2019 Cannes Film Festival: Atlantique Is the First Film By a Black Female Director to be Selected in the Competition Section

The 72nd Cannes Film Festival (formerly known as Festival International Du Film Cannes or Festival de Cannes) has officially announced its selections for 2019.

According to Variety, female filmmakers make up 21 percent of the total selections, up from 14 percent in 2018 and 16 percent in 2017. There are four women directors amongst the official competitive selections this year, and 13 in total. Last year, the festival was criticized for its lack of female filmmaker representation.

But, let’s talk about blackness. Do we even want to get into intersectionality and calculate the representation of black female filmmakers? Probably not. This is why organizations such as Diversity In Cannes exist.

However, it looks like we do have something to celebrate (in that bittersweet way that also acknowledges the issue with still having “firsts” like this today).

Sengelese film Atlantique is “set in a suburb of Dakar, and follows a woman who’s in love with a young worker who disappears at sea, then returns with several of his colleagues to haunt their old neighborhood,” per Variety. Atlantique is directed by French-Sengelese actress-director, Mati Diop. Diop is the niece of the late legendary filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty, a Cannes alum who won the International Critics Award for his 1973 film Touki Bouki.

Diop’s film will be competing for the coveted top prize, the Palme d’Or. This marks the first time a black female director has been selected in the competition section in the history of the French festival, IndieWire has confirmed.

“Over the past 20 years of the festival, there have been 86 films (give or take) by non-white POC to compete in Cannes main competition, compared to 5 by black directors,” as Grace Barber-Plentie wrote in a 2017 Dazed Digital article.

Congrats to the official selections, and may the odds ever be in your favor.

The 72nd Cannes Film Festival will take place May 14 – May 25. The complete list of 2019 selections are below:

CompetitionPain and Glory, Pedro AlmodovarThe Traitor, Marco BellocchioWild Goose Lake, Yinan DiaoParasite, Bong Joon-hoYoung Ahmed, The Dardenne BrothersOh Mercy!, Arnaud DesplechinAtlantique, Mati DiopMatthias and Maxime, Xavier DolanLittle Joe, Jessica HausnerSorry We Missed You, Ken LoachLes Miserables, Ladj LyA Hidden Life (previously known as Radegund), Terrence MalikNighthawk, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Juliano DornellesThe Whistlers, Corneliu PorumboiuFrankie, Ira SachsThe Dead Don’t Die, Jim JarmuschPortrait of a Lady on Fire, Celine SciammaIt Must Be Heaven, Elia SuleimanSybil, Justine Triet

Out of CompetitionRocketman, Dexter FletcherThe Best Years of Life, Claude LelouchMaradona, Asif KapadiaLa Belle Epoque, Nicolas BedosToo Old to Die Young, Nicolas Winding Refn (TV series screening 2 episodes)

Special ScreeningsShare, Pippa BiancoFamily Romance LLC, Werner HerzogTommaso, Abel FerraraTo Be Alive and Know It, Alain CavalierFor Sama, Waad Al Kateab and Edward Watts

Midnight ScreeningsThe Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, Lee Won-Tae

Un Certain RegardInvisible Life, Karim AïnouzBeanpole, Kantemir BalagovThe Swallows of Kabul, Zabou Breitman & Eléa Gobé MévellecA Brother’s Love, Monia ChokriThe Climb, Michael CovinoJoan of Arc, Bruno DumontA Sun That Never Sets, Olivier LaxeChambre 212, Christophe HonoréPort Authority, Danielle LessovitzPapicha, Mounia MeddourAdam, Maryam TouzaniZhuo Ren Mi Mi, Midi ZLiberte, Albert SerraBull, Annie SilversteinSummer of Changsha, Zu FengEVGE, Nariman Aliev