Between 1883 and 1913, Swiss cousins and nature explorers Paul and Fritz Sarasin travelled to and through the country then known as Ceylon and now as Sri Lanka to conduct their research into the area’s natural history. On their travels, they amassed a huge collection of artefacts varying from tools and sacred artworks to human and animal remains, and brought it to Switzerland where it was scattered between various museums. Up until recently, the collection was the subject of a dispute between the two countries.

In his debut feature-length documentary, the Swiss artist with a background in theatre, commercials and music videos Gregor Brändli follows the Sri Lankan artist Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige and her efforts to make the restitution of these stolen goods happen. Named after two of the more bizarre items in the Sarasins’ collection – a taxidermy piece with two giant squirrels and an elephant foetus taken from the belly of its murdered mother – Elephants & Squirrels premiered in DOK Leipzig’s International Documentary Competition where it won the Silver Dove for Best Feature Film by an Emerging Filmmaker (read news). Its next stop is the IDFA’s Best of Fests section.

In the documentary, Deneth re-traces and repeats the Sarasins’ travels, which also take in her tribe and her hometown where she interviews the activists in question: the chieftain, the radio show host, the widow and the son of the local museum custodian, who are pushing for the restitution of the stolen goods. In Switzerland, she encounters the museum curators and politicians who aren’t against the restitution itself but who find excuses as to why it hasn’t yet happened. Through her exhibitions and participation in panels on (post-)colonial topics, she asks the question of who the bodies, the sacred objects and the art belong to, as well as highlighting the patronising attitudes and racism of the past which also resonate in the present.

Deneth and Brändli’s collaboration is smooth because it unfolds on honest grounds of common understanding. Jonas Jäggy’s cinematography is spiced up by footage from various sources, deftly incorporated into the material by the filmmaker himself. Blending upbeat piano notes with tenser wind instruments, Yanik Soland’s music sets the mood and the dynamic of the audience’s expected emotional response.

The film’s runtime of close to two hours might sound a tad excessive, but the situation presented in the documentary is complex and presented from various angles, with equal respect for each and a clear intention to understand. This can be observed in the lack of contrast between the expected warmth in colour and tone between the sets in Sri Lanka and those filmed in Swiss museums, which would look cold and full of bureaucratic distance in any other film. But Elephants & Squirrels isn’t a piece of agenda cinema powered by righteous anti-colonial anger. Instead, it might serve as a guide as to how disputes and toxic misconceptions of the past could be resolved in the present day.

Elephants & Squirrels is a Swiss production by soap factory GmbH in co-production with SRF. Filmotor are handling world sales.