Dahomey

The kingdom of Dahomey, which ruled over its region in west Africa until the turn of the 20th century, saw hundreds of its splendid royal artifacts plundered by French colonial troops in its waning days. The film takes us to 2021, as 26 of these treasures are set to return to their homeland—now the Republic of Benin—with filmmaker Mati Diop documenting their voyage back.  

As with her layered, supernaturally tinged Atlantics, Diop takes a singular approach to contemporary questions around belonging in our postcolonial world, transforming this rich subject matter into a multifaceted examination of ownership and exhibition, and employing multiple points of view, including—most strikingly—those of the artifacts themselves as they sail in darkness over the ocean to their rightful home. Alternating images of nocturnal melancholy and debates among students at Benin’s University of Abomey-Calavi about what should be done with the objects, Dahomey brilliantly negotiates a lost past and an unsure present.  

Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival.