Golden Bear at the last Berlinale, the film “Dahomey” by the Franco-Senegalese director was previewed in Dakar last Friday. Mati Diop traces the history of Africa’s looted treasures.
The Seanema at Sea Plaza, in Dakar, rolled out the red carpet for Mati Diop. For the premiere of her film “Dahomey”, the Franco-Senegalese director took the opportunity to present her Golden Bear which she won at the last Berlinale. This documentary of more than an hour follows the journey of stolen objects, 26 royal treasures from Dahomey repatriated from Paris to their land of origin, now Benin. It is also the story of several other objects of art that returned to the continent, like gold and silver objects looted this time at the time when the British colonial empire reigned, and returned to the Ghana under a long-term loan agreement.
The lights go out in the packed room, the phones on vibrate, silence, it’s running. The camera projects a dark image with voice-overs in the local language of Benin, where the director makes the statues who are the main characters speak. But there is the number 26 which parades almost in each sequence, numbers, like King Ghézo with this number who complains about his life in exile, far from the native land from which he was torn. Before highlighting the question of the restitution of these “stolen treasures” which were in exile at the Quai Branly museum. The process of repatriating works consisting of statues, necklaces and others. The return of these sacred objects was eagerly awaited by the Beninese population, hence a solemn ceremony and a requiem atmosphere. It was the parade of personalities, onlookers, academics adorned in their traditional boubou… no one wanted to miss the return of these “treasures” repatriated to Benin.
The controversy over the repatriation of objects
However, the repatriation of these objects was not unanimous in this country. Because a major debate on the appropriation of this postcolonial heritage and cultural heritage was posed by students in a packed amphitheater. It was one of the highlights of the film with many questions about the relationships between Africans and their heritage, the place of national languages, the policies for safeguarding these works of art, and above all, the discourse to be developed to reconnect this heritage to his heirs. Others, more critical, speak of a lack of respect because of the 7,000 objects looted, only 26 works of art were returned. For some, by returning these treasures, Europe wants to “polish its image”. “At least, we have received 26 works, let’s fight, or let’s put mechanisms in place to repatriate all the remaining treasure in these countries,” others temper. (…). At the end of the screening, the room gave Mati Diop and his team a standing ovation for the quality of this historic work.
