Critics of tomorrow: Emerging voices and their top pick of the season
Discover which film they believe deserve the spotlight!
The next wave of emerging film critics from our In the Frame program, after much deliberation have chosen their Critics Choice award from our Lotterywest Films 2025 season. Drum roll please ... Dahomey is the winner!
Sadly, the chosen film couldn’t be screened at our cinema after the venue was unexpectedly closed mid-season for safety reasons, BUT we strongly encourage you to watch it wherever you can!
Without further ado here's their statement announcing the incredible film they selected.
We, the 2025 Jury, have chosen Dahomey (2024) for the Critics Choice Award.
Mati Diop’s hybrid documentary follows the journey of 26 artworks as they are repatriated from Paris to Benin. We were enthralled by the long awaited return of the anthropomorphised statue of King Ghezo and the nuanced debate between university students on the value of repatriating cultural artifacts from colonial powers.
Diop’s film is an undeniably original cinematic work which combines a magical realist voiceover with an observational cinematographic style that is accompanied by a haunting score and immersive sound design. Diop’s poetic cinematic style felt like a refreshing voice in independent cinema and one which we are excited to hear more from.
We chose this film to bring the discussion of repatriation to Boorloo, as it is pertinent for countless Indigenous communities around Australia whose stolen histories are still being withheld overseas and at home. It opens a dialogue about how the effects of colonisation still bleeds into everyday life, from loss of native language to the complex processes set in place to reclaim historic belongings. Its portrayal of the spiritual value of cultural artefacts holds relevance for many communities for whom the disconnection between cultural objects and country is an ongoing point of trauma. Dahomey’s creative yet precise execution articulates ideas around repatriation and caretaking through enriched perspectives, offering holistic considerations to identity and accessibility – both toward the material and immaterial.
We would like to make a special mention of Green Border (2023). Agnieszka Holland’s fictionalised account of the ongoing refugee crisis on the Belarus-Polish border had a profound emotional impact on us. This was achieved through the narrative’s stunning black and white cinematography and multifaceted viewpoints, making it universally relevant. It underscores the hypocrisy of Western society’s attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees, who in Holland’s film are portrayed as human rather than political pawns.
It was an extremely close decision and both films, while radically different, speak to urgent issues in our contemporary society.
Check out where you can stream Dahomey here. Green Border isn't available for streaming yet but keep an eye out!