Mati Diop: The First Black Female Filmmaker in Official Competition in the History of the Cannes Film Festival

Mati Diop: The First Black Female Filmmaker in Official Competition in the History of the Cannes Film Festival

Mati Diop is currently making headlines as the first African female filmmaker to be in the competition of the Official Selection of the annual @festivaldecannes. But France has claimed the credit for this Sengelese film, "Atlantique" which is her debut feature film.
This is the first time a black female director has made the Official Selection for competition in the history of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
13 female filmmakers made the Official Selection.

The Malian filmmaker, Ladj Ly who is also in competition for the highly coveted Palme d'Or is credited as French. His feature, "Les Misérables" is called a French drama.
So, they are representing France and not their African countries.

Mati Diop directed her first four short films as a student of Le Fresnoy and Le Pavillon (Palais de Tokyo). She is the niece of the pioneer Senegalese film director, Djibril Diop Mambéty, and made her film, "Mille soleils" (A Thousand Suns) in 2013 about the legacy of the most critically acclaimed film of her uncle Djibril Diop Mambéty (January 1945 – July 23, 1998); focusing on his classic film, "Touki Bouki" (1973) which won the International Critics Award at the Cannes and Special Jury Prize at the Moscow Film Festival. I have mentioned this film in one of my previous articles shared on Instagram.

Mati Diop has won a Tiger Award twice for her short films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). For "Atlantiques" in 2010 and for "Big in Vietnam" in 2012. She was selected as a member of the jury of IFFR in 2014, for the short films competition. She is highly intellectual in creativity and philosophy of filmmaking.
You can know more about her in the interview with her on
Cinema Scope | Film/Art | In the Realm of the Senses: Mati Diop on Mille soleils
http://cinema-scope.com/columns/filmart-realm-senses-mati-diop-mille-soleils/