Belatedly catching up on episodes of Pam Grossman’s Witch Wave podcast, I heard the always fascinating Lilith Dorsey mention this film, available streaming on Az. Award-winning actor Dijmon Hounsou returns to Benin to follow the roots of this often misunderstood and generally maligned magical system and along the way examines how colonialism, racism and Christianity have demonised it. Enslaved people brought their beliefs to the new world, where they continued to merge and innovate with local and other colonial systems. Animal lovers beware: there are animal deaths — as well as a robust discussion of what it means in a community that does not rely on factory farms. In Search of Voodoo provides a sumptuous visual feast that grapples with a living tradition from a perspective often ignored in this country.

I also highly recommend Lilith’s book Orishas, Goddesses & Voodoo Queens which offers a new world perspective on the diasporic developments of originally West African spiritual traditions.