Mati Diop: “When I found out that twenty-six royal treasures from Dahomey were to be returned to Benin by France, I decided to make a film about it.” 

A film about the return of African artifacts to their native land, “Dahomey” straddles between documentary and fiction. Written and directed by Mati Diop, it’s a delicate piece which tracks the journey of royal treasures looted during colonization by France as they are returned to Africa.

In August 2016, Patrice Talon, President of the Republic of Benin, made an official request to the French government to return cultural objects looted during colonization. A year later, French President Emmanuel Macron, in a speech at the University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), agreed to a possible return of African heritage. This was the starting point for Diop, who directed “Atlantics” the award-winning drama about African migrants.

“I had never imagined the possibility of something like that happening in my lifetime. It was a race against time: asking for permission from the Beninese government to escort the treasures and organizing all the logistics of a shoot going from Paris to Cotonou,” adds Diop, who grew up in a Franco-Senegalese family, with a musician father, Wasis Diop, and photographer and art buyer mother.

A three-part film which starts with the treasure’s departure from Quai Branly Museum to their arrival in Cotonou, it’s a film about restitution from an African perspective which also focuses on how young people in Benin view the restitution of the treasures.

Samantha Ofole-Prince is a journalist and movie critic who covers industry-specific news that includes television and film. She serves as the Entertainment Editor for Trendy Africa.