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Faya Dayi

2021

Documentary, Self: Mohammed Arif, Hashim Abdi, Bekala Ismail ...

6.7

Documentary A spiritual journey into the highlands of Harar, immersed in the rituals of khat, a leaf Sufi Muslims chewed for centuries for religious meditations - and Ethiopia's most lucrative cash crop today.

	Media	Author	Review
		Guy Lodge Variety	"The film is an immersive success, as the languid rhythms of the filmmaking mirror the woozy impact of the drug"
		Tambay Obenson IndieWire	"'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"
		Jordan Raup The Film Stage	"Avoiding a conventional throughline, 'Fayi Dayi' poetically isolates moments of life and nature, creating a patchwork of the pains of earthly life and the wonders of the divine"
		Gary M. Kramer Salon	"Beshir's film is best when it takes an anthropological approach"
		Robert Daniels rogerebert.com	"It strikes us at our core. Beshir’s assured debut is a spellbinding documentation of a self-destructive walking dream with few signs of an ending."
		Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter	"Mesmerizing (...) A nonfiction work of sensory immersion that’s part anthropology, part poetry"
		Allan Hunter Screendaily	"The combination of human stories and haunting imagery leaves a lasting impression (...) [A] hypnotic, immersive and very beautiful documentary"
		Jake Cole Slant	"The deeper that 'Faya Dayi' delves into the heart of a particular slice of contemporary Ethiopian experience, the more refined its aesthetics become (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Dustin Chang Screen Anarchy	"Artful, spiritual anthropological survey (...) Bashir, with immersive and stunning visuals, achieves something extraordinary. [It] transcends its filmic categories and achieves a spiritual and contemplative viewing experience"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"It is perhaps not easy to decide if khat is a cultural practice to be celebrated or rejected: but there are some marvellous images and moods in this misty, impressionistic study (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Dom Sinacola Paste Magazine	"'Faya Dayi' wanders lovely, liminal spaces between narrative and fairytale, between documentary film and something looser, something personally vérité"
		Robert Abele Los Angeles Times	"Beshir's threading of the young narrators' collective searching presence is what gives 'Faya Dayi' its dignifying, transfixing intimacy and what renders it unlike any other documentary you're likely to see"

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