Daughters of the Dust

My lived experience blog post is on the film Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash. First of all if you missed the screening of this film you should definitely attempt to see it elsewhere, my black radical cinema class went to the screening and it was by far my favorite film of that class. Julie Dash is one of the most influential and important black female filmmakers of our time and this film just goes to show how far she has come.

This film is a great transition from our last blog post about Go Fish, also an independent film made by a female filmmaker. In an essay I had to read for the black cinema class Julie states that, "all the distributors turned her down, that mostly white men were telling her, an African American woman, what her people wanted to see..." It still goes to show you that it is very difficult for women filmmakers to make the films they want and to get them seen by the general public. But in the end she obviously got to make the film, the over all budget of the film ended up being $800,000. Another important aspect of this is the fact that she is African American. Just like Spike Lee with his radical films about the black diaspora, Dash explores the culture through the eyes of multiple women both young and old. In fact the characters in the film are part of what made the film so great. There are some very different women in this film in terms of background and religious beliefs. Not to mention some pretty outstanding acting. One notable performance was by the older woman in the film. She was spectacular.

I think my two favorite things about this film though by far have got to be the shots, both compositionally and aesthetically, and the music. The shots were probably some of the most beautiful I have ever seen in any film, and I have seen A LOT of films. Dash really utilized the scenery and the sets that she was given to their fullest extent. Not to mention the costumes. The music in the film not only added to the moods of the different scenes but transported you to that place. The use of the traditional African drum coupled with a wide array of stringed instruments made for a very moving and touching score. I think it is fairly safe to say that if you want to make independent films that you watch this movie! nuff said.