Berlin International Film Festival 2024, Toronto International Film Festival 2024, San Sebastián International Film Festival 2024
Golden Bear, Berlin International Film Festival 2024
The African kingdom of Dahomey saw hundreds of its splendid royal artifacts plundered by French colonial troops in its waning days. Now, 26 of these treasures are set to return to their homeland. Filmmaker Mati Diop takes a singular approach to contemporary questions around belonging in our postcolonial world, transforming this rich subject matter into a multifaceted examination of ownership and exhibition, and employing multiple points of view, including—most strikingly—those of the artifacts themselves as they sail in darkness over the ocean to their original home.
Mati Diop is a French filmmaker and actress working in both France and Senegal. Her formally adventurous films explore exile, identity, memory and loss using fiction and documentary tools. Her first feature Atlantics (2019) was awarded the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
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