Post our Movie at the Museum screening of Brief Encounter, we asked volunteer Joe Xavier to recall his experience at this special event: “Volunteering as an usher at the museum’s special screening of Brief Encounter was a uniquely enjoyable experience - made all the more memorable by the setting. Rather than a traditional cinema environment, the audience gathered among the museum’s collection of 1920s–1940s industrial equipment in an atmosphere that perfectly echoed the film’s era and emotional tone. It felt charmingly subversive, much like the film’s furtive meeting amongst old machinery, the polished steel and worn wood, and the faint scent of old industry – created a sense of stepping back in time. It felt less like hosting a film event and more like guiding people into a living vignette of the past. “As an usher, I had the pleasure of welcoming guests, telling them of the gratis teas and coffees and encouraging them to take in the exhibits and surroundings before the film. A few co

Peter Knowles Mati Diop’s Dahomey (2024) covers the return of 26 treasures from a French museum to their home of Benin, Nigeria. Through stunning footage, the film displays a variety of perspectives on this historic moment, particularly the impact it has had on the cultural identity of the people of Benin. Perspectives are mostly expressed within a floor for debates between students of the University of Abomey-Calavi following the grand unveiling of the treasures at the Presidential Palace. On the debate floor, one student argues that the format of a museum does not suit the nature of the treasures themselves as some of these treasures were designed to be carried after a loved one’s death as a commemoration, not to sit behind glass and be looked at by passers-by. This comments on how the museum itself is a Western invention, and, as seen with the French Museum, can act as a pillar of colonialism by displaying the treasures of the colonised within a symbol of the country’s own national