Daughters of the Dust (1991)

Languid look at the Gullah culture of the sea islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia where African folk-ways were maintained well into the 20th Century and was one of the last ... See full summary »

Director:

Julie Dash

Writer:

Julie Dash

Stars:

Cora Lee Day, Alva Rogers, Barbarao

4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cora Lee Day	...	Nana Peazant
Alva Rogers	...	Eula Peazant
Barbarao	...	Yellow Mary
Trula Hoosier	...	Trula
Umar Abdurrahamn	...	Bilal Muhammad
Adisa Anderson	...	Eli Peazant
Kaycee Moore	...	Haagar Peazant
Bahni Turpin	...	Iona Peazant
Cheryl Lynn Bruce	...	Viola Peazant
Tommy Redmond Hicks	...	Mr. Snead
Tony King	...	Newlywed Man (as Malik Farrakhan)
Cornell Royal	...	Daddy Mack Peazant
Vertamae Grosvenor	...	Hair Braider
Sherry Jackson	...	Older Cousin
Ervin Green	...	Baptist Minister (as Reverend Ervin Green)

Storyline

Languid look at the Gullah culture of the sea islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia where African folk-ways were maintained well into the 20th Century and was one of the last bastions of these mores in America. Set in 1902.

---

Plot Keywords:

triple f rated | title directed by female | feminist film | island | gullah culture | 

---

Genres:

Drama | History | Romance

---

Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 December 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Córki pylu

Filming Locations:

St. Helena Island, South Carolina, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,624, 5 January 1992, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,642,436

Company Credits

Production Co:

American Playhouse,Geechee Girls,WMG Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Selected to the Library of Congress National Registry of Film in 2004.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Nana Peazant: I am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the scorned one. I am the whore and the holy one. I am the wife and the virgin. I am the barren one and many are my daughters. I am the silence that you can not understand. I am the utterance of my name.

---

Connections

Featured in These Amazing Shadows (2011)

User Reviews

Don't Believe the Hype

I'll start by saying that I usually like non-linear movies, and that I'm interested in African-American history and the Gullah people. That said, this movie was one of the all-time worst I have ever seen. There's no plot, no character development, and no way to determine what the relationships between most of the characters are. It's as if you were dropped from the sky into the midst of this somewhat unsympathetic bunch of women (the men are ciphers, no personalities at all, merely an afterthought), and during the time you are there they don't speak to you and reveal nothing about themselves. The Gullah dialect is almost impossible to understand, and there are no subtitles. Yeah, the cinematography is nice, but save yourself a couple bucks and watch a PBS show. It's obvious that the ONLY reason many people are so entranced by this film is that it was the first independent film by an African-American woman.