Director - Mati Diop
Script - Mati Diop
Camera - Josephine Drouin Viallard
Music - Wally Badarou, Dean Blunt
Producers - Eve Robin, Judith Lou Lévy, Mati Diop
In 1892, hundreds of art objects from the West African kingdom of Dahomey were looted by French colonial troops and taken to the “mother country”. In 2021, 26 of these displaced royal artifacts were returned to the Republic of Benin, within which Dahomey had been located. It was a key moment in the troubled post-colonial timeline.
In this hybrid documentary, French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop imaginatively builds a bridge between past, present and future. The meticulous transportation of the wooden statue of Dahomey’s former ruler King Ghezo is recorded without comment, but the filmmaker does give a voice to the king himself, who reflects on his return in a poetic and enchanting voice-over.
In this hybrid documentary, French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop imaginatively builds a bridge between past, present and future. The meticulous transportation of the wooden statue of Dahomey’s former ruler King Ghezo is recorded without comment, but the filmmaker does give a voice to the king himself, who reflects on his return in a poetic and enchanting voice-over.
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS -
Berlin ’24 – Golden Bear
Program
- 12.03.2025
FRENCH INSTITUTE – SLAVEIKOV CINEMA - 18.30 часа