From Mati Diop To Alice Diop: Two French Senagalese Female Filmmakers Who Have Made History

From Mati Diop To Alice Diop: Two French Senagalese Female Filmmakers Who Have Made History in Cannes and Venice

First it was Mati Diop, the French-Senegalese filmmaker whose first feature film "Atlantics" made her the first black female director to be in the Official Selection in competition for the Palme d'Or and won the Grand Prix equivalent of the silver prize at the 2019 annual Cannes Film Festival, making her the first black female director to win an award in Cannes' 72-year history. And another French Senegalese filmmaker, Alice Diop with the same surname has just made history as first black female filmmaker to win the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, for her first feature, "Saint Omer" and also the Lion of the Future LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS Venice Award for a debut film at the 79th annual Venice International Film Festival in 2022.

Mati Diop was born in Paris on June 22 in 1982 and Alice Diop was born in Aulnay-sous-Bois, France in 1979.

-  By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series.

The following is from an interview with Alice Diop on the making of "Saint Omer".

What led you to develop it as a narrative feature?

A documentary was never the plan. At the time, I was too busy with research, plus we couldn’t shoot in the courtroom and I would never [make the real participants] reenact the proceedings. Anyway, I wanted to recreate my experience of listening to another woman’s story while interrogating myself, facing my own difficult truths. The narrative had to trace a series of emotional states that can lead to catharsis. It’s like accelerated psychotherapy.  

https://variety.com/2022/film/festivals/venice-alice-diop-saint-omer-1235367521/

Tall As the Boabab: The Story of An African Girl

 Tall As the Boabab

In a rural Senegalese village poised at the outer edge of the modern world, a teenage girl hatches a secret plan to rescue her 11-year-old sister from an arranged marriage.

A powerful voice from Africa's young generation, Tall as the Baobab Tree poignantly depicts a family struggling to find its footing at the outer edge of the modern world… where questions of right and wrong are not always black and white.

Coumba and her little sister Debo are the first to leave their family's remote African village, where meals are prepared over open fires and water is drawn from wells, to attend school in the bustling city. But when an accident suddenly threatens their family's survival, their father decides to sell 11-year-old Debo into an arranged marriage. Torn between loyalty to her elders and her dreams for the future, Coumba hatches a secret plan to rescue her young sister from a fate she did not choose.

On the edge of the modern world in rural Africa, Coumba hatches a secret plan to help her 11-year-old sister escape a forced marriage.

Gand Comme Le Baobab poignantly tells the story of a family conflict on the edge of the modern world ... where questions of wrong or reason are not always as simple as black and white.

Coumba and her younger sister Debo are the first to leave their remote African village - where meals are prepared over wood fires, water drawn from wells, and baobab trees dominate the landscape - to go to school in the big city . When an accident occurs that threatens the survival of the family, their father considers forcing Debo into a forced marriage. Torn between the deep-rooted traditions of her village and the dream of a better future, Coumba imagines a secret plan to save her sister from the fate imposed on her.

Inspired by real events, the first feature film in the Pulaar language, Grand Comme Le Baobab is the first feature film by Jeremy Teicher, finalist of the 38th Annual Student Competition of the Academy of Films of Art and Sciences.