Oscars Senegal Picks Dahomey Best International Feature Category

French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop’s Dahomey documentary, which earned the Golden Bear prize on the Berlin Movie Pageant, has been chosen to characterize Senegal in the most effective worldwide characteristic class on the Academy Awards.

The movie tracks the return of 26 royal African treasures looted within the 19^th century by France from the Kingdom of Dahomey and are resulting from return to the present-day Republic of Benin as a part of reparations. The Kingdom of Dahomey was seen in Viola Davis’ historic epic The Girl King.

“The director’s personal path as a cultural revenant continues to be inextricably woven by means of her work, alongside a contemplative consideration of repatriation and reparations, in her multifaceted medium-length docu-fictional essay Dahomey,” The Hollywood Reporter mentioned in its assessment of Dahomey from Berlin.

Diop, who wrote and directed Dahomey, asks what the cultural significance of a restitution of artistic endeavors will be when handed again by France to Benin.

The characteristic documentary had a world premiere in Berlin and can now display on the Toronto Movie Pageant and the New York Movie Pageant, earlier than hitting theatres on Oct. 18.

Diop obtained her high Golden Bear prize from Berlin jury president and Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actor Lupita Nyong’o, who was the primary Black and first African to chair the Berlinale jury. Diop shares producer credit on Dahomey with Eve Robin and Judith Lou Lévy.

The deadline for submissions for the 96th Oscars is Nov. 14, 2024. The shortlist for finest worldwide characteristic contenders might be introduced Dec. 17. Nominations might be introduced Jan. 17, 2025. The 2025 Academy Awards might be held Sunday, March 2.