Originally released in 1991, Daughters of the Dust was the first feature film directed by a black woman to be distributed across the United States. Filmmaker Julie Dash wrote, produced, and directed the project.
It stars Cora Lee Day, Barbara O, and Alva Rogers and tells the story of three generations of Gullah women living on St. Helena Island in 1902, as they prepare to migrate north.
The film received much critical acclaim and is considered an essential African-American film.
Daughters of the Dust started buzzing on social media over the weekend, as fans noticed that the film served as an inspiration for BeyoncĂ©’s Lemonade.
Top: Still from Daughters of the Dust, Bottom: Still from Lemonade
On Wednesday, the Cohen Film Collection, which maintains a library of classic film, announced that it had completed a digital restoration Daughters of the Dust. Plans to release the restored version theatrically were also announced. The new version will screen at the Cannes film market, an industry event that takes place during the Cannes Film Festival, in May 2017. Daughters of the Dust will also screen at other film festivals next year and will premiere in New York in the fall at Quad Cinema, as part of the indie art house theater’s reopening.