Mati Diop

Born in 1982, Mati Diop is a director and actor who divides her time between Paris and Dakar. Her shorts Mille Soleils (A Thousand Suns) (2013), Big in Vietnam (2011), Snow Canon (2010) and Atlantiques (2009) won Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal - Emerging Artist Award (New York) in 2016. Diop’s films have been selected and won awards in many international festivals, including at the Venice Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Viennale, IndieLisboa, and FIDMarseille. Her work has also been screened at MoMA and at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.

Her first feature film, Atlantique (2019) won the Grand Prix in the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mati Diop’s acting career includes roles in Claire Denis’ Trente cinq rhums (2008), Simon Killer by Antonio Campos (2012), Fort Buchanan by Benjamin Crotty (2014) and Hermia y Helena by Matias Piñeiro (2015).

Photo: AFP