Diops

Mati Diop’s documentary on the first major return of looted treasures from Europe to Africa beat several veteran directors to the top prize at the Berlin film festival.The 41-year-old Senegalese-French director’s one-hour film, Dahomey, follows a hoard of 26 treasures on their 2021 return journey from Paris to Benin, from where they were looted by French forces almost a century and a half earlier.Dahomey shows the celebrations in Benin’s economic capital, Cotonou, that greeted the priceless artefacts, including a towering…

The first fiction feature from director Alice Diop, who has previously worked in documentary (her films include the multi-award-winning We), the French-language courtroom drama Saint Omer is as intriguing as it is intellectually rigorous. Inspired by Diop’s own experience of attending the trial of a woman accused of murdering her baby, it’s a meditative exploration of a complicated connection between the woman in the dock and the one who bears witness.Rama (Kayije Kagame), Diop’s alter ego in the story, is a writer…