I SAY DUST

Two Arab-American women in New York City fall in love, argue home and identity, engage in a chess battle, and express themselves through the power of the spoken word.
‘I Say Dust’ explores poetry in cinema through the story of Hal, a poet belonging to the Palestinian diaspora in NYC, who meets Moun, a free-spirited chess boards sales girl. Their brief love affair challenges their understanding of what makes home.

AWARDS
WINNER Best Creative Short at 21st Med Film Festival
WINNER Best Short Fiction at 3rd Herat International Women’s Film Festival
WINNER Best Short Fiction, Best in Festival & Audience Award at Border Arts Film Festival (New Mexico)
WINNER Best Short Fiction Special Jury Award at 2nd Women Media Arts & Film Festival
WINNER Jury Special Mention Award at 5th Latin Arab Film Festival
WINNER Jury Special Mention Award at 12th Lebanese Film Festival
Screened at over 75 international film festivals.

A Cinephilia Productions release
Written and directed by Darine Hotait
Starring Hala Alyan and Mounia Akl
Produced by Dina Emam
Cinematography by George Lyon
Production Design by Francisca Alegria Zenteno
Original Score by Tarek Yamani

Shot on location in New York City at the Chess Forum in West Village and Alwan for The Arts in Financial District.

PRESS & FESTIVAL QUOTES

“There is romance, sweet and ephemeral – an encounter more potent, perhaps, for the sense of coming home. A thoughtful film which packs a lot of ideas into a tight space, I Say Dust speaks well to the talents of those involved. It’s no surprise that it has multiple awards to its name.”
— Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film (Edinburgh)

“I Say Dust is cleverly written, curiously directed and brilliantly performed!”
— Women Media Arts & Film Festival, Jury – Sydney, Australia

“The director Darine Hotait challenges the limits of conservatism with delicate elegance and metaphors. She also glimpses a concept of identity that is elastic, poetic and ever-changing. Only in this way, from a world without attachments, I Say Dust surrenders to the power of words.”
— Clara Massot, LATINARAB Film Festival, Buenos Aires

“In 15 minutes of beautifully shot frames, you travel through time, space, and various emotions. Hotait flirts with ideals that go beyond the norm of Arab-American culture, like two same-sex characters kissing. But she is clear that this isn’t meant to raise eyebrows or push buttons; she is merely translating what she sees as reality. This short film, like her others, packs a punch.”
— Jasmine Bager, The Establishment

“For the delicacy and intimacy with which this short was able to express a problem, that of diaspora, and be very intense and exciting. The inner world can structure the outer. Life writes poetry and poetry writes life, in this sense, I SAY DUST has managed to achieve the human desire to share it, and tell it.”
— Med Film Festival, Jury – Rome, Italy

“The characters are complex, the writing – interspersed with poetry – is so touching, and the shots so poignant it just seems like a damn shame it’s a short rather than a feature length film.”
— Wided Khadraoui, Kalimat Magazine

“Rather than filling in the gaps for us, the narrative allows the audience to extrapolate. ”
— Zahra Hankir, Florence of Arabia

“Privilégiant l’économie de l’action, la caméra de Darine Hotait prend son temps, saisit le mouvement dans son essence, dans vos sens qui se mettent en branle ; la musique qui accompagne le geste, le suit, le contorsionne et l’expulse, le papier qui grince, les pas qui caressent la neige, la fumée de la cigarette, l’attente tendue dans la nuit, comme un poème qui se lit, se dévoile et se pénètre avec le temps, ‘I Say Dust’ extrait ses murmures à qui se penche pour les entendre. ”
— Agenda Culturel