Dahomey

November 2021. 26 royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey are about to leave Paris to return to their country of origin, present-day Benin. In 1892, thousands of these artefacts were looted by French colonial troops. How should the country relate to these artefacts, their grandparents, returning to a country that had to move forward without them for centuries? The debate flares up among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi.

 

French-Senegalese director Mati Diop creates a short but powerful hybrid documentary that not only questions the role of looted art but also shines a new light on the obfuscations of colonial history and its injustices. 

 

Diop succeeds artistically in reflecting the demands of a new, critical, generation.