Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey, which was selected as Senegal’s official entry for best international feature film at this year’s Academy Awards, will be available for streaming on MUBI from December 13, the platform announced on X on Tuesday.

“Mati Diop's Dahomey streams exclusively from December 13 in the US, UK, Latin America, Germany, Turkey, India, Canada & more. A MUBI Release,” they wrote, sharing a poster of the film.

The film premiered at this year’s Berlin Film Festival in February before releasing in French theatres on September 11 and in US theaters on October 25, 2024.

Dahomey blends together fact and fiction, chronicling events which took place in November 2021 when France returned 26 royal treasures looted from Benin in West Africa during the French colonial wars of the 19th century.

The Kingdom of Dahomey was located within present-day Benin. Around the mid-1800s, European imperial forces colonised the kingdom, enslaving natives through the Atlantic slave trade. The British were followed by the French.

During the Franco-Dahomean wars of 1892, numerous historical artifacts were plundered from the royal palace. For decades, they were kept in French museums despite many Beninese demanding their repatriation. By 2021, the two nations reached an agreement.

Out of the estimated 7,000 objects, 26 pieces were shipped from a museum in Paris to Cotonou in Benin. Mati Diop's Dahomey deals with this journey, its cultural significance and impact on the decolonisation process.

Dahomey marked Senegal’s sixth entry to the Oscars since it began submissions in 2017.