Smith released this genre-mixing story of the friendship, creativity, and world making of two Black women in Oakland California, to acclaim at the Sundance, South by Southwest, and Urbanworld Film festivals in 1999.

“A rediscovered treasure of 1990s DIY filmmaking, Cauleen Smith’s Drylongso embeds an incisive look at racial injustice within a lovingly handmade buddy movie/murder mystery/romance. Alarmed by the rate at which the young Black men around her are dying, brash Oakland, California, art student Pica (Toby Smith) attempts to preserve their existence in Polaroid snapshots, along the way forging a friendship with a woman in an abusive relationship (April Barnett) and experiencing love, heartbreak, and the everyday threat of violence. Capturing the vibrant community spirit of Oakland in the nineties, Smith crafts both a rare cinematic celebration of Black female creativity and a moving elegy for a generation of lost African American men.”
– Criterion Collection

Duration: 1h 26mins (86 mins)
Produced: USA 1998
Directed by: Cauleen Smith
With: Toby Smith, April Barnett, Will Power, Channel Schafer

Astrup Fearnley Museet and Cinemateket 
As part of the exhibition program, Smith’s films will screen in a cinema for the first time in Norway in a partnership with Cinemateket. One program presents Drylongso (1998), Smith’s first feature film and a second program presents a selection of three decades of Smith’s prodigious output, concentrating on short filmmaking. Since 1990, Smith has produced over 30 short films and videos.

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