Mati Diop

Diop worked across actor, film director, screenwriter and director. This article rests on 21 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Mati Diop • Born — 22 June 1982 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Occupation — * Film director • actress • screenwriter • Years Active — 2004–present • Father — Wasis Diop • Relatives — Djibril Diop Mambéty (uncle)

Diop was born in Paris, France. Her father, Wasis Diop, is a black Senegalese musician, while her mother, Christine Brossard, is a white French art buyer and photographer. She is the niece of filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty. During her childhood, she often travelled back and forth between France and Senegal, developing a transnational identity.

Diop trained in the Advanced Degree Programme at Le Fresnoy National Studio of Contemporary Art in France, as well as at the Palais de Tokyo in their experimental artist studio space Le Pavillon.

Diop was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study from 2014 to 2015. Her work there focused on themes of exile, identity, memory, and loss, utilizing both fiction and documentary techniques. While a part of the institute's selective Film Study Center Fellowship Program, she wrote the script for her first feature film Fire, Next Time. She later changed the title of this film to what is now known as her directorial feature film debut, Atlantics (2019). In 2025, Mati Diop launched a U.S. university tour to present her documentary Dahomey, engaging in discussions on cultural restitution and decolonization. The tour included screenings and conversations at institutions such as Harvard University, Duke University, Columbia University, Pratt Institute, and Emory University.

Diop made her directorial debut in 2004 with her short film Last Night (2004). Her short film Atlantiques (2009) won the Rotterdam International Film Festival's Tiger Award for Short Film, and a Top Prize at Media City Film Festival during her first North American appearance in 2009. Her documentary short Mille Soleils was released in 2013. The film focused on actor Magaye Niang, who was the star of Diop's uncle's seminal feature Touki Bouki (1973) and explained how he had come to live as a farmer in the intervening years. The film played at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was later also programmed at the Museum of Modern Art in 2014. In 2019, she became the first black female director to have her film premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival when her feature debut Atlantics was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. She was one of only four women accepted into the festival in the given year. The film was a fictional adaptation of her documentary short Atlantiques made in 2009 that followed two friends from Senegal as they made a life-threatening boat crossing to Europe. The film won the Grand Prix. It was picked up by Netflix shortly following Cannes' award announcements, however it is not a Netflix Original Film. Diop directed a documentary, In My Room, as part of Miu Miu's Women's Tales series, which blended audio recordings of her maternal grandmother, Maji, with footage Diop shot of herself in her Parisian apartment during the time she was quarantined during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Diop's work has been featured at the Venice Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival in 2012, and the Valdivia International Film Festival, as well as the Museum of the Moving Image in 2013. In 2024, she won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale with the documentary, Dahomey, devoted to the question of the restitution by France of works of art stolen from Dahomey, present-day Benin.

Diop made her acting debut in Claire Denis' film 35 Shots of Rum (2008), playing the lead role of a young woman in a close-knit relationship with her father, whom she has trouble leaving as she gets ready for marriage. She received a nomination for the Lumière Award for Most Promising Actress for her role in the film. In 2012, she appeared in the film Simon Killer and was also credited with the story behind the script. Diop continues to act sporadically in films and television.

In 2026, Diop featured in an advertising campaign of Phoebe Philo's eponymous fashion brand.

In a 2025 interview with the Financial Times, Diop discussed her cinematic approach, emphasizing the importance of centering African and diasporic narratives. She cited influences from American underground cinema, including filmmakers like Larry Clark and Harmony Korine, and highlighted her commitment to creating films that resonate deeply with African and Black audiences. In their article on Diop's work up to Atlantics (2019), Lindsay Turner states that Diop's work is often concerned with trans-nationalism, immigration, the female experience, and post-colonialism in relation with North Africa and Europe. In order to start work on Atlantics, she began travelling to Senegal to reconnect with her African heritage. She says she found her voice in those journeys—and in her own French-Senegalese hyphenated identity. In an interview with Metal Magazine, Diop explains that she tackles cinematics and poetic aspects of her film with different perspectives due to the contrasting "sensibilities" of French and African cultures. Diop uses aspects of magical realism in her films, examples including Atlantics (2019), Snow Cannon (2011), and Big in Vietnam (2012). Diop can also be quoted talking about her storytelling processes, notably on how she uses sets and props to convey her plots as opposed to just characters and dialogue. During additional interviews, Diop has mentioned that she has done a majority of her own cinematography and is deeply interested in multiculturalism and multilingualism in film, as her films are often in two to three different languages.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 2008 — 35 Shots of Rum — Joséphine • 2010 — Yoshido (Les autres vies) — Amy • A History of Mutual Respect — Short film • 2011 — La collection — Jehanne — Episode: "Bye Bye" • Sleepwalkers • Another World — Sita — Television film • 2012 — Simon Killer — Victoria / Noura • Fort Buchanan: Hiver — Short film • 2014 — Fort Buchanan — Justine • L for Leisure — Stacey • 2016 — Hermia & Helena — Danièle • 2022 — Both Sides of the Blade — Gabrielle

Awards and nominations • Year — Festival — Awards — Film — Result • 2010 — Cinèma du Rèel — Louis Marcorelles Award – Mention — Atlantiques • 2011 — Venice Film Festival — Queer Lion — Snow Cannon • 2010 — Rotterdam International Film Festival — Tiger Award for Short Film — Big in Vietnam • 2012 — Atlantiques • 2013 — Amiens International Film Festival — Prix du Moyen mètrage — Mille Solelies • 2013 — CPH:DOX — New Vision Award • 2013 — Montréal Festival of New Cinema — Loup Argenté • 2014 — Black Movie Film Festival — Critics Prize • 2014 — IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival — Short Film Grand Prize • 2019 — Boston Society of Film Critics Awards — BSFC Award: Best New Filmmaker — Atlantics • 2019 — Camerimage — Best Directorial Debut • 2019 — Cannes Film Festival — Grand Prize of the Jury • Palme d'Or • Caméra d'Or • 2019 — Carthage Film Festival — Tanit d'Argent Tanit d'Or • 2019 — Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Milos Stehlik Award: Most Promising Filmmaker • 2019 — Denver International Film Festival — Krzysztof Kieslowski Award: Best Feature Film • 2019 — European Film Awards — European Film Award: European Discovery • 2019 — Ghent International Film Festival — Grand Prix: Best Film • 2019 — Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Awards — GWNYFCA Award: Breakthrough Director • 2019 — Hamptons International Film Festival — Golden Starfish Award: Narrative Feature • 2019 — Indiewire Critics' Poll — IPC Award: Best First Feature • 2019 — Key West Film Festival — Critics' Choice Award • 2019 — London Film Festival — Sutherland Award: First Feature Competition • 2019 — Mumbai Film Festival — International Competition: Golden Gateway Award • 2019 — Odyssey Awards — Odyssey Award: Breakthrough Director • 2019 — Pingyao International Film Festival — People's Choice Award: Best of Fest – Best Film • 2019 — Prix Louis Delluc — Prix Louis Delluc: Best First Film • 2019 — San Sebastián International Film Festival — Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Prize • 2019 — Stockholm Film Festival — Impact Award • 2019 — Toronto Film Critics Association Awards — TFCA Award: Best First Feature • 2019 — Women Film Critics Circle Awards — WFCC Award: Best Woman Storyteller • 2020 — Austin Film Critics Association — AFCA Award: Best First Film • 2020 — Black Reel Awards — Outstanding Director, Motion Picture. Outstanding Emerging Director. Outstanding First Screenplay. • 2020 — Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US — Heterodox Award • 2020 — Cèsar Awards, France — Cèsar: Best First Film • 2020 — Directors Guild of America, USA — DGA Award: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film • 2020 — Gold Derby Awards — Gold Derby Award: Foreign Language Film • 2020 — Image Awards (NAACP) — Image Award: Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Film) • 2020 — International Cinephile Society Awards — ICS Award: Best Debut Feature • 2020 — Lumière Awards, France — Lumière Award: Best First Film • 2020 — Online Film and Television Association — OFTA Film Award: Best Feature Debut • 2020 — Online Film Critics Society Awards — OFCS Award: Best Debut • 2020 — Palm Springs International Film Festival — Directors to Watch FIPRESCI Prize • 2024 — Berlin International Film Festival — Golden Bear — Dahomey

Mati Diop was born on 22 June 1982 in 12th arrondissement of Paris. Diop held the nationality of France. Recorded father: Wasis Diop. Recorded mother: Christine Brossart. Diop worked as actor, film director, screenwriter and director. Diop was active from 2004. Diop worked in French.

Diop worked for the screen, as film director and screenwriter. 5 films survive in the institutional catalogues, spanning 2009 to 2024. They are Atlantiques (2009), Big in Vietnam (2012), A Thousand Suns (2013), Atlantique (2019) and Dahomey (2024).