Within a short period of time, writer and director Idris Elba is able to take an unfortunate set of circumstances and create a semi-happy ending for a father and daughter. Though there is much that could have been further developed, changing it to a full-length feature film, Dust to Dreams still provides important messages in its 19-minute runtime.
Amidst the backdrop of Lagos, Nigeria, a young girl comes to terms with her mother’s illness and meets her father for the first time. Millicent (Nse Ikpe-Etim) must keep her sisters, Comfort (Eku Edewor), and Patience (Atlanta Bridget Johnson) at bay while protecting the bar she owns (after her father died) for her daughter Bisi (Constance Olatunde). Getting sick like her father, Millicent knows it is almost inevitable and brings Bisi’s father, Johnson (Seal), back into the picture. Bisi must now get to know her father while being misinformed about her mother’s health and becoming her own woman within her music and self.
Dust to Dreams combines the importance of family with Nigerian ancestry and music. As a writer, Elba knows how to create strong characters to fill his story with people the audience can relate to and empathize with. All the elements of a story are there: introducing the characters and their relationships to one another, creating conflict between siblings and introducing the main issue to be solved, and then ultimately the climax of the film with its resolution. However, in a mere 19-minutes, only so much can be taken in by the audience even if Elba tries to include more than this short film can take.
There may be strategic decisions made for how Millicent, Johnson and Bisi are introduced. However, their relationships to other characters (Bisi’s aunts in particular) and each other are difficult to develop and hard for audiences to understand as it becomes rushed through instead of fully developed. With what is included in the script, the dialogue remains coherent and what is given to Constance to work with in her debut character allows her to excel. We as a viewer can understand what is happening, but because of how rushed we are into each next moment, we are given less time to connect to the characters.
Family remains at the heart of Dust to Dreams and the relationship Johnson and Bisi develop (what feels like so fast to the audience) is created through their passion for music and their understanding of one another. As audiences witness Bisi questioning her father, through a deliberately chosen sequence, Elba shows the pair connecting. A journey through his past is what this becomes and Bisi is able to understand why her father made the decisions he made and how they both ended up where they are today.
Seal might be the big name in the film, but Constance is the one who allows for the audience to develop a true connection. Her performance is simply powerful. As she goes from a shy girl at the beginning, hiding from her aunts, to performing for the whole bar to see, we simply become privy to her point of view, and it feels purposeful in some ways. Bisi becomes the one teaching the viewer the importance of the story and growth along the way is felt through her. Without Constance this might not have occurred in the way of Elba’s vision, or in a way that resonates with a viewer.
What loses some main plot points, and could have benefited from a longer runtime, ends in a big bang of song. A father-daughter journey and an understanding of the world around them.
Dust to Dreams premiered in the UK at the BFI’s London Film Festival as part of the Roots and Branches Shorts programme on Wednesday October 8, 2025, after its world premiere at TIFF in September. With new acting talent emerging from Constance Olatunde and a script that could have benefited with more development, Dust to Dreams remains to no end a film about love, family, and music.
