Mati Diop

“As a mixed [race] girl, there is always a visible and an invisible side of you; there is a place you inhabit and a place you leave.” Raised in an artistic family, with a musician father and photographer mother, and niece of influential director Djibril Diop Mambéty, Mati Diop began her career in theater and video. At the age of 20, she made her first short film, Last Night, and later joined Le Pavillon at the Palais de Tokyo and Le Fresnoy. Her career took off after being selected by Claire Denis for 35 Rhums, confirming her cinematic vocation. Her work is distinguished by its eclectic, lyrical and political approach, reflecting her dual identity (French-Senegalese). Her first feature film, Atlantics, won the Grand Prix at Cannes, establishing herself as a prominent figure in auteur cinema and in the new wave of African and Diaspora cinema. In her trilogy comprising Atlantiques, Mille Soleils and Atlantics, she explored themes such as immigration and social transformations in Senegal. In addition to her work in feature films, she made short films such as Big in Vietnam and Snow Canon, and co-directed Naked Blue. Her artistic activism was reaffirmed with her second feature film, Dahomey, which deals with the restitution of colonial treasures in Benin and reinforces her commitment to African cinema.