Virginia Film Festival

Official Oscar^© Selection—Senegal
Golden Bear for Best Film, Berlin Film Festival

One of the most inventive filmmakers working today, Mati Diop (Atlantics) turns her lens to the complicated repatriation of royal treasures to the West African republic of Benin. In 2021, the 26 ancestral statues, which had been plundered by French troops in the 19^th century, were transported from a Paris museum to Cotonou, Benin.

The “fantasy documentary” not only follows the journey of the artifacts, but gives voice to them, amplifying themes of loneliness, captivity, and displacement in an examination of ownership and exhibition. Dahomey documents the rightful return of a kingdom’s artifacts while exploring the broader implications of cultural restitution, reflecting on the enduring legacy of colonialism, and the importance of reclaiming history.

Introduction by Karen E. Milbourne (UVA)

“An important contribution to an ongoing conversation about the legacy of colonialism in Africa, and to the thorny topic of restitution and repatriation of cultural heritage.”
-Wendy Ide, Screen Daily