Dahomey

Synopsis

November 2021. Twenty-six royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey are about to leave Paris to return to their country of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin. Along with thousands of other items, these artifacts were plundered by French colonial troops in 1892.

Reinventing once again her approach as a director, Mati Diop films the return of these treasures, creating what she calls a “fantasy documentary” that gives a voice to the treasures, while reclaiming their history and engaging with the country’s university students, who hold a lively debate on this act of restitution and the legacy of imposed colonialist culture.

Biography and Films

Mati Diop (Paris, 1982) is a Franco-Senegalese filmmaker who has established herself one of the leading auteurs in international cinema and the new wave in African and diasporic cinema. After starting out as an actress in films such as Claire Denis’ 35 Rhums (2008) and directing several shorts—including Atlantiques (2009) and Mille Soleils (2013), both featured at l’Alternativa 2014 alongside the work of her uncle, filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty—she directed her first feature, Atlantique (2019), which won the Grand Prix at Cannes and further underscored her deep commitment to Senegal in her work. In 2024 she founded Santa Fy, a Dakar-based production company and film school aimed at supporting a new generation of filmmakers and their African stories.