Family Tree

This cinema vérité style documentary tells the moving story of two Black family forest owners in North Carolina. It tracks their triumphs and struggles historically and in the present day. The Jefferies sisters, Nikki and Natalie, are eager to reconnect with their familial roots by learning how to tend to and replenish the tree farm they inherited from their grandmother. At the same time, they struggle with their estranged father, and face a steep learning curve and encroaching outside interests. Meanwhile, the Williams family cultivates an award-winning tree farm at their aptly named Fourtee Acres, where the patriarch makes sure his sons are ready to take over operations. 

Family Tree offers a look at Black family foresters in the South. They face many challenges: lack of credit and capital, barriers to accessing forestry services, and threats to their land ownership from predatory developers using legal loopholes.