Jessica Beshir

Faya dayi

Faya dayi

A sublime work of personal vision, the debut feature by the Mexican Ethiopian filmmaker Jessica Beshir is a hypnotic documentary immersion in the world of Ethiopia’s Oromo and Harari communities, places where one commodity—khat, a euphoria-inducing plant once prized for its supposedly mystical properties—holds sway over the rituals and rhythms of everyday life. As if under the influence of the drug itself, Faya dayi unfurls as intoxicating, trance-state cinema, capturing intimate moments in the existence of everyone from the harvesters of the crop to people lost in its narcotic haze to a desperate but determined younger generation searching for an escape from the region’s political strife. The director’s exquisite monochrome cinematography—each frame a masterpiece sculpted from light and shadow—and the film’s time-bending, elliptical editing create a ravishing sensory experience that hovers between consciousness and dreaming.

Film Info

  • Ethiopia, United States, Qatar
  • 2021
  • 118 minutes
  • Black and White/Color
  • 1.78:1
  • Amharic, Harari, Oromo
  • Spine #1141

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • High-definition digital master, approved by director Jessica Beshir, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New selected-scene commentary featuring Beshir and poet Ladan Osman
  • Three short films by Beshir: He Who Dances on Wood (2016); Heroin (2017); and Hairat (2017), featuring an introduction by Beshir
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Yasmina Price

    New design by Nessim Higson

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • High-definition digital master, approved by director Jessica Beshir, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New selected-scene commentary featuring Beshir and poet Ladan Osman
  • Three short films by Beshir: He Who Dances on Wood (2016); Heroin (2017); and Hairat (2017), featuring an introduction by Beshir
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Yasmina Price

    New design by Nessim Higson
Faya dayi
Credits
Director
Jessica Beshir
Producer
Jessica Beshir
Cinematographer
Jessica Beshir
Editors
Jeanne Applegate
Dustin Waldman
Sound designer
Tom Efinger
Executive producer
Jessica Beshir
Executive producer
Tony Hsieh
Executive producer
Roberto Grande
Executive producer
Mimi Pham
Executive producer
Bryn Mooser
Executive producer
Kathryn Everett
Executive producer
Rhianon Jones
Executive producer
Matthew Petock
Executive producer
Daniel Patrick Carbone
Executive producer
Zachary Shed
Original song “Kenna uumaa” written and performed by
Mehandis Geleto
Music by
William Basinski
Music by
Adrian Aniol
Music by
Kaethe Hostetter

Current

Faya dayi: Escape and Return
Faya dayi: Escape and Return

A lyrical study of a farming community in Ethiopia, Jessica Beshir’s debut feature reckons with the consequences of the region’s reliance on the cash crop khat.

By Yasmina Price

Miryam Charles’s Top 10
Miryam Charles’s Top 10

The director of Cette maison chooses a group of favorite films that defy her attempts to explain and describe them, including works by Claire Denis, Charles Burnett, and Frank Borzage.