No clear answers exist about what a truly postcolonial world looks like as different countries and communities continue to navigate decolonization. Director Mati Diop’s “Dahomey” does not shy away from this ambiguity. In fact, it embraces and relishes in the gray areas. In the end, the film’s lack of resolution is what makes it so triumphant.
Screened at Columbia’s Lenfest Center for the Arts on April 17, “Dahomey” is a documentary following 26 artifacts that were stolen by France’s Musée du quai Branly and journeyed back to Benin in November 2021. These artifacts are just a few of the thousands that were stolen during France’s 1892 invasion of the Kingdom of Dahomey, which exists within modern day Benin. A Q&A between Diop and Maureen Ryan, SoA ’92, a film professor at the School of the Arts, followed the screening.
