The Dakar-Djibouti Mission: the spoils of the Museum of Mankind (52')
THE DAKAR-DJIBOUTI MISSION: THE SPOILS OF THE MUSEUM OF MANKIND (52')
INFORMATION
FR / 2020 / 52’ / HD / French, EnglishTS Productions / Arte France / Directed by Marc Petitjean
European rights available, rest of the world upon request
TAGS
Artifacts, restitution, kono, Dogon, Kirdi, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Italy
SYNOPSIS
Composed of archive material, this film tells the Dakar-Djibouti ethnographic expedition that brought back hundreds of objects from Africa between 1931 - 1933 on behalf of the newly-opened Musée de l’Homme (the “Museum of Mankind”) in Paris. During the voyage, the expedition’s secretary, Michel Leiris, wrote a highly idiosyncratic diary entitled “Phantom Africa” that went on to become a cult book.