Hard Light Cinema

🌊 Part 2/4 of our Black Atlantic series

Using entirely nonprofessional actors, Mati Diop’s debut film is a supernatural romance set in present-day Senegal, where Ada and her partner Souleiman navigate class struggle, unreliable employment, migration, refugee crises, family strife, and hauntings from the past. This modern masterpiece explores a West African perspective on the Black Atlantic, casting the Atlantic Ocean itself as a phantom character that drives the plot of the film. In 2019, Diop became the first Black woman director to compete in the Cannes Film Festival, ultimately winning the Grand Prix for Atlantics and setting the stage for the success of her following efforts, including last year’s hit documentary Dahomey (2024).

— Lewis Peterson, Hard Light Cinema