Daughters of the Dust

Dash’s groundbreaking Daughters of the Dust remains urgent and poetic and continues to resonate, inspiring Beyoncé’s iconic visual album Lemonade.

Julie Dash’s groundbreaking work follows a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – as they struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore.

The first wide release by a black female filmmaker, Daughters of the Dust was met with wild critical acclaim and rapturous audience response when it initially opened in 1991. Casting a long legacy, Daughters of the Dust still resonates today, being a major influence on Beyonce’s video album Lemonade. Restored (in conjunction with UCLA) for the first time, complete with the correct colour grading overseen by cinematographer Arthur Jafa, audiences will finally see the film exactly as Julie Dash intended. Ranked joint 60th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll.