Vino Vérité: NATCHEZ
Schedule
Sun, 17 May, 2026 at 07:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
FilmScene (at The Chauncey) | Iowa City, IA
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Presented by Bread Garden Market, Little Village, and FilmSceneDIALOGUE: Filmmaker Darcy McKinnon in person
Sunday, May 17, 7pm
Vino Vérité returns with Natchez, a revelatory tour of the Antebellum South as told by its many oft-contradictory narrators.
The Vino Vérité series features talented new voices and established filmmakers influenced by the vérité tradition in person to present their thought-provoking, chance-taking, and visually-arresting films. Each selection is paired with hand-selected wines from Bread Garden Market.
Tickets: $25 public / $20 members / $12 students.
Includes wine tasting, film, hors d'oeuvres and filmmaker reception.
6:30 Hors d'oeuvres & wine tasting
7:00 Screening
8:45 Q&A + Reception with filmmaker, wine and dessert
"One of the best documentaries of the 21st century - and the 19th as well." — Moveable Fest
"The genteel politeness on display at the start of the film falls away, revealing an unsettling core." — The Hollywood Reporter
"While a fairy tale generally begins with things in the wrong place and ends with them set right, Herbert positions this story differently." — The New York Times
ABOUT NATCHEZ
It's said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But in this portrait of an aging Southern town, those who repeat the past seem condemned to never remember it. The antebellum estates of the titular town of Natchez are captured in haunting gauzy frames that reflect the fuzzy nostalgia of its primarily white homeowners and period reenactors, who have been offering tours and "pilgrimages" for decades. This long-established mythology is now being corrected by the area's Black residents, who offer an unsanitized version of the town's immoral history on alternate tours that “violate some Southern-pride narratives with truths and facts.” In this multi-layered portrait of a town and its captivating people, Natchez reveals a remarkably contemporary story of a country grappling with its collective past.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Suzannah Herbert is a filmmaker from Memphis, whose work focuses on the American South. Herbert’s directorial debut Wrestle was Emmy-nominated and named one of the top 5 documentaries of 2019 by the National Board of Review. A versatile filmmaker, she has collaborated on projects for Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga and Martin Scorsese. Her sophomore feature, Natchez, has been supported by ITVS, Catapult Film Fund, Ford Foundation, and honored with 19 awards on the festival circuit. It will be broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens later in 2026.
Darcy McKinnon is a documentary filmmaker based in New Orleans, whose work focuses on the American South and the Caribbean. Recently released projects include A King Like Me and Roleplay, premiering at SXSW 2024, Algiers, America, winner of the NOFF23 Audience Award (Hulu, 2023), Under G-d (Sundance 2023), Look at Me: XXXTENTACION (SXSW, Hulu, 2022) and News & Doc Emmy-nominated The Neutral Ground (Tribeca, POV, 2021), recipient of Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Documentary of the Year 2022.
Tribeca Film Festival (2025) — World Premiere, Winner Best Documentary
Palm Springs International (2025) — Winner, Best Documentary
Sidewalk Film Festival (2025) — Winner, Best Documentary
American Film Festival (2025) — Winner, Audience Award
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Where is it happening?
FilmScene (at The Chauncey), 404 E College St.,Iowa City,IA,United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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