Country music documentary with a twist to debut in October

Posted by Elena del Valle on September 25, 2024

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Dusty and Stones

Photo: First Run Features

Thanks to funding from HBO New True Stories Funding Initiative, the Gotham Documentary Feature Lab, Film Independent’s Fast Track, Durban FilmMart, and the XTR Film Society filmmakers followed two struggling country singers from the African Kingdom of Swaziland (now the Kingdom of Eswatini) on a journey from their home country to the United States. The result is Dusty & Stones, an 84-minute First Run Features 2023 documentary release, scheduled to open in theaters in Los Angeles October 11 and Atlanta October 18.

The film centers on cousins Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi in Swaziland and their 10-day road journey to a recording studio in Nashville and a small town in Texas for a country music event. According to the film website Dusty is a high school English teacher at Swaziland’s National High School, and Stones is a construction project manager.

Dusty and Stones was directed and produced by Jesse Rudoy, produced by Melissa Adeyemo, executive produced by Sam Bisbee and Cody Ryder of Ominira Film in association with Park Pictures.

Per his biography Rudoy is a filmmaker, musician, and born-again country fan based in New York City. He was most recently an editor on Season 2 of HBO’s The Jinx. Per her biography 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 and was acquired by Janus Films.