Alassane Sy

Alassane Sy was born in Mauritania and his family moved to Senegal in the mid-80s. In his late teens, Alassane moved to Paris and then New York, where a career in modeling caught director Andrew Dosunmu’s attention. Dosunmu offered him the lead role in his film “Restless City”, and in Alassane he found the perfect embodiment of his main character, Djibril. Thus began Alassane’s acting career. He has since starred in Jonas Carpignano’s “Mediterranea” – nominated for Critics’ Week at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Alassane Sy made the transition to writer/director in 2015 with the short film “Marabout”. The film made its world premiere at the 2016 Carthage Festival in Tunis, where it won the “Tanit d’or” and received international acclaim. His latest short film, “Fallou”, about a West African man living in an East London diaspora community, was made between Rufisque (Senegal) and London in 2016 and is currently on the festival circuit.

In 2019, Alassane Sy was accompanied at Groupe Ouest for the development of his feature film, “Lutteurs”, based on the story of a young wrestler and family man, which will mark his directorial debut. In 2022, he took part in Groupe Ouest Développement’s workshop Bâtir un concept de série for his project “Le Dernier Damel”.

Alassane is the founder of NATAAL magazine.

Lutteurs

Annual Selection 2019

A young Senegalese wrestler struggling to make a life for himself and a young mother grappling with difficult decisions after the sudden death of her husband are united when their lives take a dramatic and unexpected turn. Set in the spectacular world of Senegalese wrestling, this captivating, exciting and moving story is about two people who are forced to fight.