Parity Pipeline

Parity Pipeline

The 13th Percent

Directed by Renee Wilson

After discovering she is 13% Jewish, filmmaker Renée Wilson goes back to her home state of Louisiana to discover the Ashkenazi Jewish family lineage she never knew existed, revealing painful family secrets and the complex relationship of Black and Jewish people in the heart of the deep South.

  • ABOUT
  • BIO
  • AWARDS

Genre

Synopsis

THE 13TH PERCENT is a personal documentary exploring filmmaker Renée Wilson's unexpected discovery of her non-Jewish African American family's 13% Ashkenazi Jewish heritage in a 2018 DNA report, which the report attributed to either a grandparent or a great grandparent. The revelation offered a tantalizing clue to a longstanding family mystery, the identity of Wilson's paternal great-grandfather and his family. Wilson's grandfather never knew his father, but his light complexion and mother's job working in the "big house" of a former plantation in Louisiana's German Coast hinted at a painful past. Armed with this new knowledge, Wilson embarks on a journey seeking to reveal her own family history and the complex ways that Louisiana's Black and Jewish communities have long been intertwined.

Bio

Award-winning director, writer, actor, singer and songwriter Renée Wilson has been working in film, television and theatre for over 20 years and made her film debut portraying Raelette Pat Lyle in the Academy Awarding -Winning film Ray. Renée is a graduate of Tulane University with a B.A. in Communication and directed and co-produced the documentary Crepe Covered Sidewalks about her hometown of New Orleans post hurricane Katrina. The documentary was the centerpiece film of The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival and Renée won the Best New Filmmaker award at the Peachtree Village International Film Festival. Wilson’s film work has been generously supported by The Nation, One Foundation, Aepoch Fund, Panta Rhea foundation, Qinti Fund - a fund of Tides Foundation and many individual donors. Following the film, Renée released her debut album, Voodoo Queen and is releasing music from her second record All About Love in 2020. Renée’s work is about exploring the social issues of our time, love, truth, authenticity and spirituality and she brings these pillars to her work as a storyteller whether that be through a song, photograph, poetry, a film or a role. As a passionate advocate for social change and justice, Wilson has worked with organizations like the Pride Foundation, YES!, and HOPE, and appears as a guest host, speaker, panelist, and facilitator at arts and activism workshops and events across the country.

Awards History

Jewish Film Institute 2023 - Filmmaker in Residence