EIFF: Drylongso
A restored treasure of 1990s DIY filmmaking celebrating Black female creativity.
Dir. Cauleen Smith / United States / 1998 / English
Art student Pica (Toby Smith) is much more interested in practice than theory. She spends long afternoons roaming the neighbourhood to photograph what she calls an ‘endangered species’: young Black men. Making her work even more urgent is a serial killer who stalks the same streets in search of young lives to take. The vibrant debut of acclaimed artist Cauleen Smith navigated the blurry lines of the private and public, harnessing its protagonist’s endless charisma to comment on racial politics, the strictures of the art world, and the importance of community. Brought back to screens in a beautifully textured restoration, Drylongso stands today as fresh and bold a film as it was in 1998, confidently juggling contagious charm and potent political awareness.
Rafa Sales Ross, Film Programmer
... with its themes of Black endangerment (for both males and females) and its nuzzling of many genres (horror, romance, buddy flick), Drylongso returns to us utterly, subtly, chidingly prescient.
Image gallery
A gallery carousel of 3 items
Will Power (Malik) and Toby Smith (Pica) in Drylongso
© Credit : Drylongso
Toby Smith (Pica) and Will Power (Malik) in Drylongso
© Credit : Drylongso
April Barnett (Tobi) in Drylongso
© Credit : DrylongsoYou may also like...
Director: Cauleen Smith
Cauleen Smith was born in Riverside, California, on September 25, 1967, and grew up in Sacramento. From 1988 to 1991, she attended the School of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University, where she earned her BA while completing the short films Wall Doc (1989) and Daily Rains (1990). From 1994 to 1998, Smith attended the School of Film, Theater, and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received her MFA. During that time, she began work on the feature Drylongso, which was completed in 1998. Since then, she has continued to produce short films and videos, live audio-visual performances, installations, and other creative works in various media. While living in Chicago and working as an artist in residence at Threewalls, she conceived the Solar Flare Arkestral Marching Band Project, a performance art piece that featured members of the Rich South High School Marching Band and the South Shore Drill Team. Smith’s work has been featured in solo shows and group exhibitions at New York City’s New Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the Women & Their Work Gallery in Austin, Texas, among other institutions including her first solo show in Scotland at Edinburgh's Collective gallery in 2022. She has received multiple awards, grants, residencies, and fellowships, including the Creative Capital grant, a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation residency, a Black Metropolis Research Consortium Research Fellowship, and the Director’s Grant at the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts. Smith currently lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the art department at UCLA.
Writers: Cauleen Smith, Salim Akil
Producer: Salim Akil
Cast: Toby Smith, Will Power, Channel Schaffer, April Barnett
Sales Agent: Janus Films
The film was restored in 4K by the Criterion Collection, Janus Films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®, supervised by director Cauleen Smith.
Read More
‘Drylongso’ Review: Extraordinary, Lisa Kennedy, NYT
People Living: Cauleen Smith on Drylongso, by Matene Toure // Screen Slate
Female Filmmakers in Focus: Cauleen Smith on Drylongso, by Marya E. Gates // Roger Ebert
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Photo: Toby Smith (Pica) in Drylongso
© Drylongso