The First Plantation
An investigative documentary on reparations becomes unexpectedly personal when a filmmaker returns home to Barbados to tell the story of Drax Hall, the oldest continuously-operated sugar plantation in the Americas, recently inherited by a wealthy British politician descended from the slave master who founded it.
PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS
This film could not have been made without the support of:
Meet the Team
Nicole Craine
Director
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Nicole Craine is a documentarian and photojournalist with a focus on politics in the Southeastern United States and the ongoing impact of climate change in rural, coastal communities. Recognizing the growth of news deserts and lack of media representation in rural communities, Nicole launched Everyday Rural America in 2017, a social media project and database dedicated to featuring stories from communities and storytellers working outside of cities and urban areas. Nicole now serves on the Advisory Board of Everyday Projects. She is a regular contributor to New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Washington Post and Associated Press. Her work has been featured in New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Marie Claire Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, ESPN, and the Intercept.
Kirsten Dunst
Producer
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Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an award-winning actress who has starred in many films including Marie Antoinette, Bring It On and Power of the Dog. She received a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and has also received nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four Golden Globe Awards.
Darcy McKinnon
Producer
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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 (SXSW, 2024), COMMUTED (PBS, 2024), ALGIERS, AMERICA (Hulu, 2023), UNDER G-D (Sundance 2023), LOOK AT ME! XXXTENTACION (SXSW, Hulu, 2022) and THE NEUTRAL GROUND (Tribeca, POV, 2021). Current projects in production include Jason Fitzroy Jeffers’s THE FIRST PLANTATION, Abe Felix’s TURNAROUND, CJ Hunt’s UNLEARNED, Nicole Craine’s KINFOLK and Zac Manuel’s THE INSTRUMENT. McKinnon’s work has been seen on World Channel, AfroPop, POV, Reel South, LPB and Hulu and has screened at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, CPH:DOX and more. She is an alum of the Impact Partners Producing Fellowship and the Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellowship and is a recipient of American Documentary’s Creative Visionary Award.
Pisie Hochheim
Editor / Co-Producer
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Pisie Hochheim is a filmmaker and editor known for editing NUCLEAR FAMILY (HBO, 2021), which premiered at Telluride Film Festival and was nominated for Independent Spirit and Peabody Awards. With her husband Tony Oswald, she co-directed several shorts that have been featured as Vimeo Staff Picks and "Best of the Month" on Short of the Week.
Jesse Plemons
Producer
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Jesse Plemons is an accomplished actor known for his roles in Breaking Bad, The Irishman, Fargo, Judas and the Black Messiah and Game Night. For his performance in The Power of the Dog, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Tony Oswald
Editor / Co-Producer
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Tony Oswald is a Kentucky-raised filmmaker and editor. Along with the movies he makes with his wife, he’s produced and edited three feature-length films and wrote and directed the short film Great Light, which was selected by Jim Cummings for the Shorts to Feature Lab. His movies frequently focus on family in rural settings.