‘Family Tree’ Exclusive Preview: New Doc Highlights The Black People Behind North Carolina’s Sustainable Forestry Efforts
The new documentary, Family Tree, is set to premiere Friday at Hot Docs, and Blavity’s Shadow and Act has an exclusive preview.
The documentary, uncovering North Carolina‘s sustainable forestry efforts, following two Black families committed to preserving their land and legacy.
The documentary marks filmmaker Jennifer MacArthur makes her directorial debut, and reveals the unsung battle many Black families in the area are facing. Family Tree doesn’t shy away from the realities of maintaining the land, raising a Black family in today’s America, all while going up against developers and climate change. The exclusive clip below shows the nuances of those challenges, proving a look into sons Trey, Tyron, and Tremaine tending to the land at their father’s instruction.
“There’s a line that’s in the original Black Panther that says, ‘A father needs to prepare his sons for his own death,” Trey, Tyron, and Tremaine father said in the clip. “And so from day one, I’ve tried to prepare them to be men, so that they will be able to carry on when I’m no longer here.”
In a statement, MacArthur stressed the documentary’s “vital” subject matter, and it’s real life impact on Black communities around the U.S.
“The tragedy of generations of Black land loss in America is finally breaking into the public consciousness due to a recent wave of news exposés and documentaries,” she said. “The Williams family and their century farm, Fourtee Acres, is a singular success story in the face of this history. Theirs is a story about Black land, not Black land loss – and the visionary practice of protecting Black legacies through environmental stewardship. Family Tree highlights this vital, yet little-known, role African American families play in sustainable forestry and its potential for re-building lost intergenerational wealth.”
Watch the clip below:
