by Mati Diop
Dahomey
Documentary / France, Senegal, Benin / 68 min / 2024 / Nordic premiere
The journey of 26 plundered royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey exhibited in Paris, now being returned to Benin. Director Mati Diop artistically voices a new generation’s demands.
Why do European museums see the return of cultural heritage to Africa, among others, as such an important issue for the future? After the film screening, Maureen Hoppers from CinemAfrica will talk with Michael Barrett, who is an anthropologist, researcher, and curator for the African collections at the National Museums of World Culture. The starting point of the conversation is the film “Dahomey” and how European museums work with returning artifacts. The World Culture Museums have a large collection of Benin artifacts, and the government decided in 2023 that 39 of them should be returned to Nigeria. Michael has led the preparatory work around this historically important return and will talk about the process.
Participants:
– Michael Barrett: Anthropologist, researcher, and curator of the African collections at the National Museums of World Culture.
– Maureen Hoppers: Historian, Chairperson of CinemAfrica and former communications chief at Riksteatern.
The event is a collaboration between Way Out West, the National Museums of World Culture, and CinemAfrica.
