Dahomey (film)

Dahomey is a 2024 documentary film directed by Mati Diop. It

Dahomey
is a dramatised account of 26 royal treasures from the Kingdom
of Dahomey (in modern day Benin), which were held in a
museum in France. The film explores how the artefacts were
returned from France to Benin, and the reactions of Beninese
people.[1][2]

The film was an international co-production between

companies in France, Senegal and Benin. It was shown in the
main competition at the 74th Berlin International Film
Festival,[3] where it won the festival's top prize, the Golden
Bear.[4] It was also nominated for the Berlinale Documentary
Film Award.[5]

It is scheduled for theatrical release in France on 25 September

2024.[6]

Contents Festival release poster

Directed by Mati Diop
The documentary film blends facts and fiction to narrate the
Written by Mati Diop
stories of 26 African artworks.[1] The royal artifacts from the
Kingdom of Dahomey (1600–1904) were taken to France Produced by Mati Diop
during the colonial era. In the 21st century, they were put on Eve Robin
display in the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, a
Judith Lou Lévy
museum of non-European art located in Paris. Following a
campaign for repatriation, the artefacts were returned to Benin. Cinematography Joséphine Drouin-
Viallard
Among the returned works were statues of two kings of
Dahomey, Glele and Béhanzin. Their throne, which had been Edited by Gabriel Gonzalez

seized by French soldiers in 1892, was also given back.[7] The Music by Wally Badarou
art pieces are now displayed in a museum in Abomey, the old Dean Blunt
royal city, about 65 miles from the Gulf of Guinea.[8]
Production Fanta Sy
The film includes a discussion by students at the University of companies
Les Films du Bal
Abomey-Calavi, presenting their views on the repatriation of
cultural assets. Some of the students criticize the fact that only Distributed by Les Films du
26 of a total of around 7,000 objects were returned.[9] losange
Release dates 18 February 2024
A prominent role in the film is given to the 26th art object to be
(Berlinale)
repatriated, a statue that represents slave-trader King Ghézo,
who ruled from 1818 to 1859, shown below. A voice-over by 25 September 2024
the Haitian writer Makenzy Orcel (who wrote this part of the (France)
script), playing the object, tells of the time it spent in storage at Running time 67 minutes
Countries France
the Paris museum, its memories of Africa and thoughts of Senegal
returning to its homeland. Shown behind object number 26 is a Benin
statue that symbolizes the slave trader King Ghézo.[10]
Language French

The Kingdom of Dahomey around

1894, superimposed on a map of
the modern-day Republic of Benin,
in the region of West Africa.

View of the African exhibit hall at Statue of King Ghézo (art object
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques number 26) at the Quai Branly
Chirac Museum

Production
The documentary was produced by Les Films du Bal in co-production with Fanta Sy and distributed by Les
Films du Losange. The director was Mati Diop, who also wrote the script, and the director of photography
was Joséphine Drouin-Viallard. It was edited by Gabriel Gonzalez, with texts in collaboration between the
director and Makenzy Orcel. The music was composed by Wally Badarou and Dean Blunt. Corneille
Houssou, Nicolas Becker and Cyril Holtz were the sound designers.[11] The film incorporates footage from
the surveillance cameras at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac and the premises in Cotonou.[12]

Release
The premiere of Dahomey was on 18 February 2024, as part of the
74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was shown as part
of the main competition.[13][14]

In January 2024, Paris-based Les Films du Losange acquired the

sales rights to the film.[15] In February 2024, Mubi acquired the
distribution rights to the film for North America, Latin America,
United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy,
Turkey and India from Les Films du Losange and plans to release Film Crew of Dahowey:Habib
the film in late 2024.[16] It will be released in French theatres on 25 Ahandessi, Joséa Guedje, Mati Diop
September 2024 by Les Films du Losange.[6] and Gildas Adannou at Berlinale
2024
Reception
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an
approval rating of 100% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of
8.3/10.[17] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100
based on 5 reviews, indicating "Universal Acclaim".[18]

David Rooney reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it as
"Richly layered and resonant," and opined, "This directorial flourish
liberates the looted treasures from being mere objects, with smart use of
subjective camera by DP Joséphine Drouin-Viallard helping to make them
come alive as characters."[19]

Wendy Ide wrote in ScreenDaily while reviewing the film at Berlinale, "In
this agile, cerebral film, using a combination of deft fly-on-the-wall footage,
a centrepiece debate among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi
Mati Diop with the Golden
and an unexpected element of fantasy, the film feels like an important
Bear for the best film of the
contribution to an ongoing conversation about the legacy of colonialism in
Berlinale 2024
Africa, and to the thorny topic of restitution and repatriation of cultural
heritage to the country of its origin."[20]

Jessica Kiang writing in Variety in her review at Berlinale said, "French-Senegalese director Mati Diop
fashions her superb, short but potent hybrid doc Dahomey as a slim lever that cracks open the sealed crate
of colonial history, sending a hundred of its associated erasures and injustices tumbling into the light."
Concluding Kiang opined, "Dahomey is a striking, stirring example of the poetry that can result when the
dead and the dispossessed speak to and through the living."[11]

Stephanie Bunbury, in her review at Berlinale for Deadline said, "Open-ended, fecund with imagination
and ideas, never hectoring or lecturing, not so much posing questions as asking what questions might be
posed: Mati Diop’s film is a marvelous provocation."[21]

Adam Solomons of IndieWire reviewing at Berlinale graded the film B and criticised the runtime of the
film, he opined, "Dahomey might have worked better at a runtime of [closer to 30 minutes]: the student
debate, though well staged, becomes a bit repetitive, and some of the shots of boxes being loaded and
unloaded go at a snail’s pace." Concluding Solomons prised the director Mati Diop and wrote, "Dahomey
is a bold and memorable history lesson. But with Diop’s expressive talents as they are, it’s fair to hope that
she returns to the world of fiction next time."[22]
Writing for RogerEbert.com, Robert Daniels praised distinct approach to the seemingly straightforward
topic, Diop's "inventive" approach to the straightforward material, highlighting its "dreamlike score," saying
the film "fills and nourishes the viewer with urgent desires, providing space for the light that constitutes the
souls of Black folk to shine brighter through repair. Diop is back, and she is just as searing and imperative
as ever."[23]

Reviewing in Polyester, Nicolas Bardot rated the film with 5/6 and wrote, "Mati Diop ambitiously mixes
the political and the poetic. His stories always project further than the facts apparent before our eyes."
Concluding, Bardot opined, "In Dahomey, it is not only the present that the past finds, but also the
future."[24]

Nicholas Bell in Ion Cinema rated the film with three and half stars and opened his review stating, "The
spirit of Ozymandias, the classic poem from Percy Bysshe Shelley, might rouse itself in one’s mind during
Mati Diop’s short but passionate documentary Dahomey – "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!""
Thus Bell opined, "[the film] is a depiction of a journey with so much more going on beneath the surface
than an exchange of cultural artifacts." Concluding his review Bell said, "Much like her 2019 narrative
debut, Atlantics, Diop proves to be exceptionally adept at coalescing textures and strands in remarkably
dense ways, and Dahomey is an excellent point of entry in an ongoing conversation."[25]

Peter Bradshaw reviewing for The Guardian rated the film with 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "It is an
invigorating and enlivening film, with obvious implications for the Elgin/Parthenon marbles in the British
Museum."[26]

Shubhra Gupta reviewing for The Indian Express wrote, that the film using a unique documentary approach
laced with fantasy "powerfully challenges post-colonial notions of reparations and repair". Gupta opined,
that the film is "A question that deserves our attention, and the answers that emerge from it..."[27]

Accolades
Dahomey was selected to compete at the 74th Berlin International
Film Festival, where it was awarded Golden Bear award for the
best film. It is the second African film to win the top prize at the
festival following Mark Dornford-May’s South African drama film
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in 2015. It was the second documentary in
a row to take Golden Bear, after Nicolas Philibert's On the
Adamant in 2023. During her acceptance speech, Diop called for
people "to tear down the wall of silence together" and "to rebuild
through restitution", which entails "bringing justice".[28]

Mati Diop with Golden Bear at

Berlinale 2024

Award Date Category Recipient Result Ref.

Golden Bear Won [29][4]

Berlin International Film 25 February
Mati Diop
Festival 2024 Berlinale Documentary Film [3]
Nominated
Award

References
 1. Katz, David (9 January 2024). "20 European films we're anticipating in 2024" (https://cineuro
pa.org/en/newsdetail/454362). Cineuropa. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
2. Diop, Mati (9 February 2024). "Dahomey" (https://cineuropa.org/film/455750/). Cineuropa.
Retrieved 9 February 2024.
3. "Berlinale Documentary Award and Jury" (https://www.berlinale.de/en/festival/awards-and-ju
ries/berlinale-documentary-award.html). Berlinale. 1 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February
2024.
4. Scott Roxborough (24 February 2024). "Mati Diop Doc 'Dahomey' Wins Berlin Golden Bear"
(https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/2024-berlin-film-festival-winners-m
ati-diop-sebastian-stan-emily-watson-1235833970/). Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved
24 February 2024.
5. Abbatescianni, Davide (22 January 2024). "The Berlinale unveils its Competition and
Encounters titles" (https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/455195). Cineuropa. Retrieved
28 January 2024.
6. "Dahomey::25 septembre 2024 en salle – Documentaire, De Mati Diop" (https://www.allocin
e.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=314794.html) [Dahomey]. AlloCiné (in French). 22 January
2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
7. "Schätze aus Dahomey: Frankreich gibt geraubte Kunst an Benin zurück" (https://de.eurone
ws.com/2021/11/09/schatze-aus-dahomey-frankreich-gibt-geraubte-kunst-an-benin-zuruck)
[Treasures from Dahomey: France returns stolen art to Benin]. Euronews (in German). 9
November 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
8. "Musee Histsorique d' Abomey" (https://momaa.org/directory/musee-histsorique-d-abomey/).
MoMAA. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
9. " 'Dahomey' Review: Mati Diop's Audacious Doc Offers A Provocative View Of Modern Africa
– Berlin Film Festival" (https://deadline.com/2024/02/dahomey-review-mati-diop-audacious-
doc-offers-a-provocative-view-of-modern-africa-berlin-film-festival-1235829786/#!). Deadline
Hollywood. 18 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
10. Sophia Zessnik (20 February 2024). "Viel Wut ist dort zu vernehmen" (https://taz.de/Dahome
y-auf-der-Berlinale/!5992919/) [A lot of anger can be heard there]. taz.de (in German).
Retrieved 26 February 2024.
11. Jessica Kiang (18 February 2024). " 'Dahomey' Review: Mati Diop's Exquisitely Strange
Documentary Meditation on the Return of Looted Artifacts to Benin" (https://variety.com/2024/
film/reviews/dahomey-review-mati-diop-1235911765/). Variety. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
12. "Dahomey" (https://en.unifrance.org/movie/56518/dahomey). Unifrance. 18 December 2023.
Retrieved 28 January 2024.
13. Ntim, Zac (22 January 2024). "Berlin Reveals 2024 Competition Lineup: Rooney Mara, Mati
Diop, Isabelle Huppert, Abderrahmane Sissako Movies Among Selection" (https://deadline.c
om/2024/01/berlin-film-festival-2024-competition-lineup-rooney-mara-1235800214/).
Deadline. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
14. "Dahomey" (https://www.berlinale.de/en/2024/programme/202414781.html#screening_date
s). Berlinale. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
15. Elsa Keslassy (22 January 2024). "Mati Diop's Berlinale Competition Title 'Dahomey' Lands
at Les Films du Losange for International Sales, French Distribution (EXCLUSIVE)" (https://v
ariety.com/2024/film/global/mati-diop-dahomey-berlin-film-festival-les-films-du-losange-sales
-1235881580/). Variety. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
16. Elsa Keslassy (23 February 2024). "Mubi Buys Berlinale Highlight 'Dahomey' by Mati Diop
for North America, U.K., Germany and More Territories (EXCLUSIVE)" (https://variety.com/20
24/film/global/mubi-berlinale-dahomey-mati-diop-north-america-u-k-germany-1235920227/).
Variety. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
17. "Dahomey (2024, Documentary)" (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dahomey). Rotten
Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
18. "Dahomey" (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/dahomey). Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved
25 February 2024.
19. David Rooney (18 February 2024). " 'Dahomey' Review: Mati Diop Tracks the Return of
African Royal Treasures Plundered by French Colonists in Powerful Consideration of
Reparations" (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/dahomey-review-m
ati-diop-1235829050/). The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
20. Ide, Wendy (18 February 2024). " 'Dahomey': Berlin Review" (https://www.screendaily.com/re
views/dahomey-berlin-review/5190575.article). ScreenDaily. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
21. Bunbury, Stephanie (18 February 2024). " 'Dahomey' Review: Mati Diop's Audacious Doc
Offers A Provocative View Of Modern Africa – Berlin Film Festival" (https://deadline.com/202
4/02/dahomey-review-mati-diop-audacious-doc-offers-a-provocative-view-of-modern-africa-b
erlin-film-festival-1235829786/). Deadline. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
22. Adam Solomons (18 February 2024). " 'Dahomey' Review: Mati Diop Literally Gives Looted
African Artifacts a Voice in Strange, Sensitive Doc" (https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movi
es/dahomey-review-mati-diop-1234954949/). IndieWire. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
23. Daniels, Robert. "Berlin Film Festival 2024: Dahomey, My Favorite Cake, A Traveler's Needs
| Festivals & Awards | Roger Ebert" (https://www.rogerebert.com/festivals/berlin-film-festival-
2024-dahomey-my-favorite-cake-a-travelers-needs). RogerEbert.com. Retrieved
22 February 2024.
24. Nicolas Bardot (18 February 2024). "Berlinale | Critique: Dahomey" (https://lepolyester.com/c
ritique-dahomey/) [Berlinale | Review: Dahomey]. Polyester (in French). WordPress.
Retrieved 25 February 2024.
25. Nicholas Bell (18 February 2024). "Plunder Years: Diop Reflects on the Complex Realities
of Reparation" (https://www.ioncinema.com/reviews/mati-diop-dahomey-review). Ion
Cinema. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
26. Bradshaw, Peter (23 February 2024). "Dahomey review – interrogative reverie about looted
African sculptures" (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/23/dahomey-review-benin-br
onze-berlin-film-festival-mati-diop). The Guardian. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
27. Shubhra Gupta (20 February 2024). "From Hilde, With Love to Dahomey: The undead
memories of Holocaust, colonialism" (https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertai
nment-others/from-hilde-with-love-dahomey-the-undead-memories-of-holocaust-colonialism-
9170180/). The Indian Express. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
28. Abbatescianni, Davide (24 February 2024). "Mati Diop's Dahomey bags the Berlinale
Golden Bear" (https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/457564). Cineuropa. Retrieved
25 February 2024.
29. Rosser, Michael (22 January 2024). "Berlin film festival reveals 2024 competition line-up" (htt
ps://www.screendaily.com/news/berlin-film-festival-reveals-2024-competition-line-up/518965
9.article). ScreenDaily. Retrieved 28 January 2024.

External links
Dahomey (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31015216/) at IMDb
Dahomey (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dahomey) at Rotten Tomatoes
Dahomey (https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=314794.html) at AlloCiné (in
French)
Dahomey (https://www.berlinale.de/en/2024/programme/202414781.html) at Berlinale
 Treasures from Dahomey: France returns stolen art to Benin (https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=rWUelP_QR_4) at Euronews German: Schätze aus Dahomey: Frankreich gibt geraubte
Kunst an Benin zurück

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dahomey_(film)&oldid=1211365531"