Natchez

ERIC SAYS While at first glance Natchez might seem like a film concerned with the past, there’s no better nor more urgent documentary for understanding where we are as a country right now—and how systemic racism continues to drag us all down. The old guard in the town of Natchez, where antebellum-themed tourism counts as a major economic engine, has a lot invested in a nostalgic, white-washed view of the South. In these fantasies, beautiful mansions were occupied by elegant grand dames, debutantes in hoop dresses, and dashing Confederate heroes—and Black slaves, we’re assured—when mentioned at all—enjoyed friendly relationships with the benevolent landowners for whom they picked cotton.

Of course, the reality behind this false narrative was one of generations of horrific violence and trauma, which Natchez (the film) never shies away from. This provocative, disturbing, yet at times darkly comic doc finds its moral center in the courageous Black residents, tour guides, and historians who suffer micro-aggressions—and sometimes, as the film unforgetably captures, straight-up aggression—in their efforts to find a different kind of pride in their roots, and paint a more truthful view of the region’s history.

Natchez was shot by cinematographer Noah Collier (co-director of New/Next 2023’s world-premiere doc feature Carpet Cowboys) and executive produced by Baltimore’s own Sam Pollard, whose work as editor includes Style Wars and Bamboozled, and whose features as director include MLK/FBI, and New/Next 2023’s closing night film Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes. Suzannah Herbert and her first-rate team have crafted not just an essential-viewing documentary, but one of the year’s best conversation-starters in any creative medium. Fresh from its premiere at Tribeca, New/Next is proud to make Natchez its closing night film for 2025. (Eric Allen Hatch)

Join us across the street following the film at Metro Gallery for an evening with DJ Mills celebrating Southern soul, funk, and Dirty South hip-hop classics.