A prisoner becomes a storyteller in Night Of The Kings, Ivory Coast’s vivid International Feature Oscar shortlist selection written and directed by Philippe Lacôte (Run). Newcomer Bakary Koné stars as a pickpocket who arrives at La MacA, a notorious prison in the Ivorian forest. The guards barely have control, and the inmates have developed their own hierarchical system. Leader Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu) declares that the new arrival will be a “Roman” (French for “novel”) and entertain the prisoners when the red moon rises. Gradually, “Roman” realizes that he must speak until the sun rises — or the cost will be his life.
It’s a compelling premise that blends relatively gritty prison drama with oral tradition and mysticism. Roman claims that he went to school with famed crime boss Zama King, and invents a backstory for him set in pre-colonial Africa. As he speaks, the camera periodically leaves the prison...
It’s a compelling premise that blends relatively gritty prison drama with oral tradition and mysticism. Roman claims that he went to school with famed crime boss Zama King, and invents a backstory for him set in pre-colonial Africa. As he speaks, the camera periodically leaves the prison...
- 2/23/2021
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
"When the red moon comes out tonight, you will tell us stories." Neon has unveiled an official US trailer for the outstanding Ivory Coast film Night of the Kings, which has been playing at every major festivals since last fall. It first premiered at the Venice, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals (read our review here), and is playing at the Sundance Film Festival this week (hence the trailer). The film follows a young man who enters the infamous (and real) "La Maca" prison, a highly secure facility in the middle of Ivory Coast's forest ruled by its prisoners. With the red moon rising, he is designated by the Boss to be the new "Roman" and must tell a story to the other prisoners. It's a film about a storyteller, and how stories move us and inspire. Bakary Koné stars as the night's "Roman", and Steve Tientcheu plays "Blackbeard", with Jean Cyrille Digbeu,...
- 1/29/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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
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
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
Prophecy and politics are intertwined in a realm where strange and beautiful imagery takes on dark meaning, and violence and male posturing rules all. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Ivory Coast hasn’t had much of a film industry over the past nearly 20 years of civil unrest, political upheaval, and outright war; I’m pretty sure I’d not previously seen an Ivorian film at all. But it is getting a bit of resurgence thanks to a single movie, Run, the first narrative feature from Ivorian filmmaker Philippe Lacôte, which debuted at Cannes last year in the prestigious Un Certain Regard section and was recently named as the nation’s submission for next year’s Best Foreign Language Oscars category; this is only the second time Ivory Coast has made such a submission, and...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Ivory Coast hasn’t had much of a film industry over the past nearly 20 years of civil unrest, political upheaval, and outright war; I’m pretty sure I’d not previously seen an Ivorian film at all. But it is getting a bit of resurgence thanks to a single movie, Run, the first narrative feature from Ivorian filmmaker Philippe Lacôte, which debuted at Cannes last year in the prestigious Un Certain Regard section and was recently named as the nation’s submission for next year’s Best Foreign Language Oscars category; this is only the second time Ivory Coast has made such a submission, and...
- 11/4/2015
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
The New York premiere of Ivorian director Philippe Lacôte’s debut feature “Run” was a star-studded event at the 2015 African Film Festival at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Jim Jarmusch arrived early, asking for his ticket by name at the streetside box office window. A festival organizer ushered him inside where dozens of patrons milled around waiting for the film to begin. “Run” centers around its eponymous main character, played by “Burn it Up Djassa” star Abdoul Karim Konaté, who has just killed the Ivoirian Prime Minister. To accomplish this, he transforms himself into a madman, lying in wait until the precise moment when the ...
- 5/18/2015
- by Iquo B. Essien
- ShadowAndAct
Ivorian Philippe Lacôte's film Run is a brash fiction debut for this documentarian. The film begins with an off-camera assassination, and through a series of concentric flashback's we're told the story of Run. Part gangster and part activist, Run also proves to be a man with a complicated past and a strong moral code. With a narrative spanning decades, the film manages to travel through several modes, from hardscrabble drama and social commentary to a coming of age tale of a whipsmart street urchin. Entwined with the complicated history of social unrest that been fostered in West Africa for generations, the film highlights a rags to riches to (literally) rags story of this fascinatingly complex character. Newcomer Abdoul Karim Konaté plays the adult lead...
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- 9/9/2014
- Screen Anarchy
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