President Barack Obama Attends Netflix ‘Descendant’ Documentary Premiere - Netflix Tudum

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    Is That Emmy-Nominated Star Barack Obama at the ‘Descendant’ Premiere?

    The former President trades the White House for the red carpet.

    Aug. 5, 2022

Is that…Obama? Why yes, yes it is.

First-time Emmy-nominee Barack Obama attended the premiere of Descendant on Aug. 5 at Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival — just one day after his 61st birthday. Also in attendance were Michelle Obama, the film’s executive producer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and director Margaret Brown.

Descendant follows members of Africatown, a small community in Alabama, who are descendants of the humans transported illegally on the last-known slave ship from Africa to the U.S.. The feature documentary, which is backed by the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions, won the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at Sundance in January, and opened the weeklong film festival at Martha’s Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts. The festival lineup also includes Netflix’s A Jazzman’s Blues, produced and directed by Tyler Perry, and From Scratch, a new series starring Zoe Saldaña.

With an Outstanding Narrator nomination for his role in the docuseries Our Great National Parks, Obama has also lent his voice to other projects such as podcasts and audiobooks — not to mention, of course, countless memorable speeches he gave during his eight-year term as the 44th President of the United States. He may be retired from delivering any more State of the Union addresses, but who knows, we just might see him behind the podium again for an Emmy acceptance speech come Sept. 12.

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