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Dahomey

(Mati Diop, 2024)

Info & Tickets

A Black man wearing a lab coat and bucket hat is looking at a statue.

Oct 18, 2024 6:00 PM

Film/Video Theater

$8 members and adults 55 and over
$10 general public
$5 students

ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as CART captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please email accessibility@wexarts.org or call (614) 688-3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

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A vital look at the restitution of stolen African artworks, Dahomey interrogates colonialism and culture through the voices of the objects themselves.

In 2021, twenty-six stunning objects—from elegant statues to elaborate thrones—from the kingdom of Dahomey were returned by French authorities to present-day Benin. Along with thousands of others, these artifacts were plundered by French colonial troops in the late 19th century. By giving voice to these treasures, Diop asks: How should these artworks, stolen from ancestors, be received in a country that has reinvented itself in their absence? This eccentric and invigorating film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, making Diop the first Black woman to win the award. In English, Fon, and French with English Subtitles. (67 mins., DCP)

See the complete Unorthodocs 2024 lineup.

IMAGE CAPTION
Dahomey, courtesy of MUBI.

"A striking, stirring example of the poetry that can result when the dead and the dispossessed speak to and through the living."

Jessica Kiang, Variety

Tag(s)

Unorthodocs 2024 is part of the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial: backstories.

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
National Endowment for the Arts
Ohio Humanities

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council 
The Wexner Family
Institute of Museum and Library Services 
Mellon Foundation
Every Page Foundation
Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts
CampusParc
Nationwide Foundation
Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme
The Columbus Foundation
Axium Packaging

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Ohio State Energy Partners
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection
David Crane and Elizabeth Dang
Melissa Gilliam and William Grobman
Rebecca Perry Damsen and Ben Towle