Three artifacts, three fates, one colonial history.
MATTER AND SPIRITS follows their past and asks what future awaits them. 2027 marks the 130th anniversary of the looting of the Benin Bronzes, one of which serves as the starting point for this film. Thousands more are still held in European museums, including 259 at the Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig.
The film envisions the hidden spirits of three objects from Nigeria, Brasil and India. It follows their journey within the museum, listens to their memories, and enters into a poetic dialogue with their past. What traces of violence, loss, and resistance do they carry?
What possible future awaits them beyond these walls?
MATTER AND SPIRITS is a feature documentary about dealing with colonial heritage — and the human impulse to collect in a transient world.
documentary | 95 min | director: Simone Unger
contact: post@lumalenscape.com; +49 (0)341 30691725
Alexander Tanz
Claritta Kratochwil
Marcel Lenz
Annett Goldmann
Anke Neugebauer
Leon Babucke
Martin Schröder
Elena Scharwächter
Leonard Martin
Stefan Hannig
Adrian Spichale
Florian Marquardt