How do we reanimate and activate the ruins of a forgotten past? By remembering. By invoking presence. By valuing and preserving what still exists. 

Backcountry, Red Clay explores Black Southern rural life and history through my family’s history in South Carolina. Sparsely inhabited and easily forgotten, Edgefield County–a backcountry town in South Carolina with a population of 26,000–is gradually being revitalized. In the film, I trace my ancestors’ land acquisition, honor their land stewardship, and seek to cultivate a connective spirit within my family after a tragic death. During my visit, I will explore the geographic landscape of the town, unearth my family’s complex relationship with the town, and examine the history of enslaved potters of Edgefield. Guided by discovery, I reclaim my connection to this town by understanding my personal and shared histories.

Interviews with historians and archivists about the role archives have in liberation work are interwoven with conversations with my family about why they moved South after the tragedy and what about the Southern landscape keeps them there. 

Caption: Portrait of Gwendolyn Bennett, 2016, Ireashia Bennett

Backcountry, Red Clay continues the story I began in my 2016 short film debut, Grandma's Wisdom, that centers on my grandmother's work as an herbalist. It was in this backcountry town in South Carolina that I remembered the value of maintaining family history and memories. It was in the stillness that I found the courage to stand grounded within myself–to own all parts of me and to live more authentically.

Throughout the film I assign certain visual and aesthetic textures with specific perspectives to explore the fragile temporality of human memory and history. Archival and family records foregrounds the past alongside present-day Edgefield County. Where there are gaps in the archives, geospatial technology provides an easily accessible visual archive of the spatial and geographical changes of the town. Present-day Edgefield County is seen in digital 4k video characterized by deep, vibrant colors and slow, fluid camera movements. Footage shot on 16mm offers intimate vignettes into the lives of Black residents and family members. Additionally, the textured quality of analog film signifies times past and, as such, mediates communication between the dead and the living. Finally, I will incorporate access features such as captioning and audio description throughout the film to reflect my perspective as a child of land who sees the town with new eyes. I weave these intricate, nonlinear fragments together to create a complex, multi-layered view of Black Southern life and history against the backdrop of gentrification and the threat of historical erasure. Above all, Backcountry, Red Clay is a reparative reckoning and celebration of Black Southern rural life, culture and history.

Image features film stills from Earth Mama (2023) by Savanah Leaf and Black Mother (2018) (right) by Khalik Allah. Source: ShotDeck.

Images by Ireashia Bennett

In March 2025, the Trump administration released an executive order to pull significant funding from museums, libraries, and archives across the US–targeting Black historical institutions such as the Smithsonian African-American Museum. The reason? These spaces promote “improper ideology” that supposedly generates racial division. Simultaneously, commercial development in Edgefield County is increasing, rapidly shifting the historical and physical landscape of the town.

The short film will feature two key expert voices on Black archival resistance and genealogical research. 

The first is Natonne Elaine Kemp (she/her), family historian and co-author of the book There is Something About Edgefield: Shining a Light on the Black Community through History, Genealogy & Genetic DNA. Kemp and Edna Gail Bush reclaim their family stories in Edgefield through in-depth genealogical research, historical study, and archival research. Kemp will support me with tracing ancestral land acquisition as well as provide insight on the Black history and culture of Edgefield County, and uplift the importance of creating and maintaining a familial archive. Learn more about Natonne Elaine Kemp here.

The second expert voice is Erin Glasco (they/them), a Chicago-based fat Black, queer, non-binary independent archivist and researcher. Erin’s interests include exploring how to meaningfully integrate radical empathy, rest, and anti-capitalism into their archival practice, and supporting the documentation of Black, queer, feminist informed grassroots movement work. Erin is a founding member of The Blackivists, a collective of Black archivists who provide expertise on archiving and preservation practices for Black cultural heritage and memory work in the Chicagoland area. In response to the Trump Administration’s ongoing assault on Black, queer, and POC historical, artistic, and cultural institutions, Glasco will speak about the collective power of remembers within the archive. Learn more about Erin Glasco here.

With reverence, Backcountry, Red Clay is a reparative reckoning and celebration of Black Southern rural life, culture and history.

We are in the initial stages of pre-production as a team with our production date set for July 15 to July 19, 2025. In this stage, your contributions will directly fund production costs such as lodging, crew production travel, location expenses, daily crew meals, and transportation costs. This production will culminate into a 22-minute short experimental documentary that will be released in early-2026. Contributing to the project at this critical stage will allow us to secure the necessary funds to bring the crew and equipment to South Carolina for a five-day shoot. 

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How do we reanimate and activate the ruins of a forgotten past? By remembering. By invoking the presence of those long dead. By valuing what still exists. Pledge today to help the #BackcountryRedClay team preserve the Black Southern history of a rural town through reclamation and memory. Join their journey here: seedandspark.come/fund/backcountry-redclay.

Thank you so much for your support!

Want to learn more about theTrump Administration's recent executive orders which threaten the sustainability of historical and cultural institutions across the US? Here is a list of several sources that have guided my research for my documentary!

1. McGrady, Clyde. (2025, May 6). Trump’s Order to Sanitize Black History Meets Institutional Resistance. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/us/politics/trump-censorship-black-history.html.
2. Reveal. (2025, May 7). Nikole Hannah-Jones: Trump Is Erasing Black History. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/05/nikole-hannah-jones-trump-is-erasing-black-history/.
3. Remnick, David. (2025, April 6). At The Smithsonian, Donald Trump Takes Aim At History. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/14/at-the-smithsonian-donald-trump-takes-aim-at-history/.
4. Paris, Francesca, Parlapiano, Alicia, and Katz, Josh. (2025, April 30). Are Trump’s Actions Truly Unprecedented? We Asked 35 Historians. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/30/upshot/presidential-history-survey.html.
5. Walk, Trey. (2025, April 10). The Trump’s Administration’s Assaults on Black History. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/04/10/trump-administrations-assaults-black-history.
6. Berry, Deborah Barfield. (2025, May 4). Protestors Rally to Support the National African American Museum and Black history. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/03/smithsonian-african-american-history-museum-black-culture/83432491007/.
7. Parham, Jason. (2025, May 2). Trump Wants to Erase Black History. These Digital Archivists Are Racing to Save It. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/trump-wants-to-erase-black-history-these-digital-archivists-are-racing-to-save-it/.