Julie Dash's 'Daughters of the Dust' re-release
By Moira Sullivan Yellow Mary (Barbarao) and Trula (Trula Hoosier) on the beach of St Helena Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust made in 1991 has long been considered an extraordinary film make within a story space perfect for the range of what cinema can do beyond merely recording moving figures. It is the first feature film made by an African American woman and it is now being re-released, proving again its status as a cinema classic. The making of Daughters of the Dust written by Dash, which includes the film script, is the filmmaker’s account of the many setbacks that occurred before the film was finished. But the film has earned its merits and its long standing following, and although it has received some new notoriety because of some of the images in BeyoncĂ©’s Lemonade with characters dressed similar to the characters of Dash's film from the early 20th century, that music video is not and never can be Daughters of the Dust. The film is re-released in a 4K restora