"A Case for Restitution in 5 Films" is a film series curated by Nigerian filmmaker and independent film curator Tobi Akinde screened at the Ethnographic Museum UZH in Spring 2025, in connection with the exhibition "Benin Dues" and its topics of provenance and restitution.
The series' third film presents a rare 21st century occurrence of a case of restitution.
(Film 3/5)
Film by Mati Diop, France/Benin, 2024, 67’, Language: French; English subtitles
Dahomey
Twenty-six out of thousands of artifacts plundered by French colonial troops are about to be returned to Benin Republic after over a century in French museums. Mati Diop accompanies these artifacts on their journey home in a fascinating documentary that blurs the line between life and death, dislocation and return. Told from the perspective of "Number 26", one of the artifacts, the film explores the restlessness of the ancestral spirit returning to a homeland that has forged ahead in their absence. Meanwhile, debates rage among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi, reflecting on the artifacts' meaning, restitution, and the nation's evolving identity.
The series' further dates:
Do 13.03.2025
(Film 1/5)
Film by Film by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais, 1950
Statues Also Die
(Film 2/5)
Film by Nii Kwate-Owoo
You Hide Me
Do 08.05.2025
(Film 4/5)
Film by Nora Philippe, 2021
Restitution? Africa's Fight for its Art
Do 05.06.2025
(Film 5/5)
Film by Sembène Ousmane, 1966
Black Girl
