Dahomey
November 22 - 28, 2024
Blurring the line between fiction and documentary, the Golden Bear-winning new film from Mati Diop (Atlantics) exploring France’s repatriation of Benin’s royal treasures is a poignant commentary on the role of museums and the enduring ghosts of colonialism. Senegal's Official Oscar Submission (Best International Feature Film).
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“Mati Diop’s captivating, fabulistic documentary Dahomey confronts the reality of how modernity has been shaped by the West’s theft of cultural heritage.”—Pat Brown, Slant Magazine
“In Diop’s hands, what might have unfolded as a mere chronicle of a journey morphs into something far more electrifying and disturbing.”—Leonardo Goi, The Film Stage
The African kingdom of Dahomey ruled over much of West Africa until the turn of the 20th century, when it was invaded by France and transformed into a French colony. In November, 2021—61 years after Dahomey (now modern day Benin) gained independence from the French empire—26 of the thousands of its national antiquities that were plundered by French colonial troops were finally returned to their African home. Director Mati Diop (Atlantics) rigorously documents the repatriation of these treasures to their home country: from their crating at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris, to the mixed reception at their homecoming in Benin. As the artifacts journey from Paris to Cotonou, Diop imbues a particular bronze piece with the power to speak in its native tongue, its observations intertwining the physical process of repatriation with speculative reflections on ownership and belonging. With her unique, genre-defying style, Diop crafts a film that is both lean and expansive, a profound exploration of cultural heritage and unresolved histories that offers a poignant commentary on the role of museums and the enduring ghosts of colonialism.
- Director: Mati Diop
- Country: France, Senegal, Benin
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 68 min.
- Producer: Mati Diop, Judith Lou Lévy, Eve Robin
- Cinematographers: Joséphine Drouin-Viallard
- Editors: Gabriel Gonzalez
- Music: Wally Badarou, Dean Blunt
- Awards: Berlin Film Festival 2024 (Golden Bear)
- Filmography: Atlantics (2019), A Thousand Suns (2013)
- Language: French, Fon, English
- Format: DCP
- US Distributor: MUBI, Variance
- International Sales: Les Films du Losange