Mati Diop

Mati Diop (b. 1982) is a French-Senegalese filmmaker based in Paris. With her first feature film Atlantics (2019), winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival followed by Dahomey (2024), winner of the Berlinale’s Golden Bear, she has established herself as one of the leading figures of international auteur cinema and of a new wave in African and diasporic cinema. Her nomadic, romanesque and political cinema transgresses the boundaries between genres and formats like a reflection of her mixed identity.

Since her start as a visual artist in the early 2000s and her leading role in Claire Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum (2008), she has built an eclectic body of work which includes her award- winning short films Atlantiques (2009), Big in Vietnam (2010), Snow Canon (2011), A Thousand Suns (2013), In my room (2020).

She pursues her artistic commitment on the African continent with the creation of the Dakar-based production company, Fanta Sy.

Mati Diop, Paris, 2023 © Manon Lutanie, 2024