DAHOMEY

Golden Bear, Berlin 2024

Original language: French, Fon, English

Subtitles: English, Romanian

Directed by: Mati Diop

Country: France, Senegal, Benin

Year of production: 2024

Length: 68 minutes

Genre: fantasy documentary

November, 2021. Twenty-six royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey are about to leave Paris to return to their country of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin. Along with thousands of others, these artifacts were plundered by French colonial troops in 1892. But what attitude to adopt to these ancestors’ homecoming in a country that had to forge ahead in their absence? While the soul of the artifacts is freed, debate rages among students of the University of Abomey-Calavi.

Credits

Mati Diop – Director

Mati Diop – Script

Josephine Drouin Viallard – Cinematography

Gabriel Gonzalez – Editing

Nicolas Becker, Corneille Houssou, Cyril Holtz – Sound