Natchez
A sharp look at the American South's unreconciled history through Natchez, a Mississippi town that mixes antebellum tourism with a community deeply divided over its past. (NR, 86 min.)
Showtimes
Friday, June 12, 2026
(TBD)
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. [Oscilloscope]
Director: Suzannah Herbert
Genre: Documentary, History
"Provocative, eye-opening and well-shot."
— Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
"A major achievement in documentary filmmaking."
— Robert Stinner, In Review
"Natchez is smart, provocative, and even occasionally funny."
— Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat
"One of the best documentaries of the 21st century - and the 19th as well."
— Moveable Fest
"It’s a rich and provocative exploration of America’s past and its fraught future."
— Jonathan W. Hickman, The Newnan Times-Herald
"The genteel politeness on display at the start of the film falls away, revealing an unsettling core."
— Hollywood Reporter
"Natchez shows how teaching our history, the real story, can actually unite people more than divide them."
— Tina Kakadelis, Beyond the Cinerama Dome
"'Natchez' chronicles the tale of a country at war with itself while charting a path forward to peace and reconciliation. Let’s hope the right people are watching."
— Christopher Llewellyn, Reed Hammer to Nail
"The sociological themes resonate beyond the boundaries of the titular Mississippi riverfront city in this fascinating documentary about generational shifts and historical reckonings."
— Todd Jorgenson, Cinemalogue
"Brilliant and bracing... the colorful and funny group of characters that Herbert assembles here make Natchez a surprisingly entertaining watch. Until those moments when it pointedly isn’t."
— Jason Adams, Pajiba
"What starts seemingly as a curious look at one Mississippi town’s legacy regarding slavery winds up as a deeper exploration of how history should be represented, especially when it comes to humanity’s mistakes."
— Christopher Campbell, Nonfics
"It is about the personal, cultural, and commercial pressures in a small Mississippi town whose economy depends on a sanitized version of the era of wealthy plantation owners who used enslaved people to pick cotton."
— Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com
"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."
— Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times
"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."
— Carla Hay, Culture Mix
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