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Dahomey

Directed by Mati Diop
2024
France, Senegal, Benin
67 minutes
All Ages
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Trailblazing filmmaker Mati Diop (Atlantics) won the Golden Bear at Berlinale 2024 for her ingenious documentary on the repatriation of royal treasures to present-day Benin in West Africa.

Plundered by French colonial troops in the late nineteenth century, 26 royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey are about to be returned. What would these ancestral statues think about their homecoming? What do Benin’s university students think now? What about all the hundreds of items that remain in European arts institutions to this day? A French-Senegalese filmmaker, Diop’s work frequently tackles France’s colonial legacy in North Africa. She won Cannes’ Grand Prix for her debut feature, becoming the first Black woman to premiere a film in competition in Cannes.

Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking.
At just over an hour, Diop’s strange, captivating and rigorously intellectual film leaves a mighty impression well beyond its compact length
Stephen A Russell, Time Out
It is an invigorating and enlivening film, with obvious implications for the Elgin/Parthenon marbles in the British Museum
Peter Bradshaw, The GuardianK

Tickets

Sat 8 Jun
4:25pm
State Theatre
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Past Event Cancel
Sun 9 Jun
2:45pm
Dendy Newtown - Cinema 3
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Past Event Cancel
Tue 11 Jun
4:45pm
State Theatre
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Past Event Cancel
Program Strand
Special Presentations
Year
2024
Classification
All Ages
Country
France, Senegal, Benin
Language
In French, English and Fon with English subtitles
Director
Mati Diop
Producer
Mati Diop, Eve Robin, Judith Lou Lévy
Screenwriter
Mati Diop
Cinematographer
Joséphine Drouin Viallard
Editor
Gabriel Gonzalez
Premiere
Australian Premiere
Genre
Documentary, Africa, Women Directors, Festival Award Winners, Cinephile, Arts, Experimental
Company Credits
Australian Distributor: Rialto Distribution
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