Jessica Beshir’s hypnotic, immersive and very beautiful documentary marks an impressive feature debut.
Faya Dayi
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Ethiopia, United States · 2021
2h 0m
Director Jessica Beshir
Starring Mohammed Arif, Hashim Abdi, Biniam Yonas, Urji Abrahim Mumade
Genre Documentary
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A spiritual journey into the highlands of Harar, Ethiopia, immersed in the rituals of khat, a leaf Sufi Muslims chewed for centuries for religious meditations—and Ethiopia’s most lucrative cash crop today. A tapestry of intimate stories offers a window into the dreams of youth under a repressive regime.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Faya Dayi is predominantly a mood piece that seeks to evoke the leaf’s own perception-altering properties.
The documentary’s aesthetics strikingly channel the euphoric feelings induced by Ethopia’s top cash crop.
Journalistic in the sense that it feels like Beshir has compiled stray quotes, fleeting snapshots, and loosely connected thoughts from a journal into a dreamy cinematic form, Faya Dayi becomes more breathtaking as these images and ideas coalesce.
Leaving a traditional narrative structure in the dust, Beshir uses breathtaking cinematography to bring you into the Horn of Africa. The movie is moving poetry about the struggles in khat fields and Ethiopia itself.
Faya Dayi is a film that invites the mind and soul with its visual grandeur, and keeps the viewer engaged with a tension and mystery that seems to be lurking beneath its surface. It’s familiar yet foreign — a world one must at once surrender to, yet be careful to not completely lose oneself in.
Users who liked this film also liked
The Celebration
(Festen)
Dark family secrets are uncovered at a 60th birthday party.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark, Sweden • 1998
- Director Thomas Vinterberg
- Cast Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen, Birthe Neumann, Trine Dyrholm
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Godard's Passion
(Passion)
Godard mixes up politics, love and the workers plight, with the struggles of filmmaking, in his cheeky brand of art.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland • 1982
- Director Jean-Luc Godard
- Cast Isabelle Huppert, Hanna Schygulla, Michel Piccoli, László Szabó, Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, Myriem Roussel
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Ex 2: Still Friends
(Ex - Amici come prima!)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2011
- Director Carlo Vanzina
- Cast Enrico Brignano, Tosca D'Aquino, Anna Foglietta, Alessandro Gassmann, Teresa Mannino, Ricky Memphis
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Turning Tide
(En solitaire)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium, Spain • 2013
- Director Christophe Offenstein
- Cast François Cluzet, Samy Seghir, Virginie Efira, Guillaume Canet, Karine Vanasse, Arly Jover
- Genre Adventure, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Hoopla
Prevenge
Killing for Two.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2016
- Director Alice Lowe
- Cast Alice Lowe, Jo Hartley, Kate Dickie, Gemma Whelan, Kayvan Novak, Tom Davis
- Genre Horror, Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Fantasy
- Available on Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC Plus Apple TV Channel , Shudder Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, YouTube, Amazon Video, Hoopla
Giant
(Handia)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2017
- Director Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño
- Cast Ramon Agirre, Eneko Sagardoy, Joseba Usabiaga, Aia Kruse, Iñigo Azpitarte
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
First Reformed
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia, United Kingdom, United States • 2018
- Director Paul Schrader
- Cast Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer, Victoria Hill, Philip Ettinger, Michael Gaston
- Genre Drama
- Available on Cinemax Amazon Channel, Cinemax Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Kanopy
Bad Seeds
(Mauvaises herbes)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium • 2018
- Director Kheiron
- Cast Kheiron, Catherine Deneuve, André Dussollier, Hakou Benosmane, Leila Boumedjane, Alban Lenoir
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Lola and Her Brothers
(Lola et ses frères)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2018
- Director Jean-Paul Rouve
- Cast Ludivine Sagnier, José Garcia, Jean-Paul Rouve, Ramzy Bedia, Pauline Clément, Marion Ploquin
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
New Biz in the Hood
(Jusqu'ici tout va bien)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium • 2019
- Director Mohamed Hamidi
- Cast Gilles Lellouche, Malik Bentalha, Sabrina Ouazani, Camille Lou, Anne-Elisabeth Blateau, Loïc Legendre
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Shanghai Fortress
(上海堡垒)
- ✭ ✭
- China • 2019
- Director Teng Huatao
- Cast Lu Han, Shu Qi, Godfrey Gao, Wang Sen, Shi Liang, Kid Young
- Genre Science Fiction, War
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Cousins
(Primos)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Brazil • 2019
- Director Thiago Cazado, Mauro Carvalho
- Cast Thiago Cazado, Paulo Sousa, Juliana Zancanaro, Denis Camargo, Eduarda Esteves, Carmem Lutcha
- Genre Comedy, Romance, Drama
- Available on Dekkoo, Apple TV, Fandango At Home
The Mad Women's Ball
(Le bal des folles)
An unfairly institutionalized medium plots her escape from an asylum with the help of a nurse.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2021
- Director Mélanie Laurent
- Cast Lou de Laâge, Mélanie Laurent, Emmanuelle Bercot, Benjamin Voisin, Lauréna Thellier, Grégoire Bonnet
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Paranoia
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Indonesia • 2021
- Director Riri Riza
- Cast Nicholas Saputra, Nirina Zubir, Caitlin North Lewis, Lukman Sardi, Cornelio Sunny, Candra Pitok
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.