Daughters of the Dust

 

Daughters of the Dust (1991)

NEUTRAL
Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube, Microsoft Store, FandangoNOW, Redbox, DirecTV, AMC+, Apple, Kino Now
Movie Reviews81%
NR
1991, Drama, 1h 54m
RT Critics’ Score: 94% (BIAS DETECTED)
RT Audience Score: 66%
Awards & Nominations: 4 wins & 2 nominations

 

Critics Consensus

Daughters of the Dust addresses its weighty themes with lovely visuals and a light, poetic touch, offering an original, absorbing look at a largely unexplored corner of American culture
 

Audience Consensus

Daughters of the Dust is like a beautiful dream that you don’t want to wake up from. Julie Dash’s film is a visual and aural masterpiece that transports you to another time and place. It’s like looking through a family album, but instead of still photos, the images come to life and the colors swirl around you. The story may be simple, but the emotions it evokes are complex and powerful. It’s a film that will stay with you long after the credits roll.
 
Movie Trailer

Movie Info

Storyline

In the Gullah community of coastal South Carolina, a generational split occurs as a young woman wants to move away from tradition-bound matriarch Nana, while former prostitute Yellow Mary returns to the island with her female lover and faces rejection from her sister.

 
Production Company(ies)
DENTSU Music And Entertainment, Nibariki Nippon Television, Network
 
Distributor
Kino International
 
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
 
Filming Location(s)
St. Helena Island, South Carolina, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
TV-PG
 
Year of Release
1991
 

Technical Specs
  • Color:
    Color
  • Sound mix:
    Ultra Stereo
  • Aspect ratio:
    1.85 : 1
  • Runtime:
    1h 54m
  • Language(s):
    English, French
  • Country of origin:
    United States
  • Release date:
    Release Date (Theaters): Dec 27, 1991 Original
    Release Date (Streaming): Feb 15, 2000

 
Genre(s)
Drama
 
Keyword(s)
Daughters of the Dust, drama, Gullah community, South Carolina, West African slaves, Yoruba traditions, generational split, family, matriarch, tradition, prostitute, female lover, sister, director Julie Dash, producer Julie Dash, writer Julie Dash, starring Cora Lee Day, Alva Rogers, Adisa Anderson, Kaycee Moore, Barbara O., Eartha Robinson, box office gross $41.0K, Kino International, Ultra-Stereo, MPAA rating N/A, reviewed by Judy Gerstel, Patricia Smith, Eleanor Ringel Cater, Carrie Rickey, Stephen Amidon, Derek Malcolm, Matt Brunson, Moira Sullivan, Steve Murray, Noel Taylor, Jack Garner, audience score 65%, 78 critic reviews, 33 top critics, fresh rating 73%, rotten rating 5%, slavery, African folk-ways, Gullah culture, Islam, Christianity, pagan customs, magic, education, beach tones, dreamy sequences
 

Box Office Details

Worldwide gross: $1,689,723
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $3,729,880
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,259
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 406,748
 
US/Canada gross: $1,683,422
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $3,715,971
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,889
US/Canada opening weekend: $10,842
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $23,933
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,448
 
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA

 
Movie Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew

Cora Lee DayAlva RogersAdisa AndersonKaycee MooreBarbara O.
Cora Lee Day
Alva Rogers
Adisa Anderson
Kaycee Moore
Barbara O.
Nana Peazant
Eula Peazant
Eli Peazant
Haagar Peazant
Yellow Mary
Cora Lee Day – Nana Peazant
Alva Rogers – Eula Peazant
Adisa Anderson – Eli Peazant
Kaycee Moore – Haagar Peazant
Barbara O. – Yellow Mary
Eartha Robinson – Myown Peazant
Julie Dash – Director, Producer, Writer

 

Julie DashJulie DashJulie Dash
Julie Dash
Julie Dash
Julie Dash
Director
Writer
Producer
Producer
Producer

Director(s)
Julie Dash
 
Writer(s)
Julie Dash
 
Producer(s)
Julie Dash

 
Movie Reviews & Awards
Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
4 wins & 2 nominations
 
Academy Awards

 

Top Reviews
Judy GerstelPatricia SmithEleanor Ringel CaterCarrie RickeyStephen Amidon
Judy Gerstel
Patricia Smith
Eleanor Ringel Cater
Carrie Rickey
Stephen Amidon
Detroit Free Press
Boston Globe
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Philadelphia Inquirer
Financial Times
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST
 All Critics (78) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (73) | Rotten (5)
 Writer-producer-director Julie Dash has taken extraordinary risks. The movie develops and grows and swells into something remarkable and alive, like an idea or a feeling or a child in the womb.
 
 March 23, 2021 | Rating: 4/4
 
 Judy Gerstel
 Detroit Free Press
 TOP CRITIC
 Let’s thank Julie Dash for her persistence in bringing us this jewel. This is a story we will tell our children again and again — and with each retelling, the colors will swell in our souls.
 
 March 23, 2021
 
 Patricia Smith
 Boston Globe
 TOP CRITIC
 An Atlanta-based artist making her long-worked-for feature debut, Ms. Dash is a filmmaker of startling originality and delicacy. Her film is poetry in motion, part dream-memory, part tattered family album.
 
 March 23, 2021
 
 Eleanor Ringel Cater
 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
 TOP CRITIC
 The film rewards the patient viewer who succumbs to its trancelike spell and understands that the movie is about the rhythms and rituals of a culture remembered.
 
 March 23, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
 
 Carrie Rickey
 Philadelphia Inquirer
 TOP CRITIC
 [Dash’s] refusal to spend much time establishing characters or expiating their conflicts makes this more like a stroll through a exhibition of sepia photographs than a full blooded drama.
 
 March 23, 2021
 
 Stephen Amidon
 Financial Times
 TOP CRITIC
 It’s a true original and, as such, of considerable value both as a film and as a sad yet hopeful summation of history as memory and experience.
 
 March 23, 2021
 
 Derek Malcolm
 Guardian
 TOP CRITIC
 Decades later, the film has lost none of its importance or appeal.
 
 April 10, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
 
 Matt Brunson
 Film Frenzy
 …the film is created with many voices that weave and join with the other passages of history…
 
 October 5, 2021
 
 Moira Sullivan
 AWFJ Women on Film
 The visual beauty of Daughters is evident throughout, while the difficult narrative sneaks up on you.
 
 March 23, 2021
 
 Steve Murray
 Bay Area Reporter
 Dash’s film is as much a visual experience as an aural one. She is a film-maker whose passion for her subject permeates very frame.
 
 March 23, 2021 | Rating: 4/4
 
 Noel Taylor
 Ottawa Citizen
 Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust offers so much to admire, it’s too bad its occasional lack of clarity and meandering style weaken its impact.
 
 March 23, 2021 | Rating: 2.5/4
 
 Jack Garner
 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
 If Daughters of the Dust is deceptively simple in its story and characterizations it is an overwhelmingly rich sensory experience.
 
 March 23, 2021 | Rating: 4/4
 
 Robert W. Butler
 Kansas City Star…

 
Movie Plot & More
Plot
In the Gullah community of coastal South Carolina, a generational split occurs as a young woman wants to move away from tradition-bound matriarch Nana, while former prostitute Yellow Mary returns to the island with her female lover and faces rejection from her sister.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast of Daughters of the Dust includes Kaycee Moore, Cora Lee Day, Barbara-O, and Cheryl Lynn Bruce.
 
Movie Links Wikipedia and Rotten Tomatoes

Links
Wikipedia: Go to Wiki
Rotten Tomatoes: Go to RT

 
Where to Watch

 
Move the ScoreJulie-Dash.jpg

Movies, Streaming