Orgins (2023)

I didn’t even know this film existed until I started intentionally seeking out more work by Black directors. I was on one of those deep-dive nights — the kind where you're half-curating, half-healing — and Origin found me.

And whew. 

I was not ready.

I had no expectations, no hype in my head, just curiosity. I’d seen the thumbnail for Origin on my Netflix screen a few times and kept skipping over it, thinking it was another heavy doc I wasn’t in the mood for. The truth is, I had no idea what the film was actually about. And from the first few scenes, I realized I was watching something different. This is not a “movie night” film.

Origin is based on the real-life journey of Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson as she begins writing her groundbreaking book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. DuVernay transforms that process into a cinematic experience rooted in grief, research, and radical truth-seeking. We follow Wilkerson as she mourns, questions, and uncovers the deep caste systems that have shaped not just America, but humanity.

Origin didn’t just educate me, it emotionally rearranged me.
It reminded me that grief can be a compass. That knowledge is a form of self-love. And that maybe the most radical thing a Black woman can do… is ask  Where did this begin?

And then dare to go find out.