Private Project

Her Name was Hester

Logline: A restorative response to a difficult past brings a community together.

Two decades after moving away from her rural birth community to pursue higher education and raise a family, Stacie Marshall returns to her ancestral farm in Dirt Town Valley, Georgia. She tries to focus on rehabilitating and developing the farm, but she cannot shake the reality of her farm having held enslaved humans and it haunts her. She must find a way to make amends. In this process of reconciliation and filming, she is approached by a New York Times National Food Correspondent, who joins in the documentation of the story and it ends up on the cover of the New York Times July 4, 2021. A story passed down within Mrs. Marshall’s family about an enslaved woman, Hester, who served as a wet nurse to her ancestors and was eventually buried among them, prompts Mrs. Marshall to engage in genealogical research and reconciliation efforts with her neighbors. Along the way, we learn about all the good seeds of racial healing that her Black neighbors have already sowed, and with the counsel and collaboration of her neighbors and trusted mentors, Betty and Melvin Mosley, Mrs. Marshall makes a surprising and emotional discovery that will change the community forever.

  • Brian Campbell
    Director
    Damn de Dam, The Natural State of America, To Kingdom Come, The Night the Blackbirds Fell, Her Name was Hester
  • Brian Campbell
    Writer
    Natural State of America, The Night the Blackbirds Fell, Seed Swap, To Kingdom Come, Damn de Dam
  • Jeff Walsh
    Writer
    Running A.T. Full Speed, Disney+ featurette, Rise, Building the Family
  • Brian Campbell
    Producer
    Seed Swap, The Natural State of America, Damn de Dam, The Night the Blackbirds Fell, To Kingdom Come
  • Haley Smith
    Key Cast
    "Haley Smith"
    Musician, Kindred Fire
  • Matthew Raiford
    Key Cast
    "Chefarmer Matthew Raiford"
    High on the Hog, Beat Bobby Flay
  • Kim Severson
    Key Cast
    "Kim Severson"
    New York Times Food Correspondent
  • Stacie Marshall
    Key Cast
    "Stacie Marshall"
  • Betty Mosley
    Key Cast
    "Betty Mosley"
  • Melvin Mosley
    Key Cast
    "Pastor Melvin Mosley"
  • Austen Earp
    Audio Production
    To Kingdom Come
  • Jeff Walsh
    Audio Production
    Running A.T. Full Speed
  • Betty Mosley
    Soundtrack
  • Melvin Mosley
    Soundtrack
  • Jackie Shropshire-Hammond
    Soundtrack
  • Jeneal Johnson
    Soundtrack
  • Isabelle Hill
    Camera Operators
  • Ross Bryant
    Camera Operators
  • Benjamin L. Walker
    Camera Operators
  • Jonah Marshall Campbell
    Camera Operators
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 16 minutes 16 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 30, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Rome International Film Festival
    Rome, Georgia
    United States
    November 10, 2022
    World Premiere
    Special Jury Award, Best Director, Audience Award
  • Utopia Film Festival
    Washington D.C.
    United States
    November 19, 2022
    Maryland Premiere
    Feature Selection
  • Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival
    Indianapolis
    United States
    August 6, 2023
    Feature Selection
  • Gila Valley Film Festival
    Arizona
    United States
    April 21, 2023
    Best U.S. Feature
  • Transparent Film Festival
    New York, NY
    United States
    April 29, 2023
    Best Documentary Feature
  • Macon Film Festival
    Macon, GA
    United States
    August 18, 2023
    Best Made in Georgia, Feature Selection
Director Biography - Brian Campbell

Brian serves Berry College as the Chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Studies, affiliate member of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and as Associate Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies. He documents environmental problems and solutions through film-making. Campbell’s film production venture, Ozarkadia Films, allows him to collaborate with community partners, students, and independent artists and film-makers in the production of ethnographic films related to environmental anthropology, social justice and sustainable land management. Campbell has produced several independent documentary films that have screened in film festivals: To Kingdom Come (2019) won the Rome International Film Festival Audience Award for feature films, Damn de Dam (2019) screened at multiple film festivals, Seed Swap (2010) screened on public television (AETN, PBS affiliate), The Natural State of America (2011) won the 2011 Society for Applied Anthropology Film Award and The Night the Blackbirds Fell (2013) received funding from the Arkansas Humanities Council, UCA Foundation, and Inspired Media and screened in four states, including a Georgia premiere at the 2014 Rome International Film Festival. Campbell serves as a dedicated community partner to the Coosa River Basin Initiative, Chieftains Museum, Major Ridge Home, and Davies Shelters Farm and Gardens. He's a proud father to three cool kids, and you’ll likely find their names somewhere in the credits.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This timely heartfelt film is a collaborative community labor of love co-produced by Ozarkadia Films, Mountain Mama Farms, Harmony Baptist Church/Mosley Family, and the Hester’s Heritage Foundation, with funding from the Georgia Humanities Council and Berry College Faculty Development, and generous pro bono contributions from A Million Things productions, Dark Root Studios, and a talented array of musicians and community members. All of these contributions came about because the story represents a genuine effort at reconciliation that provides real hope and vision in a time when it is so desperately needed.

I began this project as a feminist piece, documenting a woman moving back to farm in a patriarchal farming region and I envisioned it as a short, but the story became increasingly serious and significant and it demanded more of my time and attention. Before I knew it, I had invested five years in documenting because serendipitous events just kept happening, and more and more community members got involved. As we dug into the editing, we decided to omit some of the more hateful aspects of the story, much of which our society already knows more generally, and to pursue the redemption, forgiving, reparation (repair), basically to emphasize that which we hear too little of in mainstream media, perhaps because it’s so rare, or maybe because these stories just don’t get told.