# Atlantics
**Atlantics** (French: *Atlantique*) is a 2019 supernatural drama film directed by Mati Diop, her debut feature, set in Dakar, Senegal and spoken in Wolof. It follows Ada, a 17-year-old woman promised in marriage to a rich man while she loves Souleiman, a construction worker who leaves Senegal by sea with unpaid co-workers seeking a better future; after their departure, a fire ruins Ada's wedding and a mysterious fever spreads through the community.[1](https://mk2films.com/en/film/atlantics/) The film premiered in competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, where it won the [Grand Prix](https://www.edgepedia.org/grand-prix-cannes-film-festival), and was acquired worldwide by Netflix.[2](https://www.screendaily.com/atlantics-director-mati-diop-talks-taking-the-plunge-with-netflix/5145642.article)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / debut | Mati Diop's first feature film, an extension of her 2009 short *Atlantiques*[3](https://mk2films.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/02/atlantics-cannes-dp-en-hd.pdf) |
| Year, runtime, language | 2019; 105 minutes; drama; original language Wolof[1](https://mk2films.com/en/film/atlantics/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlantics) |
| Setting and premise | A suburb of Dakar, where a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms; Ada, 17, is promised to another man while in love with Souleiman, a construction worker[1](https://mk2films.com/en/film/atlantics/) |
| Cast | Mama Sané (Ada), Amadou Mbow (Issa), Ibrahima Traoré (Souleiman)[1](https://mk2films.com/en/film/atlantics/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlantics) |
| Cannes | In competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival; won the Grand Prix (Jury Grand Prize)[2](https://www.screendaily.com/atlantics-director-mati-diop-talks-taking-the-plunge-with-netflix/5145642.article) • [5](https://downloads.ctfassets.net/22n7d68fswlw/3S3xFtoSyY2ZHC61UVFL3Q/ac009350c649279cd37b54eabcf217ea/TIFF2019_Programmebook_COMPLETE_reduce.pdf) |
| Production | Les Films du Bal (France), Cinekap (Senegal), FraKas Productions (Belgium), with ARTE France Cinéma; screenplay by Mati Diop and Olivier Demangel[1](https://mk2films.com/en/film/atlantics/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlantics) |
| Distribution | Netflix acquired global rights; released theatrically in France and Senegal before streaming[2](https://www.screendaily.com/atlantics-director-mati-diop-talks-taking-the-plunge-with-netflix/5145642.article) |
## Spoilers
### Story
Along the Atlantic coast, a futuristic tower under construction looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker, but she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers, who have gone months without pay, leave the country by sea in hope of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada's wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread; Ada does not know that Souleiman has returned.[1](https://mk2films.com/en/film/atlantics/) • [6](https://www.advitamdistribution.com/films/atlantique/)
The film combines this love story with elements of a ghost story and a police investigation: Inspector Issa, a strange and tormented officer, is convinced that Souleiman set the fire on the night of Ada's wedding.[7](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2019/10/01/fabrice-luchini-en-maire-desabuse-les-jeunes-de-dakar-une-mere-et-sa-fille-nos-films-de-la-semaine_6013834_3246.html) Diop has described the film as a tale in which the spirits of the boys who perished at sea come back to haunt the neighborhood and the girls.[8](https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/screentalks-archive-mati-diop-on-atlantics)
## Origins
The feature grew out of Diop's short film *Atlantiques* (2009), shot in Dakar, in which she filmed Serigne, a young man telling two friends the story of his sea crossing from the Senegalese coast toward Spain. The short was made during the "Barcelone ou la Mort" (Barcelona or Bust) period, when thousands of young Senegalese left the coast attempting to enter Spain and many perished at sea.[3](https://mk2films.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/02/atlantics-cannes-dp-en-hd.pdf) After Serigne died a couple of months after the filming, Diop went to his funeral in Dakar, where she met his mother and sister and filmed his sister, a silent, grieving young woman; this encounter shifted the focus from the men who left to the women who stayed behind.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20the%20black%20fantastic/2022/07/07/atlantics/)
**The Dakar Spring.** Diop dated her decision to make the feature to 2012, just after the Dakar Spring, a citizens' uprising that reached Dakar a couple of months after the [Arab Spring](https://www.edgepedia.org/arab-spring), propelled by the movement "Y en a marre" (Fed Up) and aimed at ousting President Abdoulaye Wade. She said this awakening showed her that Senegalese youth had not entirely disappeared, and it reinforced her intuition that the story of the lost generation at sea should be told by the living, from the perspective of a woman, Ada, whose blossoming from teenager to adulthood structures the film. The element of fire in the film comes from images of the riots.[3](https://mk2films.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/02/atlantics-cannes-dp-en-hd.pdf) • [10](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/a-language-possessed-and-reconquered-mati-diop-on-atlantics)
Diop wrote the screenplay with the French co-writer Olivier Demangel, whose credits include the series *Baron Noir*; she has noted that he had never set foot in Dakar.[2](https://www.screendaily.com/atlantics-director-mati-diop-talks-taking-the-plunge-with-netflix/5145642.article) • [8](https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/screentalks-archive-mati-diop-on-atlantics)
## Cannes and release
*Atlantics* was showcased in competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival in 2019. Diop was the first Black female filmmaker to have a film premiere and compete in the festival's main competition in its history, and the Grand Prix win made her the first Black woman to win an award in the festival's 72-year run.[8](https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/screentalks-archive-mati-diop-on-atlantics) • [5](https://downloads.ctfassets.net/22n7d68fswlw/3S3xFtoSyY2ZHC61UVFL3Q/ac009350c649279cd37b54eabcf217ea/TIFF2019_Programmebook_COMPLETE_reduce.pdf)
Netflix quickly acquired global rights to the film. By early December 2019, when it screened at the Marrakech International Film Festival, it had received theatrical releases in France and Senegal and had just launched on Netflix.[2](https://www.screendaily.com/atlantics-director-mati-diop-talks-taking-the-plunge-with-netflix/5145642.article) The deal excluded countries where the service was not present, including Russia and China, and France, Switzerland, and the Benelux nations; it brought the film wide exposure in the anglosphere while drawing criticism from French cinema purists who felt its reach was limited by the choice.[11](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/26438941.2026.2631280) The film was also selected as Senegal's entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/a-language-possessed-and-reconquered-mati-diop-on-atlantics)
## Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 96% Tomatometer from 159 critics' reviews and a 64% audience score; the site's critics consensus calls it "an unpredictable supernatural drama rooted in real-world social commentary" and says it suggests "a thrillingly bright future for debuting filmmaker Mati Diop."[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlantics) Reviewers have emphasized its blend of registers: [Le Monde](https://www.edgepedia.org/le-monde) described it as a story of mad love and emancipation, a film of revenants, and a police investigation led by the inspector Issa, splendidly played by the non-professional actress Mama Sané alongside Ibrahima Traoré as Souleiman.[7](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2019/10/01/fabrice-luchini-en-maire-desabuse-les-jeunes-de-dakar-une-mere-et-sa-fille-nos-films-de-la-semaine_6013834_3246.html)
Diop has framed the film's women, Ada and her friend Dior, as survivors who outlast the disappearance of the men they love and transcend their loss.[12](https://alca-nouvelle-aquitaine.fr/sites/default/files/alca/fichiers/atlantique_dp_web.pdf) She has also connected the film to a broader project, begun with *Atlantiques* in 2008, of questioning migration and giving back a voice to migrants, work she continued in the medium-length *Mille Soleils* (2013) and later in her [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear)-winning documentary *Dahomey* (2024).[13](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/03/14/mati-diop-i-wanted-to-question-the-meaning-of-the-word-restitution_6619887_30.html)
## References
1. [Atlantics, mk2 Films](https://mk2films.com/en/film/atlantics/)
2. ["'Atlantics' director Mati Diop talks taking the plunge with Netflix", Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/atlantics-director-mati-diop-talks-taking-the-plunge-with-netflix/5145642.article)
3. [Interview with Mati Diop, Atlantics Cannes press kit (mk2 Films)](https://mk2films.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/02/atlantics-cannes-dp-en-hd.pdf)
4. [Atlantics, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlantics)
5. [TIFF 2019 Programme Book](https://downloads.ctfassets.net/22n7d68fswlw/3S3xFtoSyY2ZHC61UVFL3Q/ac009350c649279cd37b54eabcf217ea/TIFF2019_Programmebook_COMPLETE_reduce.pdf)
6. [Atlantique, Ad Vitam Distribution](https://www.advitamdistribution.com/films/atlantique/)
7. ["Nos films de la semaine", Le Monde, 1 October 2019](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2019/10/01/fabrice-luchini-en-maire-desabuse-les-jeunes-de-dakar-une-mere-et-sa-fille-nos-films-de-la-semaine_6013834_3246.html)
8. [ScreenTalks Archive: Mati Diop on Atlantics, Barbican](https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/screentalks-archive-mati-diop-on-atlantics)
9. [Mati Diop on 'Atlantics', BFI Southbank programme notes](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20the%20black%20fantastic/2022/07/07/atlantics/)
10. ["A Language Possessed and Reconquered: Mati Diop on Atlantics", RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/a-language-possessed-and-reconquered-mati-diop-on-atlantics)
11. ["Global francophone streaming", Taylor & Francis](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/26438941.2026.2631280)
12. [Atlantique dossier pédagogique, ALCA Nouvelle-Aquitaine](https://alca-nouvelle-aquitaine.fr/sites/default/files/alca/fichiers/atlantique_dp_web.pdf)
13. ["Mati Diop: 'I wanted to question the meaning of the word restitution'", Le Monde, 14 March 2024](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2024/03/14/mati-diop-i-wanted-to-question-the-meaning-of-the-word-restitution_6619887_30.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2015 to 2019 › Drama films 2019*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license