Directed by Joseph Curran and Dominic Aubrey de Vere and produced by Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, the documentary follows Annina Van Neel, who, as the chief environmental officer for Saint Helena’s troubled $360 million airport project, learned of the island’s most terrible atrocity – an unmarked mass burial ground of an estimated 9,000 formerly enslaved Africans in Rupert’s Valley, one of the most significant traces of the transatlantic slave trade still on earth.
The film had its world premiere at Tribeca. Shoshi Korman, Cinephil’s head of festivals and marketing who is on the ground at the festival, which continues through June 19, is handling the title along with managing director Olivier Tournaud. “A Story of Bones” is co-produced by Jo-Jo Ellison and executive produced by Lisa Marie Russo, Lucie Kon, Mike Brett and Steve Jamison. The production company is Archer’s Mark in association with PT Films and Turnover Films. The project is supported by BFI Doc Society and BBC Storyville. The film is next bound for Sheffield Doc/Fest in the U.K.