Mati Diop is an early Oscar frontrunner with documentary “Dahomey” about the return of Benin-based artwork from French colonizers.
Set in November 2021, the Golden Bear-winning film charts 26 royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey as they leave Paris and return to their country of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin.
Per the official logline, the feature uses multiple perspectives to question “how these artifacts should be received in a country that has reinvented itself in their absence.” The artwork was plundered by French troops in 1892, and the pieces’ return to Benin more almost 150 years later caused an outrage among University of Abomey-Calavi students.
“Atlantics” director Diop writes and directs the documentary, which features cinematography from Josephine Drouin Viallard. Diop produced “Dahomey” along with Eve Robin and Judith Lou Lévy; Christiane Chabi Kao and Cotonou executive produced the documentary, which was co-produced by Arte France Cinéma, Paris.
“Dahomey” debuted at Berlinale 2024, where it won the top prize of the Golden Bear. The IndieWire review from the festival categorized Diop’s styling of the feature as “unconventional,” especially when capturing the controversy surrounding the return of the art.
“To keep [the art] in Paris is to deprive Benin of its past and, therefore, its present,” the review reads. “After all, Africa’s national borders still line up more with decisions made during the Scramble than anything else. […] For those who know little about the subject matter, ‘Dahomey’ is a bold and memorable history lesson.”
The review continues, “Filmmakers reflecting on ceramics as a symbol of colonial happenings is not new: Diop has said that one of her only conscious influences was ‘Statues Also Die,’ a 1953 film about looted African art in French museums directed by Alain Resnais, Chris Marker, and Ghislain Cloquet. Parts of it are so critical of colonialism that it was banned in France.”
The artworks captured onscreen “talk” as part of the experimental quality of the documentary. Diop deemed “Dahomey” a “Gothic tale” and a “fantasy documentary,” transcending genre itself.
“If people come out wondering what it is that they just saw, having had a unique experience (while feeling some kind of emotion, of course), then I feel I have contributed to making cinema more surprising and innovative,” Diop said in the press notes. “That’s also what I expect from a film, wherever it is from.”
The film will later screen at TIFF and NYFF.
“Dahomey” premieres October 25 in theaters. Check out the trailer below.
