Produced & Directed By Marco Williams

“Williams investigates with even-handed and nuanced precision…. exposing a Gordian knot of racial injustice….
Enhances our understanding of the past by exploring its reverberations in the present.
As the film’s on-camera narrator, Williams’s very presence in the all-white communities he documents is a canny litmus test.”
– Lisa Katzman, Village Voice

“It’s stunning how loudly the dead can speak, and with such eloquence.”
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“Goes the extra mile by confronting the descendants of the perpetrators.”
– Time Out NY

“With a forceful and disturbing, and at the same time emotionally resonant sense of investigative inquiry, Williams fearlessly burrows into the depths of this hidden history with brave, unrelenting determination. A rare treasure in the annals of cinema.”
– Prairie Miller, WBAI Radio

“Investigates the distressing and awkward situation that arises when African-American families
return to land where their ancestors were forced to retreat in the face of domineering racism.
Rather than following an activist agenda, Williams’s intelligent personal narrative raises
monumental questions surrounding ownership and retribution.”
– Eric Kohn, New York Press

“A deft drilling down into a little-known or consciously forgotten-about piece of American history.
An important film that renegotiates the issue of reparations.”
– Williams Cole, The Brooklyn Rail

BETWEEN THE CIVIL WAR AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION, DOZENS OF SOUTHERN COUNTIES (AND NOT SO SOUTHERN ONES) BANISHED THRIVING AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. This little-known phenomenon typically began with a criminal accusation of a black man and his lynching, followed by the violent eviction of all the black families living in the county — and the appropriation of their land. Today, these counties remain virtually all white and their victims’ descendants remain uncompensated. African-American filmmaker Marco Williams interviews both groups, traveling to Forsyth County (Georgia), Pierce City (Missouri) and Harrison (Arkansas). Handsome, soft-spoken, articulate and unfailingly polite, he is the perfect foil for drawing out KKK members and guilty liberals alike. He takes an incendiary subject and through force of personality weaves a thoughtful investigation of racism, responsibility and real estate.

Listen to our podcast: Q & A with director MARCO WILLIAMS (Recorded September 26, 2007)

Links:

• Official website
• Interview with Marco Williams on WNYC's The Leonard Lopate Show (guest host: Amy Eddings)

USA • 2007 • 87 Minutes • Filmsource Informatiion

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BURIED IN THE BITTER WATERS
by Elliot Jaspin