Michelle and Barack Obama introduced the documentary ‘Descendant’ at the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival

In celebration of their documentary Descendant, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama surprised the audience at the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival.

Their Higher Ground Productions picked up the film after its premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and has arranged for it to be released through Netflix later this year.

This Participant feature focuses on residents of Africatown, a small community in Alabama with a shared history of being descendants of the Clotilda, an illegal slave ship that brought Africans to the U.S. in the 1800s. The existence of the ship had been a centuries-old open secret but was recently confirmed by marine archeologists.

As Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson introduced the Obamas at Harbor View Hotel, Edgartown, Massachusetts, the Obamas took the stage. The film spoke to Michelle instantly, so she said, “We wanted to show our support of everyone involved by being here.”

As she explained, the movie serves as a reminder to share personal information and community history with younger generations. According to Michelle, Descendant reminds us that we have to tell our stories to the younger generation.

“We must be the ones who lead the way. There is no way we can follow that tradition of keeping our pain hidden. “Our stories are the power that makes us visible,” this film shows us.

Also, Barack spoke at the podium, thanking Netflix, the team behind the project, and festival founders Floyd and Stephanie Rance. According to the Promised Land author, stories are important, as are those who tell them, and the stories that are valid and those that are discounted.

One of the abilities of this festival and the work of the Rances is that they lift up stories that have been lost in the flow of time too often. Because we believe that everybody’s stories matter.” A critic for The Hollywood Reporter called Descendant “a riveting impressionistic documentary.”

Related: At Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival, Barack and Michelle Obama surprised the crowd with the doc ‘Descendant’

Robert Poirrer

Robert Poirrer is a contributing author who covers Hollywood latest movie releases and web series for the MovieThop website. He has a decade of experience in writing movies based articles for numerous renowned media outlets. He is excellent at creating unique content based on emerging trends in a variety of categories especially entertainment, movies and lifestyle. When not writing articles you could find Robert enjoying mountain biking trips with his friends. He graduated in English Literature from North Carolina State University.