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Atlantics

Atlantics is a 2019 drama film written and directed by Mati Diop. It is a Senegal-France-Belgium co-production and marks Diop’s feature directorial debut. Set in Dakar, the film follows a young woman whose coastal community is unsettled when migrant workers from the neighborhood disappear at sea; rumors and a sense of mystery accompany the men’s absence, while the Atlantic Ocean itself takes on a nearly character-like presence. The narrative blends social realism with myth, exploring themes of migration, labor, gender, and the precariousness of urban life on the edge of the sea.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, where it won the Grand Prix. It

Atlantics is noted for its contribution to contemporary African cinema and for blending grounded social concerns

was
Senegal’s
submission
for
the
Best
Foreign
Language
Film
at
the
92nd
Academy
Awards.
Critics
praised
its
atmospheric
mood,
visual
composition,
and
lyrical
approach
to
memory,
desire,
and
social
injustice.
The
filmmaking
emphasizes
long
takes,
deliberate
pacing,
and
a
luminous,
evocative
sense
of
place
that
bridges
contemporary
Dakar
with
broader
transatlantic
histories.
with
elements
of
the
supernatural
and
the
dreamlike.
It
has
been
discussed
in
academic
and
critical
contexts
for
its
treatment
of
migration,
the
lure
and
peril
of
opportunity
abroad,
and
the
ways
communities
reckon
with
loss
and
change
along
the
Atlantic
coast.