The award-winning documentary about two African country music singers who dream big follows its theatrical rollout with a streaming premiere on Amazon & Apple TV!
Dusty & Stones chronicles the remarkable ride of cousins Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi, a struggling country music duo from the tiny African Kingdom of Swaziland who long for their big break.
When they are unexpectedly invited to record in Nashville and to compete in a Texas battle of the bands, Dusty and Stones embark on their long-awaited first pilgrimage to the ancestral heart of country music. Over a momentous ten-day road trip through the American South, the duo bring their music to life in a top recording studio and immerse themselves in the culture they’ve long felt part of from afar.
But the dream journey is suddenly thrown into disarray when the singers arrive in the small town of Jefferson, Texas, where trouble with the local backing band threatens to derail the cousins’ debut American performance. A shell-shocked Dusty and Stones must take the stage and fight to bring home an award for Swaziland.
DUSTY & STONES
Directed and Produced by Jesse Rudoy
Produced by Melissa Adeyemo
Executive Produced by Sam Bisbee and Cody Ryder
An Ominira Film in association with Park Pictures
84 minutes | color | 2023
About the Director
Jesse Rudoy is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and editor based in Brooklyn. His debut feature, Dusty & Stones, premiered at DOC NYC, screened at over forty film festivals worldwide, and was acquired by First Run Features. He was most recently an editor on the Emmy-nominated second season of HBO’s The Jinx. Jesse is an alumnus of the Gotham Documentary Lab, Film Independent Fast Track, and a recipient of HBO’s New True Stories grant. In addition to his filmmaking work, Jesse is co-founder of White Label Yerba Mate Soda, an alternative energy drink served in nightclubs and raves throughout New York City.
About the Producer
Melissa O. Adeyemo is a Nigerian-American producer and the founder of Ominira Studios, a New York-based production company. Her first feature, Eyimofe, premiered at the 2020 Berlinale, has shown at over 20+ festivals, and was acquired by Janus Films. It is currently a part of the Criterion Collection, where Melissa is the first-ever African female producer to be featured in her own standalone spotlight interview. Eyimofe was nominated for an NAACP Award and won five African Movie Academy Awards. Dusty & Stones is her first documentary feature film. Melissa started her filmmaking career with Spike Lee’s Inside Man and Steven Spielberg’s Munich
