A French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop who accompanied a collection of looted artifacts from Paris back to Africa in the 21st century said that the lack of further action following the return has caused a sense of humiliation.
“These 26 works are good, but it’s not enough. It’s quite clear that there were way too few compared with the 7,000 works held captive in these museums, and I certainly think that it is humiliating,” Diop was quoted as saying at a press conference.
Diop's film "Dahomey," which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, chronicles the 2021 journey of 26 artifacts taken by the French colonial troops from the palace of the kingdom of Dahomey (now part of Benin) in 1892.
Although the movie captures the festive events in Cotonou city, Benin, celebrating the arrival of the antiques, it also depicts young people questioning the importance of the moment, considering the large number of artifacts still held in European collections.
It's important to note that efforts to repatriate more colonial-era objects to Benin have been delayed because a law that would permit their return is currently being held up in the French parliament.
However, Benedicte Savoy, a French historian, believed that the restitution will continue, "regardless of Emmanuel Macron or the French government’s domestic policy considerations," the media reported.
"[Diop’s film] shows how a society that reconnects with its heritage gains in strength and future," Savoy reportedly argued.
These and other cases demonstrate that African nations' efforts to repatriate stolen antiquities are having an impact, despite long-standing opposition from Western and European governments and museums. However, more artifacts are to come back home.