DAHOMEY Documentary

DAHOMEY

Screening to be followed by a conversation with director, producer and writer Mati Diop.

Returning to AFI FEST with her second feature and first foray into nonfiction filmmaking, French/Senegalese actor-turned-filmmaker Mati Diop (ATLANTICS, AFI FEST 2019) continues to explore the havoc wrought by colonialism, through a dreamlike, quasi-supernatural lens. Entering the pristine vaults of the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, 26 artifacts from the Kingdom of Dahomey have been carefully packaged for repatriation to their country of origin, present-day Benin in West Africa. Lending voice to its descendants, as well as the objects themselves (in a fantastic text written by Haitian author Makenzy Orcel), DAHOMEY is a poetic interrogation as to why the broader conversations surrounding the repatriation of cultural artifacts has largely been directed by the former colonizers themselves. Winner of the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival, DAHOMEY raises complex questions beyond simply what should be done, but how and why. –Malin Kan

Since the early 2000s, Mati Diop has built an eclectic body of work that has won awards at numerous international festivals. Her first feature, ATLANTICS, winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, established her as one of the leading figures in arthouse cinema and new wave African and diasporic cinema.

Malkah Manouel
MUBI
mmanouel@mubi.com

MEMBERS & PASSHOLDERS

Screenings

October 23, 6:45 p.m.

Chinese 3

Details

Country: France, Senegal, Benin

Year: 2024

Director: Mati Diop

Screenwriter: Mati Diop

Producers: Eve Robin, Judith Lou Levy, Mati Diop

Executive Producer: Christiane Chabi Kao

Director of Photography: Joséphine Drouin Viallard

Editor: Gabriel Gonzalez

Music: Dean Blunt, Wally Badarou

Cast/Featuring: Gildas Adannou, Habib Ahandessi, Joséa Guedje

Running Time (minutes): 67

Languages: English, French

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