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NATCHEZ — A documentary film about Natchez debuts Monday at the Tribeca Film Festival. However, few here seem to know much about it.

Director Suzannah Herbert was in Natchez in April 2023 filming the movie, although she may have come back later, as well, to film. Attempts to contact Herbert have been unsuccessful to date.

The movie, “Natchez,” is billed as a story about the American South’s “unreconciled history.”

“At an antebellum home in Natchez, Mississippi, a group of older women convene as members of a local garden club. The charismatic mayor of Natchez, Dan Gibson, arrives and addresses the chatty and enthusiastic women: ‘I’m excited that Natchez is a new Natchez — one that appreciates and loves our city — all of it, even the bad, but it is our history. It is also a city that believes in coming together in love — and if we ever needed it in America, we need it today.’ This proclamation sets off filmmaker Suzannah Herbert’s sharp exploration of the American South’s unreconciled history,” reads a review of the film by Jose Rodriguez on the Tribeca Film website.

“The haunting Natchez is a potent choral portrait of a town reliant on its antebellum past to survive, and how its idiosyncratic citizens navigate — and reflect on — their town’s history and memory. With an observant lens, Herbert foregrounds a dynamic array of distinctive residents — from the outspoken and thoughtful ‘Rev,’ a preacher who provides comprehensive tours of the town and is a self-ascribed ‘best tour guide in America,’ to the charming hoopskirt-wearing Southern belle Tracy. With palpable intimacy, Herbert’s film reveals a looming reckoning that asks the question: Who gets to tell America’s story,” Rodriguez writes.

The hoopskirted Southern belle is Tracy McCartney of Natchez, who met Herbert in 2023 while receiving guests at the historic Choctaw Hall.

“I think she (Herbert) was here filming off and on for over a year,” McCartney said. McCartney has seen the film and said if she had to say one phrase about it, that phrase would be that it’s “thought-provoking.”

“The film points out things we can obviously do better. It shed light on a lot of the beauty of Natchez, but some will think it’s controversial, too. As I said, it’s thought-provoking. I think the film shows us for the humanity that we are,” McCartney said.