and tried to destroy any traces of evidence pertaining to this illegal expedition. Centuries later, the descendants of the slaves on the Clotilda, reside in this town of Mobile, Alabama, now known as Africatown. The descendants have worked to fight for justice and find the Clotilda in the river. The wreckage of the Clotilda was found in 2019 in the Mobile River of Alabama, and this film explores the community of Africatown and the descendants of some of the last known enslaved Africans that were brought to the United States aboard her 40 years after slave trading had already been deemed a capital offense.

## Production and release

After the wreckage of the Clotilda was discovered, director Margaret Brown spent four years with the residents of Africatown examining how the discovery impacted the lives of descendants of the last known slaves brought to the US. Brown also produced the film alongside Kyle Martin and Essie Chambers for Participant and Take One Five Entertainment. The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, after which it was picked up by Higher Ground Productions and Netflix for theatrical and streaming distribution. It continued on the festival circuit at the SXSW Festival as a Festival Favorite. The film was released to select theaters and on Netflix on October 21, 2022.

## Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100%, with an average score of 8.4/10, based on 69 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Descendant serves as a fantastically compelling example of how history can be reclaimed -- and a stirring tribute to a resilient community." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 12 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Jake Coyle called it "One of the best films of the year" in his review for the Associated Press.

### Accolades

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
| Sundance Film Festival | January 30, 2022 | US Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision | Descendant | Won | |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 13, 2022 | Best Documentary Feature | Descendant | Nominated | [8] [9] |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 13, 2022 | Best Historical Documentary | Descendant | Won | [8] [9] |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 13, 2022 | Best Director | Margaret Brown | Nominated | [8] [9] |
| National Board of Review | December 8, 2022 | Top 5 Documentaries | Descendant | Won | |
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | December 12, 2022 | Best Documentary | Descendant | Nominated | |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | December 14, 2022 | Best Documentary Film | Descendant | Nominated | |
| Florida Film Critics Circle | December 22, 2022 | Best Documentary Film | Descendant | Nominated | |
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists | January 5, 2023 | Best Documentary | Descendant | Nominated | |
| National Society of Film Critics | January 7, 2023 | Best Non-Fiction Film | Descendant | Runner-up | |
| Austin Film Critics Association | January 10, 2023 | Best Documentary | Descendant | Nominated | |
| Austin Film Critics Association | January 10, 2023 | Best Austin Film | Descendant | Won | |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 12, 2023 | Outstanding Direction | Margaret Brown | Nominated | |
| Cinema Eye Honors | January 12, 2023 | Outstanding Original Score | Ray Angry, Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell | Nominated | |
| Georgia Film Critics Association | January 13, 2023 | Best Documentary Film | Descendant | Runner-up | |
| Black Reel Awards | February 6, 2023 | Outstanding Documentary Feature | Descendant | Nominated | |
| Satellite Awards | February 11, 2023 | Best Motion Picture – Documentary | Descendant | Nominated | |
| Producers Guild of America Awards | February 25, 2023 | Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures | Margaret Brown, Kyle Martin, and Essie Chambers | Nominated | |

## Cast

[edit]
* Theodore Arthur
* Gary Autrey
* Chris Davis
* Joycelyn Davis
* Willomina Davis
* James Delgado
* Bobby Dennison
* Mary Elliot
* Vivian Davis Figures
* Karlos Finley
* Mike Fitzgerald
* Shiela Flanagan
* Anderson Flen
* Michael Foster
* Patricia Frazier
* Vernetta Henson
* Fredrik T. Hiebert
* Herndon Inge
* Kern Jackson
* Cleon Jones
* Lisa Jones
* Mae Jones
* Annah Lewis
* Ayanna Lewis
* Emmett Lewis
* Rayla Lewis
* Robert Lewis
* Garry Lumbers
* Ralphema Lumbers

## Producers

[edit]
* Louis Black as associate producer
* Margaret Brown as producer
* Essie Chambers as producer
* Shawn Gee as executive producer
* Kate Hurwitz as executive producer
* Kern Jackson as co-producer
* Kristen Mann as line producer
* Kyle Martin as producer
* Christine Mattsson as co-executive producer
* Questlove as executive producer
* Jeff Skoll as executive producer
* Tariq Trotter as executive producer
* Diane Weyermann as executive producer
* Zarah Zohlman as executive producer