Africatown’s Descendant Documentary at the Apollo and other worldwide venues
Never in a million years would I have ever dreamed that I and other Africatown Natives would enter the doors of the historic APOLLO THEATER in Harlem New York, and even more exciting, be on stage at The Apollo answering questions from a packed house about our Africatown community, its past, present and future vision for its residents. This trip was made possible because of the success of the documentary DESCENDANT and sponsored by The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Mastercard. This award winning documentary was produced and directed by Mobile’s own Margret Brown with assistance from Essie Chambers (SWIFT RIVER) and Kyle Martin. The success of the movie has taken its cast around the world as we traveled to introduce and promote the Africatown Community as the place in The United States where the last shipment of enslaved Africans landed in America.
A list of the various awards received by the documentary and its producers and directors include:
WON:
Sundance Film Festival – January 2022 – US Documentary Creative Vision Award
Critics Choice Documentary Awards – November 2022 – Best Historical Documentary
National Board of Review – December 2022 – Top 5 Documentaries
Austin Film Critics Association – January 2023 – Best Austin Film
RUNNER-UP:
National Society of Film Critics – January 2023 – Best Non-Fiction Film
Georgia Film Critics Association – January 2023 – Best Documentary Film
NOMINATED:
Critics Choice Documentary Award – November 2022 – Best Documentary Feature
Critics Choice Documentary Award – November 2022 – Best Director Margret Brown
Washington D.C. Film Critics Association – December 2022 – Best Documentary
Chicago Film Critics Association – December 2022 – Best Documentary Film
Florida Film Critics Association – December 2022 – Best Documentary Film
Alliance of Women Film Journalists – January 2023 – Best Documentary
Austin Film Critics Association – January 2023 – Best Documentary
Cinema Eye Honors – January 2023 – Outstanding Director Margret Brown
Cinema Eye Honors – January 2023 – Outstanding Original Music Score
Black Reel Awards – February 2023 – Outstanding Documentary Feature
Satellite Awards – February 2023 – Best Motion Picture Documentary
Producers Guild of America Awards – February 2023 – Outstanding Producers of a Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture – Brown, Chambers & Martin
The promotion of the Descendant Document took us to such places as: Paris, France – London, England – The Country of New Amsterdam – New York City (twice) – Philadelphia, Pa.- Oberlin, Ohio – Virginia – California – Austin, Texas – The Whitney Plantation, La. – Birmingham, Al. – Ft. Walton, Fl. – Martha Vineyards, Mass. – Washington, D.C. – Chicago, Ill. – Harvard University and Mobile, Al. where we had our first premier in October 2022 at Mobile’s Saenger Theater.
The success of Africatown’s Documentary DESCENTANT was one of three things of significance that put Africatown at the center of attention in World Cultural History. First was in 2012 when Africatown was placed on The National Register for Historic Places, second was in 2019 when The last slave ship, The Clotilda, was found and third was in 2022 with the success of the Descendant Documentary. From 2022 thru 2024, it has been a very impactful and uplifting experience for our Africatown Community and its descendants, natives, residents and supporters. The DESCENDANT documentary has been showing on Netflix since October 2022 and Michele & Barack Obama’s production company ,Higher Ground, purchased the rights to produce a movie or TV mini series from the documentary.
Dr. Major Joe Womack USMCR(ret)
Executive Director of africatown-chess.org
Co-Founder of africatownhpf.org
251-404-9558 &