“The documentary is unflinching in depicting the lives that so many Americans face but are so rarely seen.”
— NPR, Here and Now

INHERITANCE

USA | 81 min. | 2024 | English
Directors, Producers & Cinematographers: Matt Moyer and Amy Toensing

SYNOPSIS
INHERITANCE explores the underlying causes of the opioid epidemic in America through the life of one boy and five generations of his extended family over 11 years. Curtis, a bright and hopeful 12 year-old, grows up surrounded by love and struggle while every adult in his family – parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins – battle addiction. Curtis’s America is a country where people and communities are struggling with an epidemic of substance use disorder, joblessness, poverty, and a deteriorating sense of belonging.

FESTIVALS: Slamdance (Jury Award Best Documentary Feature Award), Athens Intl. Film & Video Festival (Best Documentary), Dallas Intl. Film Festival, Mammoth Lakes Film Festival (Bravery Award for Documentary Feature), Krakow Film Festival, San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, DC/DOX.

AWARDS:

Jury Award Best Documentary Feature at Slamdance 2024

First Prize Documentary Feature at the Athens Intl. Film Festival 2024

Bravery Award for Documentary Feature at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2024

Humanitarian Award at Docutah 2025

Justice Film Festival Vision Award (NYC) 2025

Winner at the Prison City Film Festival 2025

AVAILABILITY: Film Festivals, Impact Tour, and Sales

IMPACT PARTNERS:

SPEAKERS

Featured
AMY TOENSING
AMY TOENSING

Co-Director

Amy Toensing is a visual journalist committed to telling stories with sensitivity and depth. A regular contributor to National Geographic magazine for over twenty years, Toensing has photographed and reported on cultures and topics around the world, including indigenous communities and their connection to land, the impact of drought on communities in Australia, and land and social rights for women in Uganda and India. Her recent projects have centered around the human relationship to conservation efforts in the United States including a rewilding project in Montana and The Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Toensing has also co-directed two short documentary films, one about urban refugee children in Nairobi and the other on women’s land rights in Uganda. In 2018 Toensing was named the Mike Wallace Fellow in Investigative Reporting at the University of Michigan. She is currently a National Geographic Explorer and FUJIFILM Creator.

MATT MOYER
MATT MOYER

Co-Director

Matt Moyer is a photographer and filmmaker dedicated to telling stories that raise awareness and work to improve our world. Matt covered 9/11 in NYC, and the Iraq war for The New York Times, and has photographed multiple feature stories for National Geographic magazine. As a National Geographic Explorer, Matt has photographed the looming water crisis in Egypt. He has directed short documentaries that have been featured by several outlets, including the National Geographic Society and PBS. Matt was named a Knight Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan in 2008 and also received a Knight Fellowship at Ohio University in 2012. He teaches regularly for National Geographic Photo Camps, an organization that teaches photography to underserved youth throughout the world. Matt also sits on the Board of Advisors for The Siena School, a school for students with language-based learning differences, headquartered in Washington, DC.

CURTIS RAMSEY
CURTIS RAMSEY

Film Participant

Curtis Ramsey is the key participant in Matt Moyer and Amy Toensing’s award-winning documentary, Inheritance. The film follows Curtis and his family over 11 years, exploring the underlying causes of the opioid epidemic in America through the life of one boy and five generations of his extended family. Curtis is currently participating in the film as it screens at festivals across the US and beyond.