Biography

Ramata-Toulaye Sy was born on June 14, 1986 in Paris, France. She is a writer and director, known for Banel & Adama (2023), Astel (2021) and Sibel (2018).

[press conference for Banel & Adama (2023) at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival] It's a tale, a tragedy, some magical-realism and above all a love story. The love story was my idea from my fourth year at La Fémis, it was my end-of-studies screenplay. My wish was a mad desire to write the biggest love story in Africa - that really was the objective - taking inspiration from tragedies I like very much from the theatre and also American romantic comedies with which I grew up.

[Cannes press conference for Banel & Adama (2023)] I come from Senegal; I was born in France but my parents were born in Senegal. I grew up with this culture and tradition. As I mentioned before, it was my thesis at the Fémis school. I always situated my screenplays in France in the past, but I didn't want to do just that. I said to myself, therefore, that I would like to locate my film in a different place, a place that is more me and that I'm very familiar with and the only other place is Futa, where I used to go on holiday with my parents during the school vacations. Writing in these villages in this region, which is pretty desert-like and without electricity.....that was a choice on my part. I wanted the tale to be universal, this tale could happen in the 50s, in the 1800s. For me it was important to be outside time - that's part of the genre and it's part of the story.