Franz Rogowski continues to prove a master of unpredictable performance in this trippy and kinetic debut from Giacomo Abbruzzese. He plays Belarussian Aleksei, who is hit by tragedy when he loses his best friend (Michal Baliki) as they make the dangerous and illegal crossing from Poland to France. Once there, he signs up to the Foreign Legion, which gives recruits access to a new identity and - after five years - French citizenship. When asked about his attitude to risk, Aleksei says: “Those who are afraid, they stay at home.”
What he doesn’t realise, perhaps, is that it's not just his body that he’s putting on the line but his mental state and, as his life collides with those of guerrilla fighter Jomo (Morr Ndiaye putting in a memorably muscular performance) and his sister Udoka (Laetitia Ky), while he is on a hostage-rescue mission to the Niger Delta.
What he doesn’t realise, perhaps, is that it's not just his body that he’s putting on the line but his mental state and, as his life collides with those of guerrilla fighter Jomo (Morr Ndiaye putting in a memorably muscular performance) and his sister Udoka (Laetitia Ky), while he is on a hostage-rescue mission to the Niger Delta.
- 3/29/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Disco Boy, directed by Giacomo Abbruzzese, is about the search for independence and its subsequent consequences. Aleksei/Alex (Franz Rogowski) is an illegal Belarusian immigrant in Paris, who enlists in the French Foreign Legion to legalize his stay. This trade has him cross paths with Jomo (Morr Ndiaye) in Nigeria, a man defending his delta from exploitation. The last main character who yearns for freedom is his sister, Udoka (Laetitia Ky), who wants to leave the village for city life. It's a bit of a ghost story, too. Alex takes center stage, is plagued by his actions, his decisions, his debts. Alex is the first one we meet as the audience, watching him cross a river into France. Disco Boy could absolutely not work with a French citizen...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/6/2024
- Screen Anarchy
"Are you willing to take risks?" Big World Pictures has revealed an official US trailer for an indie thriller titled Disco Boy, marking the narrative feature debut of an Italian filmmaker named Giacomo Abbruzzese. This premiered at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year to mostly positive reviews, and layer played at the New Directors/New Films Festival in NYC. The film stars acclaimed German actor Franz Rogowski as a Belarusian immigrant haunted by his actions as a mercenary in the French Foreign Legion. After fleeing Belarus, he joins the French Foreign Legion and goes through hell at boot camp to make it out as a soldier & gain his French citizenship. It also stars Morr Ndiaye, Laetitia Ky, Leon Lucev, Robert Wieckiewicz, and Matteo Olivetti. Disco Boy will open at The Quad in New York City on February 2nd, and at Laemmle Theaters in LA on February 9th. The "ambitious film is a jarring,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
German actor Franz Rogowski is on the rise after winning Best Actor from the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle for his performance as a toxic bisexual in Ira Sachs’ “Passages.” The “Happy End” breakout actor’s turn also featured in IndieWire’s Critics Poll of the best films and performances of 2023.
That means you shouldn’t ignore his performance in Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature “Disco Boy,” winner of the 2023 Berlinale’s Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution. In this vividly dreamlike postwar drama, Rogowski plays a Belarusian immigrant haunted by his actions as a mercenary in the French Foreign Legion. Comparisons to Claire Denis’ similarly themed “Beau Travail,” as Ben Croll pointed out in his Berlinale review for IndieWire, are inevitable and apt. After all, there’s a movie that made another unusual European actor — French actor Denis Lavant — an everlasting arthouse favorite.
In “Disco Boy,” following a difficult journey across Europe,...
That means you shouldn’t ignore his performance in Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature “Disco Boy,” winner of the 2023 Berlinale’s Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution. In this vividly dreamlike postwar drama, Rogowski plays a Belarusian immigrant haunted by his actions as a mercenary in the French Foreign Legion. Comparisons to Claire Denis’ similarly themed “Beau Travail,” as Ben Croll pointed out in his Berlinale review for IndieWire, are inevitable and apt. After all, there’s a movie that made another unusual European actor — French actor Denis Lavant — an everlasting arthouse favorite.
In “Disco Boy,” following a difficult journey across Europe,...
- 12/12/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature is a hazily seductive, frequently dreamlike study of life in the French Foreign Legion, fixated on masculine bodies in synchronized and sometimes violently clashing motion. It is also called “Disco Boy.” You almost certainly wouldn’t choose that subject, tone and title for a film if you didn’t want viewers’ minds to immediately wander to “Beau Travail,” Claire Denis’ seminal Foreign Legion cine-ballet, with its climactic solo number set to a thumping Eurodance classic; even if you somehow made that error, you wouldn’t compound it with electro-scored terpsichorean interludes of your own. Choosing homage this direct for a first feature is a brazen move, but notwithstanding its openly derivative qualities, “Disco Boy” doesn’t want for boldness or surprise — Abbruzzese’s hot, fluxional command of sound and image keeps us curious.
One feature of “Disco Boy,” at least, plays as expected: the reliably fragile,...
One feature of “Disco Boy,” at least, plays as expected: the reliably fragile,...
- 8/17/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Franz Rogowski stars as a young Belarusian who ends up in the heart of the Niger Delta.
Conic has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature Disco Boy starring Franz Rogowski.
The film premiered in competition at the Berlinale in February, winning the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution for Helene Louvart’s cinematography.
Conic acquired the film from Paris-based sales agent Charades. Rogowski stars as Aleksei, a Belarusian who enlists in the French foreign legion in pursuit of a passport. He is sent to the Niger Delta where he crosses paths with Jomo, a revolutionary who...
Conic has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature Disco Boy starring Franz Rogowski.
The film premiered in competition at the Berlinale in February, winning the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution for Helene Louvart’s cinematography.
Conic acquired the film from Paris-based sales agent Charades. Rogowski stars as Aleksei, a Belarusian who enlists in the French foreign legion in pursuit of a passport. He is sent to the Niger Delta where he crosses paths with Jomo, a revolutionary who...
- 6/30/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature stars Franz Rogowski.
Paris-based sales company Charades has inked a slew of deals for Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature following the film’s February world premiere in Berlin’s Competition and ahead of the film’s Wednesday (May 3) release in France via Kmbo.
Disco Boy has been sold to Madman in Australia and New Zealand, New Cinema in Israel, Adso in Spain, First Hand Films in Switzerland, Filmladen in Austria, Non Stop Entertainment in Scandinavia, Film Europe for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Mars in Turkey, Av Jet in Taiwan, Edko in Hong Kong, Pandora...
Paris-based sales company Charades has inked a slew of deals for Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature following the film’s February world premiere in Berlin’s Competition and ahead of the film’s Wednesday (May 3) release in France via Kmbo.
Disco Boy has been sold to Madman in Australia and New Zealand, New Cinema in Israel, Adso in Spain, First Hand Films in Switzerland, Filmladen in Austria, Non Stop Entertainment in Scandinavia, Film Europe for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Mars in Turkey, Av Jet in Taiwan, Edko in Hong Kong, Pandora...
- 5/2/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
To be blunt about it, we’re reaching the sad, maybe inevitable stage where Beau Travail and its famous closing sequence are becoming subject to the dreaded “Seinfeld Effect,” coined to note where the original value of something is diminished by successive imitations. It’s not that Denis’ film and Denis Levant’s death dance would ever lose their impact for those new or returning to it, but that a prospective viewer could see a weaker future rendering or a jaded, comic social-media reference to the scene first, and then afterward eventually seek out Beau Travail, greeting it with a bit of a “huh, that’s where that’s from” or underwhelmed reaction.
To Disco Boy’s credit, while its core themes and imagery are second-hand, it does attempt to build, expand on, perhaps modernize Beau Travail, not unlike Helena Wittmann’s recent Human Flowers of Flesh, which premiered last...
To Disco Boy’s credit, while its core themes and imagery are second-hand, it does attempt to build, expand on, perhaps modernize Beau Travail, not unlike Helena Wittmann’s recent Human Flowers of Flesh, which premiered last...
- 2/22/2023
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
What do a Belarusian emigrant and an African freedom fighter have in common? It’s a question that Giacomo Abbruzzese’s feature debut, which had its world premiere in Competition at the Berlin Film Festival, answers in a beguilingly magic-realist and digressive way that sort of adds up, even though it requires a lot of good faith from the viewer to make it do so. To illustrate its strangeness, Disco Boy could be loosely described as a mash-up of Beau Travail and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, two very different movies. While both are firmly anchored in arthouse history, neither resembles the other, and it’s that contrast—the rich potential opened up by the space in between—that’s in play here.
The opening, which serves as a kind of mood-setting overture, presents a vision of sleeping Black men in a primitive natural environment. We then...
The opening, which serves as a kind of mood-setting overture, presents a vision of sleeping Black men in a primitive natural environment. We then...
- 2/21/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Giacomo Abbruzzese’s drama follows Belarusian Aleksei on his journey into the French Foreign Legion and a very strange epiphany in the Niger Delta
Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese makes a really stylish debut with Disco Boy, a visually thrilling, ambitious and distinctly freaky adventure into the heart of imperial darkness, or into something else entirely: the heart of an alternative reality, or a transcendent new self. This is bold film-making: a movie that wants to dazzle you with its standalone setpieces, but also to carry you along with its storytelling.
Franz Rogowski, a German actor who always brings a compelling sort of chemical instability to his films (like a piece of smoking sodium exposed to the air), here plays Aleksei, a guy from Belarus who has arrived in Poland with his buddy Mikhail (Michal Balicki) and a bunch of other Belarus nationals on a short tourist visa, supposedly to see a football match.
Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese makes a really stylish debut with Disco Boy, a visually thrilling, ambitious and distinctly freaky adventure into the heart of imperial darkness, or into something else entirely: the heart of an alternative reality, or a transcendent new self. This is bold film-making: a movie that wants to dazzle you with its standalone setpieces, but also to carry you along with its storytelling.
Franz Rogowski, a German actor who always brings a compelling sort of chemical instability to his films (like a piece of smoking sodium exposed to the air), here plays Aleksei, a guy from Belarus who has arrived in Poland with his buddy Mikhail (Michal Balicki) and a bunch of other Belarus nationals on a short tourist visa, supposedly to see a football match.
- 2/20/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival. Big World Pictures releases the film in select theaters on Friday, February 2 with expansion to follow.
It might be reductive to call “Disco Boy” a kind of club kid cousin to “Beau Travail,” but the comparisons aren’t entirely off. Like Claire Denis’ Sight and Sound chart-topper, here is a tour with the French Foreign Legion, another dissection of colonial roleplaying spent among a taciturn lot who find best expression in the rhythms of the night. So let’s dispense those comparisons up front, and with a degree of military efficiency befitting both films: While director Giacomo Abbruzzese does indeed pay homage to a direct artistic forbearer, his debut film stands (and writhes and shimmies) all on its own.
Pushed and pulled by another intensely physical Franz Rogowski turn, “Disco Boy” follows a man ever on the move,...
It might be reductive to call “Disco Boy” a kind of club kid cousin to “Beau Travail,” but the comparisons aren’t entirely off. Like Claire Denis’ Sight and Sound chart-topper, here is a tour with the French Foreign Legion, another dissection of colonial roleplaying spent among a taciturn lot who find best expression in the rhythms of the night. So let’s dispense those comparisons up front, and with a degree of military efficiency befitting both films: While director Giacomo Abbruzzese does indeed pay homage to a direct artistic forbearer, his debut film stands (and writhes and shimmies) all on its own.
Pushed and pulled by another intensely physical Franz Rogowski turn, “Disco Boy” follows a man ever on the move,...
- 2/19/2023
- by Ben Croll
- Indiewire
A young Belorussian attempts to make the dangerous trip across the EU to sign up for the French Foreign Legion while a young rebel leader in Niger and his sister attempt to help their people survive the ravages of post-colonialism in wildly uneven Berlinale competitor Disco Boy.
A committed, intensely physical lead performance by German actor Franz Rogowski (recently seen in Ira Sachs’ Passages), luminous cinematography courtesy of ace Dp Helene Louvart, and stirring electronic music by composer Vitalic all come together to make this a sensuous, striking film experience. But, yeesh, that script by director-screenwriter Giacomo Abbruzzese is a mess — a lumpy mix of silly supernatural elements and indigestible arthouse pretension, all garnished with an outright steal from Claire Denis’ infinitely superior 1999 French Foreign Legion-feature Beau Travail. But by all means, you might as well steal from the best.
Rogowski’s Aleksei is first met traveling to Poland from...
A committed, intensely physical lead performance by German actor Franz Rogowski (recently seen in Ira Sachs’ Passages), luminous cinematography courtesy of ace Dp Helene Louvart, and stirring electronic music by composer Vitalic all come together to make this a sensuous, striking film experience. But, yeesh, that script by director-screenwriter Giacomo Abbruzzese is a mess — a lumpy mix of silly supernatural elements and indigestible arthouse pretension, all garnished with an outright steal from Claire Denis’ infinitely superior 1999 French Foreign Legion-feature Beau Travail. But by all means, you might as well steal from the best.
Rogowski’s Aleksei is first met traveling to Poland from...
- 2/19/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Danger Zone
Director: Vita Maria Drygas
Producer: Vita Żelakeviciute
Production companies: Drygas Film Production
Sales: Dogwoof
Documentary is a journey to places devastated by military conflicts, seen through the eyes of thrill-seeking tourists.
Delegation
(Generation 14plus)
Director: Asaf Saban
Cast: Yoav Bavly, Neomi Harari, Leib Lev Levin, Ezra Dagan, Alma Dishy
Producers: Agnieszka Dziedzic, Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir, Roshanak Behesht Nedjad
Production companies: Koi Studio, Gum Films, In Good Co.
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
Three Israeli friends visit Holocaust sites in Poland before their stints in the army, and deal with love, friendship and politics.
Disco Boy
(Competition)
Director: Giacomo Abbruzzese
Cast: Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laëtitia Ky, Leon Lučev
Producers: Lionel Massol, Pauline Seigland
Production companies: Films Grand Huit, Dugong Films, Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique, Donten & Lacroix, Division
Sales: Charades
Aleksei reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, which allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport.
Director: Vita Maria Drygas
Producer: Vita Żelakeviciute
Production companies: Drygas Film Production
Sales: Dogwoof
Documentary is a journey to places devastated by military conflicts, seen through the eyes of thrill-seeking tourists.
Delegation
(Generation 14plus)
Director: Asaf Saban
Cast: Yoav Bavly, Neomi Harari, Leib Lev Levin, Ezra Dagan, Alma Dishy
Producers: Agnieszka Dziedzic, Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir, Roshanak Behesht Nedjad
Production companies: Koi Studio, Gum Films, In Good Co.
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
Three Israeli friends visit Holocaust sites in Poland before their stints in the army, and deal with love, friendship and politics.
Disco Boy
(Competition)
Director: Giacomo Abbruzzese
Cast: Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laëtitia Ky, Leon Lučev
Producers: Lionel Massol, Pauline Seigland
Production companies: Films Grand Huit, Dugong Films, Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique, Donten & Lacroix, Division
Sales: Charades
Aleksei reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, which allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport.
- 2/19/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese says making the Berlin Film Festival competition cut with his first feature, “Disco Boy,” which toplines German star Franz Rogowski, is “certainly a dream come true.”
But he also points out that his remarkable debut was a long time coming.
A graduate of several film schools, including France’s prestigious Le Fresnoy, Abbruzzese started developing “Disco Boy” in 2013 following an encounter in a French disco with a classical dancer who had been a soldier.
“I realized that beyond their apparent contradiction, these two worlds had a lot in common, especially when it comes to classical ballet,” the director said, citing “the extreme physical exertion and discipline that they both involve.”
That chance meeting was just a starting point for the film’s complex narrative, which Abbruzese developed at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinefondation and during a Clermont-Ferrand Festival residency.
But then the film took 10 years to make.
But he also points out that his remarkable debut was a long time coming.
A graduate of several film schools, including France’s prestigious Le Fresnoy, Abbruzzese started developing “Disco Boy” in 2013 following an encounter in a French disco with a classical dancer who had been a soldier.
“I realized that beyond their apparent contradiction, these two worlds had a lot in common, especially when it comes to classical ballet,” the director said, citing “the extreme physical exertion and discipline that they both involve.”
That chance meeting was just a starting point for the film’s complex narrative, which Abbruzese developed at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinefondation and during a Clermont-Ferrand Festival residency.
But then the film took 10 years to make.
- 2/19/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Charades has dropped the trailer for “Disco Boy,” the anticipated feature debut of Giacomo Abbruzzese, starring Franz Rogowski (“Passages”) which is competing at the Berlin Film Festival.
The movie is produced by the rising French production company Films Grand Huit. Shot across two continents by Hélène Louvart, the movie boasts a diverse international cast and a soundtrack by electronic music artist Vitalic.
“Disco Boy stars Rogowski as Aleksei, who embarks on a difficult journey across Europe and reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, a highly selective military corp that allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport. In the Niger Delta, Jomo (Morr Ndiaye) fights against oil companies that threaten the survival of his village. His sister Udoka (Laëtitia Ky), meanwhile, dreams of escaping, knowing that all is already lost here. Beyond borders, life and death, their destinies will intertwine.
The film marks the feature debut of Abbruzzese,...
The movie is produced by the rising French production company Films Grand Huit. Shot across two continents by Hélène Louvart, the movie boasts a diverse international cast and a soundtrack by electronic music artist Vitalic.
“Disco Boy stars Rogowski as Aleksei, who embarks on a difficult journey across Europe and reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, a highly selective military corp that allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport. In the Niger Delta, Jomo (Morr Ndiaye) fights against oil companies that threaten the survival of his village. His sister Udoka (Laëtitia Ky), meanwhile, dreams of escaping, knowing that all is already lost here. Beyond borders, life and death, their destinies will intertwine.
The film marks the feature debut of Abbruzzese,...
- 2/15/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The Berlin Film Festival on Monday unveiled the titles selected for its official competition as well as its sidebar Encounters competitive section.
A total of 18 films have been selected for the international competition with highlights including Christian Petzold’s latest film Roter Himmel (Afire), Margarethe von Trotta directing Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps in Ingeborg Bachmann — Journey Into the Desert, and Philippe Garrel returns with a new feature titled The Plough.
Scroll down for the full lineup.
This morning the festival also revealed an extra special screening: Actor and filmmaker Sean Penn will debut a documentary titled Superpower, a film shot in Ukraine last year at the outbreak of Russia’s invasion and follows president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 16-26.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. The festival had initially done a good job of increasing...
A total of 18 films have been selected for the international competition with highlights including Christian Petzold’s latest film Roter Himmel (Afire), Margarethe von Trotta directing Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps in Ingeborg Bachmann — Journey Into the Desert, and Philippe Garrel returns with a new feature titled The Plough.
Scroll down for the full lineup.
This morning the festival also revealed an extra special screening: Actor and filmmaker Sean Penn will debut a documentary titled Superpower, a film shot in Ukraine last year at the outbreak of Russia’s invasion and follows president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 16-26.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. The festival had initially done a good job of increasing...
- 1/23/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Disco Boy
A project that received backing in the shape of a Cinefondation residency and an Arte Development Prize at the Arcs Film Festival’s Village of Coproductions, Italian filmmaker Giacomo Abbruzzese worked in the short form before graduating to this feature debut. Filmed in France and in Poland, Disco Boy was filmed in September of 2021. This depicts the painful journey of moving to an uncertain destination. Franz Rogowski, Morr N’Diaye, Laetitia Ky, Leon Lucev, Matteo Olivetti, Robert Wieckiewcz and Mutamba Kalonji star. Films Grand Huit’s Lionel Massol and Pauline Seigland produced the project. Hélène Louvart is the cinematographer here.…...
A project that received backing in the shape of a Cinefondation residency and an Arte Development Prize at the Arcs Film Festival’s Village of Coproductions, Italian filmmaker Giacomo Abbruzzese worked in the short form before graduating to this feature debut. Filmed in France and in Poland, Disco Boy was filmed in September of 2021. This depicts the painful journey of moving to an uncertain destination. Franz Rogowski, Morr N’Diaye, Laetitia Ky, Leon Lucev, Matteo Olivetti, Robert Wieckiewcz and Mutamba Kalonji star. Films Grand Huit’s Lionel Massol and Pauline Seigland produced the project. Hélène Louvart is the cinematographer here.…...
- 1/13/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
“Tell me a story.” This is the command that Roman (Bakary Koné), a new arrival at La Maca penitentiary — a forest-borne fortress just outside of the Ivory Coast’s capital, Abidjan — is given almost as soon as he arrives. It’s quite a welcome. Dismissed by the prison’s guards for the gang affiliations that landed him here, Roman is thrown into the “jungle,” as the guards call it. And as soon as he arrives, everything else stops. Another inmate, the feminine Sexy (Gbazi Yves Landry), has just been knocked to the ground,...
- 3/10/2021
- by K. Austin Collins
- Rollingstone.com
Night of the Kings Trailer — Philippe Lacote‘s Night of the Kings / La nuit des rois (2020) movie trailer has been released by Neon. The Night of the Kings trailer stars Bakary Kone, Steve Tientcheu, Jean Cyrille Digbeu, Rasmane Ouedraogo, Issaka Sawadogo, Abdoul Karim Konate, Macel Anzian, Laetitia Ky, and Denis Lavant. Crew Philippe Lacôte [...]
Continue reading: Night Of The Kings Trailer: Philippe Lacote’s acclaimed 2020 African Prison Thriller is Being Released by Neon...
Continue reading: Night Of The Kings Trailer: Philippe Lacote’s acclaimed 2020 African Prison Thriller is Being Released by Neon...
- 1/30/2021
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
The first trailer for “Night of the Kings,” Ivory Coast’s official submission to the Oscar race, beautifully blends African mythology and fairy tales with the grim reality of life inside one of the country’s most infamous prisons.
David Oyelowo, who joined the film as an executive producer Friday ahead of the film’s screening at Sundance, called “Night of the Kings” a “magnificent showcase of African cinema, artistry, culture, folklore and myth.” The trailer shows the film’s protagonist stepping up to a soapbox to tell a story to the whole prison that begins with “Once upon a time…”
Neon will be releasing “Night of the Kings,” which comes from director Philippe Lacote and tells the story of a young man on his first night in the infamous Ivorian prison La Maca. Upon arriving, he is christened the “Roman,” or “Storyteller,” and must entertain his audience until morning,...
David Oyelowo, who joined the film as an executive producer Friday ahead of the film’s screening at Sundance, called “Night of the Kings” a “magnificent showcase of African cinema, artistry, culture, folklore and myth.” The trailer shows the film’s protagonist stepping up to a soapbox to tell a story to the whole prison that begins with “Once upon a time…”
Neon will be releasing “Night of the Kings,” which comes from director Philippe Lacote and tells the story of a young man on his first night in the infamous Ivorian prison La Maca. Upon arriving, he is christened the “Roman,” or “Storyteller,” and must entertain his audience until morning,...
- 1/29/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Set partly in Ivory Coast’s “Mad Max”-like MacA correctional facility and partly in the imagination of its newest inmate, “Night of the Kings” feels radically different from most films set behind bars, and not just because of its one-of-a-kind location. Naturally, the wild plots and power games one typically associates with the genre still feature, but “Night” stands apart — if not necessarily above — as director Philipe Lacôte zeroes in on an unusual tradition within those walls: that of the “Roman.”
A variation on the West African griot (a kind of troubadour storyteller or bard), the Roman is tasked with spinning amusing tales for his fellow prisoners — an honorific role to which “Night” attaches heightened life-and-death stakes: In Lacôte’s version, the Roman will be killed when his story concludes. And so, like some kind of modern-day Scheherazade, this unwitting protagonist (first-timer Koné Bakary) puts everything he can into entertaining the “captive audience,...
A variation on the West African griot (a kind of troubadour storyteller or bard), the Roman is tasked with spinning amusing tales for his fellow prisoners — an honorific role to which “Night” attaches heightened life-and-death stakes: In Lacôte’s version, the Roman will be killed when his story concludes. And so, like some kind of modern-day Scheherazade, this unwitting protagonist (first-timer Koné Bakary) puts everything he can into entertaining the “captive audience,...
- 9/24/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Male hierarchies inside prison walls are well-trod ground, from “Brute Force” and “Birdman of Alcatraz,” to “Papillon,” “Midnight Express,” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” But rarely is an entry as visually rapturous as West African filmmaker Philippe Lacôte’s “Night of the Kings,” which takes place inside the bowels of the infamous La MacA prison in Abidjan, a city on the south side of the Ivory Coast. While the film, both written and directed by Lacôte, is grounded in oral traditions that may seem exotic to certain viewers, the movie is really about the universal power of storytelling regardless of tongue — and how it can be used as a way to survive. Though hampered by some shaky third-act visual effects, “Night of the Kings” is through and through .
When a young man is introduced into La MacA, he’s thrust into a dangerous and complicated world where the existentially and otherwise...
When a young man is introduced into La MacA, he’s thrust into a dangerous and complicated world where the existentially and otherwise...
- 9/11/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Writer/director Philippe Lacôte looks to tell a tale of the Ivory Coast and its most recent two decades of civil war and strife with his latest film Night of the Kings. With that also comes a necessity to speak about the youth who’ve recently taken up residence within the confines of his setting: La MacA. This prison—whose under-thirty population is currently hovering around eighty percent—shifts between the horrors of its inherent violence and the magical fantasy conjured when Lacôte was a boy visiting his mother (a political prisoner) in its open courtyard traversed by inmates, guards, and outsiders alike. He thought then that it reminded him of a kingdom. To a child its social ladder would seem more fairy tale than feudal.
He therefore creates MacA as a world unto itself—an easy concept considering it was built in the middle of a forest and thus isolated from its surroundings.
He therefore creates MacA as a world unto itself—an easy concept considering it was built in the middle of a forest and thus isolated from its surroundings.
- 9/10/2020
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Neon said Wednesday that it has acquired U.S. rights to writer-director Philippe Lacôte’s Night of the Kings, a deal that comes after the pic premiered earlier this week in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival. The drama, which has been selected as Ivory Coast’s submission for this year’s Academy Awards, is also playing later this month at the Toronto and New York film festivals. Memento Films International is handling international sales.
The distributor behind last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner Parasite has not set a release plan.
Night of the Kings centers on a young man (Koné Bakary) on his first night in the infamous Ivorian prison, “La Maca.” Upon arriving, he is christened the “Roman,” or “Storyteller,” and must entertain his audience until morning, risking death should he fail. Under a blood-red moon, he crafts a tale weaving together the country’s mythological past and recent history,...
The distributor behind last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner Parasite has not set a release plan.
Night of the Kings centers on a young man (Koné Bakary) on his first night in the infamous Ivorian prison, “La Maca.” Upon arriving, he is christened the “Roman,” or “Storyteller,” and must entertain his audience until morning, risking death should he fail. Under a blood-red moon, he crafts a tale weaving together the country’s mythological past and recent history,...
- 9/9/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Neon has acquired U.S. rights to Philippe Lacôte’s prison drama “Night of the Kings,” which premiered Monday in the Horizons sidebar of the Venice Film Festival.
“Night of the Kings” is set to play at both the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival later this month. The film, which has been chosen as the Ivory Coast submission for this year’s Academy Awards, stars newcomer Koné Bakary.
The film follows a young man on his first night in the infamous Ivorian prison, “La Maca.” Upon arriving, he is christened the “Roman,” or “Storyteller,” and must entertain his audience until morning, risking death should he fail. Under a blood-red moon, he crafts a tale weaving together the country’s mythological past and recent history, while around him, prison politics threaten to boil over.
Lacôte wrote and directed the film which, in addition to Bakary, stars Steve Tientcheu,...
“Night of the Kings” is set to play at both the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival later this month. The film, which has been chosen as the Ivory Coast submission for this year’s Academy Awards, stars newcomer Koné Bakary.
The film follows a young man on his first night in the infamous Ivorian prison, “La Maca.” Upon arriving, he is christened the “Roman,” or “Storyteller,” and must entertain his audience until morning, risking death should he fail. Under a blood-red moon, he crafts a tale weaving together the country’s mythological past and recent history, while around him, prison politics threaten to boil over.
Lacôte wrote and directed the film which, in addition to Bakary, stars Steve Tientcheu,...
- 9/9/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Memento Films International handles worldwide sales.
Neon has acquired US rights to Philippe Lacôte’s autumn festival selection and Ivory Coast international feature film Oscar submission Night Of The Kings ahead of Thursday’s (September 10) screening in Toronto.
The drama premiered on September 7 in the Horizons sidebar of Venice and plays later this month in New York.
Night Of The Kings centres on a young man on his first night in the infamous MacA prison who faces death unless he manages to captivate his audience with a story.
He recounts the tale of Zama King, a childhood friend recruited to...
Neon has acquired US rights to Philippe Lacôte’s autumn festival selection and Ivory Coast international feature film Oscar submission Night Of The Kings ahead of Thursday’s (September 10) screening in Toronto.
The drama premiered on September 7 in the Horizons sidebar of Venice and plays later this month in New York.
Night Of The Kings centres on a young man on his first night in the infamous MacA prison who faces death unless he manages to captivate his audience with a story.
He recounts the tale of Zama King, a childhood friend recruited to...
- 9/9/2020
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Neon has acquired the rights to “Night of the Kings,” the sophomore narrative feature film by director Philippe Lacôte that is the official Oscar submission from the Ivory Coast and that has been selected as part of the lineups for Venice, Toronto and the New York Film Festival, the distributor announced Wednesday.
“Night of the Kings” made its premiere on Monday in Venice and will next screen at TIFF and NYFF later this month. Neon will announce release plans at a later date.
“Night of the Kings” follows a young man on his first night in the infamous Ivorian prison, “La Maca.” Upon arriving, he is christened the “Roman,” or “Storyteller,” and must entertain his audience until morning, risking death should he fail. Under a blood-red moon, he crafts a tale weaving together the country’s mythological past and recent history, while around him, both prison and national politics threaten to boil over.
“Night of the Kings” made its premiere on Monday in Venice and will next screen at TIFF and NYFF later this month. Neon will announce release plans at a later date.
“Night of the Kings” follows a young man on his first night in the infamous Ivorian prison, “La Maca.” Upon arriving, he is christened the “Roman,” or “Storyteller,” and must entertain his audience until morning, risking death should he fail. Under a blood-red moon, he crafts a tale weaving together the country’s mythological past and recent history, while around him, both prison and national politics threaten to boil over.
- 9/9/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
A Banshee Films production sold by Memento, Philippe Lacôte’s second feature film will be unveiled on the Lido within the Orizzonti line-up. Night Of The Kings, the second full-length movie by the French-Ivory Coast filmmaker Philippe Lacôte who was discovered in Cannes in 2014 (in the Un Certain Regard section) via Run, will enjoy its world premiere in the Orizzonti competition of the 77th Venice International Film Festival (running 2 – 12 September) as well as being screened at the 45th Toronto Film Festival (running 10 – 19 September) in the Contemporary World Cinema line-up. Starring in the cast are Koné Bakary, Steve Tientcheu, Rasmané Ouédraogo, Issaka Sawadogo, Digbeu Jean Cyrille, Abdoul Karim Konaté, Anzian Marcel, Laetitia Ky and Denis Lavant. Penned by Philippe Lacôte in collaboration with Delphine Jaquet, the story plunges us into Abidjan’s Maca prison, one of the most overcrowded jails in...
Film is second feature from Ivorian director Philippe Lacôte after ’Run’.
Paris-based sales company Memento Films International (Mfi) has acquired Ivorian director Philippe Lacôte’s Night Of The Kings, ahead of its world premiere in Horizons at the Venice Film Festival, running September 2-12 this year.
The Scheherazade-style tale revolves around a young pickpocket who is locked up with a bunch of hardened criminals in the notoriously violent, real-life MacA prison in the Ivorian capital of Abidjan.
In a ritual imposed by a powerful convict, who is regarded as the prison boss, he is nominated to tell stories to...
Paris-based sales company Memento Films International (Mfi) has acquired Ivorian director Philippe Lacôte’s Night Of The Kings, ahead of its world premiere in Horizons at the Venice Film Festival, running September 2-12 this year.
The Scheherazade-style tale revolves around a young pickpocket who is locked up with a bunch of hardened criminals in the notoriously violent, real-life MacA prison in the Ivorian capital of Abidjan.
In a ritual imposed by a powerful convict, who is regarded as the prison boss, he is nominated to tell stories to...
- 7/28/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
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