"What is displayed in DAHOMEY is a country, a people, in fact, who are deciding the world they want to build and what tools they want to build with." - Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

"A bold and memorable history lesson." - Adam Solomons, Indiewire

Opens November 1 | In Mati Diop’s (ATLANTICS) hypnotic DAHOMEY, 26 stolen artifacts—including a wooden statue of King Gezo—are being returned from Paris to their homeland, the West African kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin), more than100 years after they were stolen by French colonial troops. As Diop’s camera observes the process of shipping ancient artworks across thousands of miles, and as Gezo is carefully packed up for his journey, his eerie, ghostly internal monologue contemplates the experience of being taken from, and now returned, to his native home. At just over an hour, and winner of the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, DAHOMEY is a lean, captivating conversation that invites the audience to reflect on cultural heritage and the critical, complicated process of restitution. Film Center exclusive. 


Awards & Nominations

Winner - Best Film, Berlin International Film Festival 


The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu