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Natchez

Play trailer 2:00 Poster for Natchez Jan 2026 1h 26m Documentary History Play Trailer Watchlist
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97% Tomatometer 34 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
After generations of showcasing its antebellum homes and hoop-skirted docents, Natchez, Mississippi, is now reckoning with a romanticized past, an uncertain future and the debt it owes to the descendants of slavery. A cinematic portrait of a tourist town at a crossroads, NATCHEZ follows an array of historic homeowners, activists and tour guides as they tell their versions of the past, and clash over who gets to tell America's story.
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Natchez

Critics Reviews

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Rob Silverman Ascher Chicago Reader Mar 9
The film feels a little too content to lean on southern passive aggression rather than face the discourse at its heart. Go to Full Review
Robert Abele Los Angeles Times Feb 9
Natchez is full of quietly charged moments in dreamily scenic surroundings, one result of Noah Collier’s lush cinematography, deployed like a deliberately performative nostalgia that lets us know there’s always more to see if we look closely enough. Go to Full Review
Alissa Wilkinson New York Times Feb 2
The wish the mayor voices slowly cracks apart; we witness progressively more uncomfortable encounters that show how even agreed-upon histories clash with one another. Go to Full Review
Nora Lee Mandel Maven's Nest Mar 14
8/10
Going beyond exposé of ossified customs to look at economic and social impact of being nostalgically old-fashioned, half is devoted to the alternative tour and preservation efforts of Black leaders focusing on true slavery history. Go to Full Review
Carla Hay Culture Mix Mar 8
The documentary Natchez skillfully shows the contrasts in how white historians and African American historians describe how racism affected Natchez, Mississippi. This film mostly shows perspectives of local tour guides instead of media-trained experts. Go to Full Review
Jennifer Merin AWFJ.org Mar 6
Takes viewers on tours of Natchez, the city. Lead by diverse guides, the tours tell the story of the city's shameful history of slavery. Slavery may no longer exist, but nuanced and extreme bigotry still do. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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D Mar 6 Charming and informative See more anne Feb 24 Duality clear factual But wonder if Q&A would have had different tone if presented in mid town vs East Memphis. See more Marielle S @RT82557905 1d I'm a history buff, and transplant to the South and as such I was looking forward to this documentary on Natchez. My husband and I have visited Natchez and loved it. I'm absolutely in favor of telling the whole story, White/Black, slave, aristocracy and the 95% who never owned plantations or slaves. But this was a roaring disappointment. Yes, the visuals are stunning. But the narrative was clearly set before the filmmaker ever set foot in Natchez. Defect: the glaring absence of a single native of Natchez as a featured voice. The chosen female featured is a mid-life transplant to Natchez who joined the Garden Club and works on the mansion Pilgrimage. The Black Male featured person is "The Rev"—a tour guide who does not even live in Natchez (and never did), but lives 30 miles away. His racial agenda is non-stop. The gay man home tour guide turns out to be from Little Rock, another adult transplant. Where are the natives? They didn't participate. Only the Muffler Man heckler is native. See more Shanti V @RT54638341 2d It's true the documentary has beautiful cinematography. But the praise has to halt there. The documentary was clearly made with an agenda that that is Woke/Leftist/Racis and designed to fuel division. It's interesting that the MSM "reviews" fall all over themselves in praise of the propaganda, failing to question anything Ms. Herbert presents. Have any one of these MSM reviewers ever set foot in Natchez themselves? Have they ever set foot in Mississippi? Or anywhere in the Deep South? Doubtful. They exhibit confirmation bias. It's very telling the featured speakers in the film are not Natchez natives. The Garden Club woman is a transplant; "The Rev" tour guide doesn't live in Natchez—he lives 30 miles away. No natives except the colorful gay community are feature speakers. Descendents should be proud of the beautiful homes built by slaves. Where's pride in workmanship? Slavery was a worldwide phenomena and still exists in Africa by Africans. This is a film fostering ignorance. See more Nicholas S. @nnschaefer Apr 13 A thought-provoking and conversation-starting look at whiteness and the message that white plantation owners in Natchez, MS — the oldest settlement on the Mississippi River and second-largest slave trade site in the pre-Civil War United States — present an asinine version of history. Natchez investigates and indicts how our society reconciles, remembers, and forgets dark elements of U.S. history. See more Paul S @pfsmd Feb 22 My mother grew up in Natchez and I went there numerous times while growing up. It is a place with a complicated past. The cinematography in this film is outstanding and some of the characters are compelling, but unfortunately, Ms. Herbert has an agenda, and that is to try to play (even more) on your white guilt. Slavery was a horrific institution, and we certainly have to come to terms with it as a nation, but tremendous progress has been made in the last 60 years. To lay all the blame for the current state of race relations at the feet of white people is not a serious argument. One character, an old gay white man who gives tours of his antebellum home and who is entertaining and eccentric, is revealed at the end to be a...(spoiler alert)...RACIST. Cue the selective outrage. So let me get this straight. You found an old white guy in the deep south who grew up during Jim Crow who still harbors racist attitudes? Are we supposed to be shocked by this? What is the point exactly? See more Read all reviews
Natchez

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Movie Info

Synopsis After generations of showcasing its antebellum homes and hoop-skirted docents, Natchez, Mississippi, is now reckoning with a romanticized past, an uncertain future and the debt it owes to the descendants of slavery. A cinematic portrait of a tourist town at a crossroads, NATCHEZ follows an array of historic homeowners, activists and tour guides as they tell their versions of the past, and clash over who gets to tell America's story.
Director
Suzannah Herbert
Producer
Darcy McKinnon
Screenwriter
Suzannah Herbert, Pablo Proenza
Distributor
Oscilloscope Laboratories
Production Co
ITVS, Gusto Moving Pictures
Genre
Documentary, History
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 30, 2026, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 31, 2026
Runtime
1h 26m