Official Selection – Sundance 2021
Official Selection – New Directors New Films 2021
Official Selection – Hot Docs 2021
Winner Best Cinematography – Doc NYC 2021
Winner Grand Jury Prize – Visions du Réel 2021
Winner Grand Jury Award – Full Frame 2021
Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography – IDA Documentary Award Nominations 2021


Ethiopian-Mexican filmmaker Jessica Beshir explores the harvesting of the khat plant, the country’s most sought-after export, the city of Harar, and the people she left as a teenager due to political strife. To do so, she constructs something hypnotic and dreamlike: a film that uses light, texture, and sound to illuminate the spiritual lives of people whose experiences often become fodder for ripped-from-the-headlines tales of migration.


Directed, filmed, written, and produced by Jessica Beshir


Colorist – Alan Louis Gordon
DI Producer – Dimitris Athos
Finishing Artist – Ben Federman