Age: 44
female
Mati Diop (born June 22, 1982) is a French-Senegalese actress and film director. She directed the 2019 film Atlantics, for which she became the first black female director to be in contention for the Cannes Film Festival's highest prize, the Palme d'Or. At Cannes, Atlantics won the Grand Prix.
"Royal Blood" follows the life of Antoine Moreau, a 30-year-old French man of African descent living in Paris who unexpectedly discovers that he is a direct descendant of the former French royal family. Raised by a single mother in a working-class neighborhood, Antoine's life revolves around his job as a history teacher and his passion for social justice. Everything changes when a genealogical DNA test reveals his royal lineage, linking him to a historical bloodline that was thought to be lost to time. As the news breaks, it ignites a fierce backlash from far-right factions in France, who are outraged at the idea of a Black man potentially ascending to the throne. Antoine finds himself thrust into the public eye, facing media frenzy, political intrigue, and threats from extremist groups that see his existence as a challenge to their vision of national identity. With the help of his determined friend and activist, Leila Kone, and his distant cousin, Louis de Montclair, who is part of the old aristocracy, Antoine navigates the complexities of his newfound identity and the weight of historical expectations. As he grapples with the implications of his royal blood, Antoine must confront his own beliefs about power, privilege, and the meaning of leadership in a modern, multicultural France.
