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HISTORICAL FACTS: Dahomey - Caught on Camera

Apongo was a rebel leader in Jamaica – a diary entry sheds light on his west African origins

For over three centuries, between 1526 and 1866, at least 10.5 million Africans were forcibly trafficked to the Americas in the transatlantic slave trade. Over half of them (with known places of departure) left from a 3,000km stretch of the west African coast between what are today Senegal and Gabon.

The Conversation

Welcome to The Long Wave: ‘The Black diaspora is like a large, sprawling family’

My father’s old radio inspired a place where we can show Black life in all its textures. Plus: Jamaicans on Kamala Harris’s final push for the White House, and Mati Diop follows the return of Dahomey’s looted treasures?

The Guardian - UK

Dahomey: timely repatriation documentary gives a literal voice to Benin’s stolen objects

Dahomey, a new documentary film from the award-winning French director Mati Diop, follows the unconditional restitution process of 26 cultural heritage objects in 2021. The items were looted by French troops during an invasion and subsequent colonial occupation of the kingdom of Dahomey, now the present-day Republic of Benin, in…

The Conversation

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read the most diverse news in one place.

‘I felt this film was my duty’: director Mati Diop on Dahomey, about the return of looted African treasures

The French-Senegalese film-maker on winning the top prize at Berlin for her otherworldly new work, cultural identity and her beef with Beyoncé

The Guardian - UK

Royal tomb in Benin has traces of human blood on its walls, hinting at human sacrifice, study finds

Researchers examining the wall of a ceremonial tomb in Benin found proteins that could have come only from human blood.

LiveScience

France should return much more looted African art, film-maker says

Mati Diop, the director of Dahomey, which charts the restitution of 26 objects to Benin, says the tiny number involved is ‘humiliating’

The Guardian - UK

Sudanese trapped in Khartoum still heading to work as fighting rages

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by Sudan's conflict. But some civilians have also had to stay in Khartoum as war rages around them, even saying they have no choice but to still head into work. Also, Congolese communities in the country's east say that successes claimed by the East…

France 24

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Woman King is set in Benin but filmed in South Africa - in the process it erases real people's struggles

The latest film by director Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King, is about a legendary all-woman African army in the 1800s, the Amazons of Dahomey. It takes place in what is today the Republic of Benin in west Africa. It wasn’t filmed in Benin, but in South Africa, in the KwaZulu-Natal…

The Conversation

‘It’s been nearly a month and it’s still sold out’: The Woman King takes over Benin’s only cinema

The blockbuster retelling of Benin’s history of elite women warriors has transfixed audiences in the West African country. Our reporter joins the crowds

The Guardian - UK

The Woman King: Viola Davis and John Boyega play a fierce general and a young king in this 19th century West African epic

The Woman King stars Viola Davis as the fierce general leading an all-woman band of warriors into war in a 19th-century kingdom beset by European slavery and internal power struggles.

ABC News

Woman King is worth watching: but be aware that its take on history is problematic

The Hollywood movie The Woman King, released in mid-September, became an immediate box-office success. The triumphs of the Agoodjies, the women warriors of the ancient Kingdom of Dahomey in today’s Benin, west Africa, are as magnificent as the public had anticipated. In this epic historical drama, African women take centre…

The Conversation

The Woman King review: ferocious warrior tale is a vibrant celebration of Black womanhood in all its glory

Viola Davis plays the (fictionalised) leader of the (real-life) Agojie, an elite unit of all-female warriors active in the historical kingdom of Dahomey

The Independent UK

Epic starring Benin's Agojie women warriors packs a punch in Hollywood

Benin's historic female warriors known as the Amazons of Dahomey are legendary across West Africa. They are now in the international spotlight thanks to "The Woman King" starring Viola Davis. The big budget Hollywood feature has drawn positive reviews, but has provoked some criticism as it was not filmed in…

Radio France Internationale

The historic conundrum of "Woman King"

Can the cinematic potential of what these exceptional warriors symbolize overcome the dark reality of history?

Salon

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Los Angeles Times

Viola Davis responds to #BoycottWomanKing: Story 'is fictionalized. It has to be'

Oscar winner Viola Davis has responded to critics of her latest film, "The Woman King," after they called for a boycott of the movie because it isn't entirely historically accurate.

The Guardian - US

‘This is an old story of heroism, of feminism’: the truth behind The Woman King

The historical action epic, starring Viola Davis, tells the story of the Agojie, female African warriors who once reigned supreme

Los Angeles Times

Review: Viola Davis adds another jewel to her crown in a rousing 'Woman King'

With her rousing new action-drama, "The Woman King," director Gina Prince-Bythewood suggests that, in at least one crucial respect, the West African kingdom of Dahomey was more ahead of its time than that starry imperialist empire called Hollywood. An early 19th-century epic awash in militaristic might and colonial oppression, the…

The Conversation

The Woman King is more than an action movie – it shines a light on the women warriors of Benin

The Woman King is a big-budget Hollywood movie that has been anticipated since 2018, when US star Viola Davis was announced as the lead in the story of the “amazons” of Dahomey. Rising South African star Thuso Mbedu also takes a key role in the film, which has premiered at…

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Tribune News Service

Movie review: 'The Woman King' an epic that puts women in the middle of the action

When actress Maria Bello visited the West African nation of Benin in 2015, she learned the history of the Agojie, an all-female military regiment from the Kingdom of Dahomey (and the inspiration for Wakanda’s Dora Milaje from “Black Panther”). Recognizing the cinematic potential for this story, she developed the project…

Los Angeles Times

How 'The Woman King' makes Hollywood history with an incredible true story

One of the most pronounced effects of Marvel's "Black Panther" was that it allowed a race of people who've long been underserved by Hollywood to envision an alternative history not rooted in victimhood.

Radio France Internationale

Benin celebrates return of royal treasures after 130 years

The much-celebrated return of 26 treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey has culminated in a month-long celebration of heritage and art at the Museum of the Marina in Cotonou, Benin, attracting large crowds.

France 24

An emotional exhibition of Benin's returned royal treasures

After 130 years away, 26 stolen artefacts from Benin are finally being displayed at home after having been returned by France. The pieces were looted by French soldiers from the kingdom of Dahomey in 1892 and are now taking pride of place at the presidential palace. Our team on the…

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