The 20th annual Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (MVAAFF), founded by Stephanie and Floyd Rance, opened Friday evening with a robust crowd at a screening of Descendant, a searing documentary helmed by filmmaker Margaret Brown. The film follows the residents of Africatown, Alabama, the descendants of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to hit American shores long after the transatlantic slave trade had been outlawed. The Netflix film is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, and the former POTUS and First Lady surprised the crowd when they stepped out to introduce the film.
“When we screened this, we immediately thought, this is why we’re doing Higher Ground,” Mrs. Obama said. “As Black people, we don’t talk about things, and there is a lot of psychology around that. But, what this film reminds us of is the power that our stories have, and we have to tell that truth.”
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