Daughters Of The Dust
African identity and the slavery past are major themes in this milestone in film history: the first feature film by an African-American woman.
Julie Dash’s majestic first feature is a poignant portrait of three generations of Gullah women (descendants of West African slaves) at the turn of the twentieth century as their family struggle with the decision to migrate from their sea island home off the coast of South Carolina to the mainland. DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST portrayed a new type of blackness and black identity – one located in a pastoral island setting still informed by myth and ancestral traditions. Dash’s perspective is determinedly feminist as she fuses together image, sound, authentic dialect and traditions of African oral storytelling to portray the power, beauty, and resilience of black women. Her vision and aesthetic sensibilities perfectly capture a forgotten moment of the African American experience and charts new ground in the representation of black women on screen.
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST was one of the key inspirations for the film work that accompanied Beyoncé’s LEMONADE. The film was recently chosen as one of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time in the decennial poll organized by British film magazine Sight & Sound. (source: BFI)