A Thousand Suns

Mati Diop | 2013 | DCP | French with English subtitles | 45 min.

Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki (1973) is one of the most influential films in African cinema. Filmmaker, and Mambéty’s niece, Mati Diop revisits Magaye Niang, the star of that film, forty years after its release. Like his character, Niang has stayed in Dakar, herding cows and living a simple life outside of the spotlight. Yet the shadow of Touki Bouki haunts him to this day, becoming a symbol of his legacy and broken dreams. In A Thousand Suns, Diop investigates the aftermath of this African classic through a mix of fictional and non-fictional elements. Not only is the French-Senegalese filmmaker the lead actress in Claire Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum (2008), she and Denis also share a fondness for dreamlike narratives, the African diaspora, and docufiction hybrids.

To the Devil

Claire Denis | 2011 | DCP | French with English subtitles | 45 min.

Denis’s To the Devil exemplifies her approach to crossing genres to narrate complex histories. The film focuses on the Aluku, one of the five tribes of Maroons who have lived in the forest for more than 400 years since fleeing Dutch sugarcane plantations. Their ancestors were originally from the West Coast of Africa before they were enslaved. Commissioned by Jeonju Digital Project, the premise of To the Devil is that Claire Denis and her actor visit French Guiana to interview the notorious gold miner Jean Bena, whose story is the subject of a pending project. In this docufiction hybrid, Denis links the history of the Aluku people with their current reality.

Mati Diop (b. 1982, France) made her acting debut in 35 Shots of Rum (2008). After directing short films such as Atlantiques (2009) and Big in Vietnam (2012), she directed her first feature, Atlantics (2019), which won the Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival and made her the first Black woman to direct a film featured in that festival’s main competition.

Claire Denis (b. 1946, France) began her career working on set in Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie (1974). She became assistant director for Wim Wenders in Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987). Her time working alongside Jim Jarmusch in Down by Law (1986) was crucial to her growth as a filmmaker before directing her debut Chocolat (1988). In the subsequent decades, her elliptical narrative and visual style received widespread acclaim. The 2000s were significant for Denis’s career, in which she released Friday Night (2002), 35 Shots of Rum (2008), and White Material (2009). Her diverse body of work was recognised across European films festivals including Berlinale and Cannes.