Dahomey

Dahomey
Directed by Mati Diop

Friday, January 10, 6 pm, CINEMA+ | BUY TICKETS

Saturday, January 11, 3 pm, CINEMA+ | BUY TICKETS

$12 | $ 8 Speed and Women in Film-KY members

“Extraordinary and lightly eccentric . . . Dahomey avoids polemic and instead presents itself as informed and inquisitive blueprint for the ways in which we discuss anti-colonialist action.”—David Jenkins, Little White Lies

From acclaimed filmmaker Mati Diop (Atlantics), Dahomey is a poetic and immersive documentary that delves into real perspectives on far-reaching issues surrounding appropriation, self-determination and restitution. Set in November 2021, the film charts 26 royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey that are due to leave Paris and return to their country of origin: the present-day Republic of Benin.

Using multiple perspectives, Diop questions how these artifacts should be received in a country that has reinvented itself in their absence. Winner of the coveted Golden Bear prize at the 2024 Berlinale, Dahomey is an affecting though altogether singular conversation piece that is as spellbinding as it is essential. 2024, Benin/France/Senegal, DCP, in French, Fon, and English with English subtitles, 68 minutes.  Recommended for 15+

CINEMA+ with a post-screening discussion with Sirene Martin, Curatorial Assistant to the Native American and African Collections, Speed Art Museum.