The dreamlike altered state of perception produced by Ethiopia’s stimulant leaf khat, for centuries the source of spiritual exploration and today the nation’s biggest cash crop, is reflected in filmmaker Jessica Beshir’s documentary Faya Dayi, an inventive depiction of the intimate stories of a myriad of people embedded in the khat trade.
“The form of the film was inspired by the labyrinthic architecture of the walled city of Harar, which Sufi imams believe is a true reflection of life on earth,” Beshir tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Zigzagging through a labyrinth, we don’t really know what comes next. We wander into the unknown, armed with our instinct as guide. By ignoring barriers of time, we found a fluid form in which dreams, memories and desires are in direct conversation with the predicaments of today, an experience akin to Merkhana or a state of grace.”
Beshir was intimately familiar with Ethiopia and its changing culture. “My family and I fled Ethiopia during the Derg military regime when I was 16,” the first-time director explains of moving to Mexico. “When I returned, at first glance, the most striking change was in the landscape. The crops that painted the 12-hour-long drive from Addis to Harar — teff, sorghum and coffee — were now replaced by a green blanket of khat, an ancient stimulant now turned into the most lucrative cash crop. Haramaya, the lake of my memories, was all dried up.”
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“Growing up in Harar, khat had always been part of life, but seeing how the entire economy now evolved around it was overwhelming,” Beshir says. “For most unemployed, khat had become a way to overcome their sense of hopelessness, while others as young as 12 years old took the treacherous journeys towards the Mediterranean and Red Seas. I was viscerally torn by this predicament, which sparked my passion to make Faya Dayi.”
It took Beshir nearly a decade to realize her vision, largely to challenges regarding funding. “I had to finance it myself for the first eight years, which was not easy, [but] it taught me something about patience,” the filmmaker says. “Through the years, I wrestled with doubt and fear — I think we all know what that’s like — so I hustled. Ironically, this lack of support is what taught me of self-reliance. It sent me on a lifelong journey of learning about everything, from budgeting to cinematography.”
Beshir adds: “I had the freedom that I needed to follow an intuitive process, which shaped my vision of the film. But still, I wish so many of us didn’t have to go at it alone for so long, because we would lose many films along the way. Despite it all, making this film and spending time with my people in Harar reconnected me back home and taught me something about survival. It was the joy of my life.”
Source: HollyWood
