UW Cinematheque: Dahomey
Thu, Nov 21
|Vilas Hall
After a century in France, 26 royal treasures plundered from the Kingdom of Dahomey return to their African home in present-day Benin.
Time & Location
Nov 21, 2024, 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Vilas Hall, Vilas Communication Hall, 821 University Ave, Madison, WI 53706, USA
About
Dahomey | France, Senegal | 2024 | DCP | 68 min. | French with English subtitles Director: Mati Diop
7 p.m.
4070 Vilas Hall
DAHOMEY
France, Senegal | 2024 | DCP | 68 min. | French with English subtitles
Director: Mati Diop
After a century in France, 26 royal treasures plundered from the Kingdom of Dahomey return to their African home in present-day Benin. Atlantics director Mati Diop’s visionary documentary considers this act of repatriation from myriad perspectives, including, in a surreal touch, that of the statues themselves. Dahomey’s captivating centerpiece is a wide-ranging debate among Beninese university students about whether the return of a handful of thousands of stolen artifacts constitutes progress or an insult. Diop’s uniquely inquisitive and instructive film won the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. (MK)