“SEEKING: Mapping Our Gullah Geechee Story” was commissioned by the International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charleston, S.C., and filmed entirely in the South Carolina Lowcountry including St. Helena Island and Johns Island during the summer of 2022. The short film was written and directed by Julie Dash and executive produced by Ummah Chroma Creative Partners (UCCP) and the International African American Museum (IAAM).
The Dash family has deep roots in South Carolina, a history that has profoundly shaped Julie Dash’s lifelong exploration of her Gullah Geechee heritage. That legacy reached global audiences through her landmark film Daughters of the Dust (1991), also photographed in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Widely regarded as a foundational work of Black independent cinema, the film was named number 60 in the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time international critics’ poll.
Seeking was developed with the Ummah Chroma Creative Partners producers Mishka Brown, Nanette Nelms, Bradford Young, Terrence Nance, and Jenn Nkiru.
As the International African American Museum (IAAM) was under construction, preparations for the film included extensive scouting of South Carolina locations and tours of the museum site—often in hard hats—with IAAM CEO Tonya Matthews and curator James Bartlett. The museum is built on the historic site of Gadsden’s Wharf, where historians estimate that nearly 40 percent of enslaved Africans brought to what is now the United States first arrived.
The creative team also met with IAAM landscape architect Walter Hood and leaders of local cultural and academic institutions, including Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston, and the legendary Penn Center—the first school in the South established for formerly enslaved African Americans, and the site where Martin Luther King Jr. drafted his “I Have a Dream” speech.
In 2018, Dash was inducted into the Penn Center’s 1862 Circle in recognition of her enduring contributions to its legacy. Her landmark film Daughters of the Dust was filmed on St. Helena Island, further grounding her work in the Gullah Geechee Lowcountry that continues to shape her artistic vision.
Related Websites:
https://avery.charleston.edu/
https://www.penncenter.com/
Our team acknowledges the support of South Carolina scholars including IAAM public historians Bernard Powers Jr., and Brandon Reid, cultural and land preservationist Victoria A. Smalls, and Avery Research Center’s Daron Calhoun II. Global educator and cultural leader Kim Cliett-Long opened doors you cannot imagine. Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., and Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg were gracious hosts and supporters of the museum and film.
Ongoing thanks to renown South Carolina artist Jonathan Green, whose own seeking journey as a boy in the Lowcountry inspired Dash to explore the experience on film. Photographs of Jonathan Green’s painted cypress trees are featured toward the end of the film. The artist is best known for his vibrant paintings of Gullah Geechee Sea Islands and invaluable role as the painter laureate of South Carolina and cultural leader. The recently launched Jonathan Green Maritime Cultural Center is a great resource for learning about the artist, the Lowcountry region and its heritage.
Jonathan Green Maritime Cultural Center Website: https://jgmcc.org/
SYNOPSIS:
In the hushed darkness before dawn, when the sea island mist clings to ancient live oaks and the salt marsh whispers secrets older than memory, Gullah Geechee children stand at the threshold between childhood and something deeper, something ancestral.
SEEKING: Mapping Our Gullah Geechee Story is a luminous meditation on heritage, courage, and the sacred journey toward self-knowledge—a cinematic short film, photographed by Bradford Young, that honors the profound coming-of-age traditions of the Gullah Geechee people.
