Dahomey

Saturday, October 26 at 6:30 p.m.: Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker Mati Diop

Sunday, October 27 at 4:40 p.m.: Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker Mati Diop

From acclaimed filmmaker Mati Diop (Atlantics), DAHOMEY is a poetic and immersive documentary that delves into real perspectives on far-reaching issues surrounding appropriation, self-determination and restitution. Set in November 2021, the film charts 26 royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey that are due to leave Paris and return to their country of origin: the present-day Republic of Benin.

Using multiple perspectives, Diop questions how these artifacts should be received in a country that has reinvented itself in their absence. Winner of the coveted Golden Bear prize at the 2024 Berlinale, DAHOMEY is an affecting though altogether singular conversation piece that is as spellbinding as it is essential. 

“Captivating…confronts the reality of how modernity has been shaped by the West’s theft of cultural heritage.” - Slant Magazine

“Cracks open the sealed crate of colonial history, sending a hundred of its associated erasures and injustices tumbling into the light.” - Variety