Director Ramata-Toulaye Sy poses for portrait photographs for the film 'Banel & Adama' at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (Photo by Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP)CANNES – Most filmmakers in the Cannes Film Festival's top-rung competition lineup are well-known directors who have been around for decades. One dramatic exception this year is Ramata-Toulaye Sy, a French-Senegalese filmmaker whose first film, “Banel & Adama,” landed among the 21 films competing for the Palme d'Or. “It’s only now that I realize that being in competition means being in a competition,” Sy said, laughing, in an interview shortly after “Banel & Adama” premiered in Cannes. “I’m a filmmaker and I really wish we stopped being counted as women, as Black or Arab or Asian,” said Sy.

Source: The Nation May 21, 2023 22:09 UTC