BERLIN.- The 74th edition of the Berlinale this Saturday awarded the Golden Bear to documentary film “Dahomey”, by the French-Senegalese director Mati Diop, which narrates the return to Benin of 26 works looted by French colonial troops in 1892.
The jury, chaired by Mexican-Kenyan actress Lupita Nyongo’o, the first black person to hold the prestigious position, remained faithful to the political tradition of this festival.
“We can forget the past, an unpleasant burden that prevents us from evolving, or we can take responsibility, use it to move forward,” declared Mati Diop upon receiving the award.
“As a French-Senegalese, Afro-descendant filmmaker, I chose to be with those who refuse to forget, with those who reject amnesia as a method,” she added.
“Dahomey” recounts the restitution in November 2021 to Benin of 26 works looted by French colonial troops.
Diop had already received the Grand Prize in Cannes in 2019 for his film “Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story”, which tells the fate of migrants who escape from Africa by sea.
The director would like her film to be “seen in as many African countries as possible,” as well as “in schools and universities,” she told AFP.
It is the second African film to receive the Golden Bear, after the South African “U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha”, by Mark Dornford-May, in 2005.
Last year, the prized gelardin was attributed to Frenchman Nicolas Philibert for his documentary “Sur l’Adamant” (In the Adamant), an account of day-to-day life in a psychiatric hospital.
On the other hand, the jury this Saturday awarded the Romanian-American Sebastian Stan, for his performance in “A Different Man”, with the award for best lead performance.
The grand prize of the jury went to a regular at the contest, the South Korean director Hong Sang-soo, for the film “A Traveller’s Needs”, in which the French Isabelle Huppert participates, which tells the story of Iris, an older woman who improvises as a French teacher in South Korea and becomes addicted to alcohol.
On the other hand, the film “L’Empire”, by Frenchman Bruno Dumont, won the jury prize.
From Pars to Coton
To tell the story of 26 works looted in 1892 by French colonial troops in the kingdom of Dahomey, in the south-central part of present-day Benn, made up of different kingdoms at that time, Mati Diop gave voice (in off-screen) to the statue of King Ghezo.
In the Benin language, Phon, the king complains of having lost his name, becoming known only by a number, “26”, in the reserves of the French ethnological museum on the Quai Branly, located in Paris. The monarch describes how he was torn from his land, his life in exile and his recent repatriation to a museum in Coton, capital of Benn.
The restitution took place on November 10, 2021 and was made at the initiative of the French presidents, Emmanuel Macron, and the Benin presidents, Patrice Talon, but they do not appear in the film.
The director insists that only 26 works were returned, of “the 7,000 that remain captive in the Quai Branly museum.”
FUENTE: AFP
