DOCS+ Dahomey

Twenty six African treasures, looted by the French colonists in the late 1800s, are finally returned home – but what of the thousands of other plundered artifacts?

Top prize winner at the Berlin International Film Festival!

“There are many voices in this new documentary, and one of them belongs to Artifact No. 26. ‘I lost myself in my dreams, becoming one with these walls, cut off from the land of my birth as if I was dead…’ it says, its timbre tweaked to contain both a low rumbling bass and a higher, more feminine sound. “Today, it’s me they have chosen, like their finest and most legitimate victim.” New York Times.

An extraordinary story, an extraordinary film.

SPECIAL GUEST Dr Sarah Longair, Associate Professor in the History of Empire at the University of Lincoln.