Dusty & Stones 2023 USA 84 min 10+

This award-winning film is a continent-crossing journey story told through country music. The documentary intimately chronicles the remarkable ride of cousins Gazi "Dusty" Simelane and Linda "Stones" Msibi, a determined duo of struggling country singers from the tiny African Kingdom of Swaziland who long for their big break. When they are unexpectedly invited to record their songs 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 cousins bring their music to life in a top Nashville recording studio, explore the storied locales of their favorite country songs, and excitedly engage with the culture they've long felt part of from afar, proving any demographic can lay claim to country music – or any other art form. A triumph of musical storytelling.