Biography
Ladj Ly is a French film director and screenwriter. Born in Paris in 1978 to parents from Mali, he grew up in the Montfermeil district.
He began making videos and documentaries in the mid-1990s as part of the Kourtrajmé collective with childhood friends including Kim Chapiron and Romain Gavras. His early works include the documentary 365 jours à Clichy-Montfermeil (2006), filmed after the 2005 riots.
Ly’s narrative feature debut Les Misérables (2019), which he wrote and directed, premiered in competition at Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film. He has since directed Athena (2022) and Les Indésirables (2023).
