Mati Diop on 'Atlantics' and the most haunting scene of the year

by Murtada Elfadl

In the press notes that come with Atlantics, director Mati Diop mentions something that touched me in a deep way. She is talking with a young man named Serigne in Dakar, Senegal whose sea crossing story she featured in her short film, Atlantiques (2009). He tells her about migrating and leaving one’s country of birth

 when you decide to leave, it’s because you’re already dead

That reminded me of a quote from Tracy Chapman’s "Fast Car" that struck me at a young age and was part of my decision to leave Sudan in the late 1990s. I remember saying it to my friends at the time as a reason to leave.

leave tonight or live and die this way

People migrate for many different reasons. For economic hardship, for political persecution, or when their values no longer match the values of the places they live in. I left because I wanted to live openly as a queer person and not continue being closeted or live on the margins of society, the two choices affored me at the time. Perhaps this personal connection with a story about migration is why I have not able able to stop thinking about this film...

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TIFF: "Atlantics" haunts and hypnotizes

by Nathaniel R

Atlantics made history earlier this summer when it became the first film directed by a black woman ever to compete for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Though it lost the top prize Atlantics was a winner generating a lot of "must-see" buzz and eventually taking the Grand Jury Prize. Given that reception Netflix swept in to snatch it up for future streaming. Now that it has a home we wonder if it can continue to make waves, if you'll pardon the oceanic pun.

On the one hand it'd surely be tough to convince people to see a Senagalese movie without any easy summary or hook from a debut director. In that regard we're thankful Atlantics has a future firmly in place. On the other that futures is a double edged sword. As with Roma before it, which was also light on dialogue and rested on great cinematography and a brand new actress playing a quiet passive protagonist, its considerable strengths are entirely cinematic. Memorable images abound with clever lighting choices and a robust but never gaudy color palette. Atlantics bold and unsubtle sound will transfer with greater ease to in-home viewing with the constant roar of the ocean competing with an intrusive but sometimes inspired 80s influenced electronic score...

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Cannes: Female directors making waves...

by Nathaniel R

Leyna Bloom at Cannes

Cannes buzz never ends. So after the jump let's talk about how a handful of new films directed by women have been received including but not limited to Un Certain Regard titles like the trans drama Port Authority, and two very buzz competition titles (Atlantique and Portrait of a Lady on Fire) that sound like Palme contenders. Exciting times ahead...

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