Unless you’re familiar with Ethiopian culture, you may not understand the importance of khat in that society. However, that all changes after watching the new documentary, “Faya Dayi.”
With “Faya Dayi” making its theatrical debut soon, we’re happy to give our readers an exclusive look at the new trailer for the documentary. “Faya Dayi” is a beautiful, insightful look into the effect of khat, a euphoria-inducing plant that is grown and consumed in Ethiopia. And instead of presenting the information in a typical, talking-heads doc format, the film unfolds in a trance-like, hypnotic fashion, giving the audience a deeper understanding of the culture.
The new film is the feature debut of director Jessica Beshir. The Mexican-Ethiopian filmmaker previously saw her short films play various festivals and earn acclaim. “Faya Dayi” is no stranger to festivals either, having screened at this year’s Sundance, New Directors/New Films, and HotDocs, amongst other events.
“Faya Dayi” arrives at Film at Lincoln Center on September 3, with a nationwide release to follow. You can watch the exclusive trailer below, as well as take a peek at the new poster for the film.
Here’s the synopsis:
A sublime work of trance-state cinema, the debut feature by the Mexican-Ethiopian filmmaker Jessica Beshir is a hypnotic immersion in the world of rural Ethiopia, a place 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 intoxicating influence of the drug itself, Faya Dayi unfurls as a hallucinogenic cinematic reverie, capturing hushed, intimate moments in the existences 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 film’s exquisite monochrome cinematography—each frame a masterpiece sculpted from light and shadow—and time-bending, elliptical editing create a ravishing sensory experience that hovers between consciousness and dreaming.
