Set in modern-day Dakar, this is a film about Ada who loves the poor Souleiman, even though her family want her to marry the rich Omar. Souleiman travels to Spain and dies. But can death be an obstacle for real love? This mythical love story took the Grand Prix at the 72nd Cannes Festival.
Having received no pay for months, workers in Dakar decide to try their luck in Europe. All they need is to sail to Spain across the Atlantic. Like the others, Souleiman needs money, especially after relatives of his fiancée Ada have promised her to another man, the rich businessman Omar. Souleiman’s plan fails tragically when he drowns in the ocean, while Omar sets the date of his wedding to Ada and gives her a pink iPhone as a gift. However, the wedding is still not going to happen…
The French/Senegalese actress and filmmaker Mati Diop’s debut feature is a mix of realistic narration about the problems of present-day Africa and some fantastic imagery and Senegalese mythology. Economic struggles go hand in hand with the world of spirits, and death never means the end in this picture which develops the motifs of Atlantiques—Diop’s short, filmed back in 2009. But whereas Atlantiques recounted a story of men crossing the water in search of money, this new work focuses on the women left ashore.
The film screening is organized together with KinoPoisk.
Atlantics
Director: Mati Diop
France, Senegal, Belgium, 2019. 104 min. 18+