The story of a young stowaway from Dakar who gives up his youth for a new life on the other side of the endless water.

Sitting by the campfire, a boy from Dakar named Serigne tells his two friends the story of his sea voyage as a stowaway. Not only he, but everyone in his surroundings seems to be continually obsessed by the idea of trying to cross the sea. His words reverberate like a melancholy poem. A story about boys who are continually travelling: between past, present and future, between life and death, history and myth. Diop previously acted in 35 Rhums.

France, Senegal 2009


Director
Mati Diop

Producer
Natalia Trebik
Corinne Castel
Le Fresnoy
Anna Sanders Films

Scenario
Mati Diop

Cast
Serigne Seck
Alpha Diop
Cheikh M'Baye
Ouli Seck
Asta M'Boup

Photography
Mati Diop

Editor
Nicolas Milteau

Sound design
Papi M'Bow, Mansour Dieng

Music
Bent

Length
15'


"To start with Moonfleet and Jamaica Inn, we all remember the tales of ships being lured by shipwreckers to break on the rocks. The close-up of the rotating lighthouse lenses, which is the closing shot of Atlantiques, immediately calls this to mind. There is no port behind this lighthouse, only the night and the icy waters of death, the mirage of a Europe where life seems easier but inaccessible, the gaunt shadow of an Eldorado that is not so, even if, like all Western powers it feeds off the exhaustion of the world's poorer regions. "Good bye, I am leaving to die, this is not to be said",Seligne confides to his friends on the beach. As the survivor of a shipwreck that haunts him, he is nonetheless determined to set out again, as surviving in Senegal has become impossible. The night engulfs everything, the adieu to his friends and the tale of his first crossing. Light is no longer part of his world. It has been left in the village on the women's tearful faces and the graves." (Yann Lardeau)

Exil | Jeunesse | Sénégal | Émigration


Director : Mati Diop
Image : Mati Diop
Son : Mati Diop
Montage : Nicolas Milteau
Producteur délégué : Anna Sanders films
Coproducteur : Fresnoy (Studio national des Arts contemporains)
Distributeur : Anna Sanders films

Sources:
www.lussasdoc.org/film-atlantiques-1,27656.html?locale=en_US
www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150193856765117
www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/atlantiques/