This imaginative and unique Ivorian tale blends modern-day thriller dynamics with older storytelling traditions
The Maca prison, outside Abidjan, is a world with its own codes and rules, we are told, and this imaginative, energetic Ivorian drama follows suit, blending modern-day thriller dynamics and fluid handheld visuals with older storytelling traditions to produce something unique and locally specific. As well as a testament to the power of storytelling to transcend the grimmest of circumstances, it could also be read as a commentary on Ivory Coast’s own war-torn, postcolonial reality.
The prison in question feels more like a slum than a penitentiary. Rather than being locked in cells, the inmates seem to have free run of the place, while armed guards observe nervously from behind barricades. According to Night of the Kings, the true ruler of the Maca is an inmate named Blackbeard. But he is dying and others are vying to take his place,...
The Maca prison, outside Abidjan, is a world with its own codes and rules, we are told, and this imaginative, energetic Ivorian drama follows suit, blending modern-day thriller dynamics and fluid handheld visuals with older storytelling traditions to produce something unique and locally specific. As well as a testament to the power of storytelling to transcend the grimmest of circumstances, it could also be read as a commentary on Ivory Coast’s own war-torn, postcolonial reality.
The prison in question feels more like a slum than a penitentiary. Rather than being locked in cells, the inmates seem to have free run of the place, while armed guards observe nervously from behind barricades. According to Night of the Kings, the true ruler of the Maca is an inmate named Blackbeard. But he is dying and others are vying to take his place,...
- 7/20/2021
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
“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
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
Which group of people is most likely to survive a harsh prison environment mentally intact? Study after study suggests that it's not the strongest, not the most aggressive, nor even the cleverest: it's those who are good at telling stories.
Thrown into the notorious La MacA jail outside Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, our young hero (Bakary Koné) does not expect to survive long. He is not a storyteller - at least not until he is ordered to be and, accordingly, given the name Roman. This is a prison where the prisoners are in control, with their Dangoro, Barbe Noire ruling with an iron fist. It is the night of the red moon and so, as prison ritual dictates, a sacrifice must be made. If Roman cannot tell a story that holds the prisoners' attention from dusk till dawn, he will lose his life. But tonight is...
Thrown into the notorious La MacA jail outside Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, our young hero (Bakary Koné) does not expect to survive long. He is not a storyteller - at least not until he is ordered to be and, accordingly, given the name Roman. This is a prison where the prisoners are in control, with their Dangoro, Barbe Noire ruling with an iron fist. It is the night of the red moon and so, as prison ritual dictates, a sacrifice must be made. If Roman cannot tell a story that holds the prisoners' attention from dusk till dawn, he will lose his life. But tonight is...
- 2/8/2021
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
An official selection at the Venice Film Festival, TIFF, NYFF and the ongoing Sundance Film Festival, Neon has unveiled the first trailer for the Côte d’Ivoire’s critically acclaimed official selection for Best International Feature for the 93rd Academy Awards, Night of the Kings. Directed by Philippe Lacôte, whose previous feature Run (2014) was also the Ivorian’s Official Oscar entry, the film will arrive in theaters at the end of the month followed by a digital release in early March.
Set in a MacA prison ruled by the inmates in the capital of the Ivory Coast, Abidjan, the film conveys the story of a young pickpocket (Bakary Koné) who is designated by the inmates as the new “Roman,” Scheherazade-esque position in which he is compelled to tell a story to the other prisoners. With a desire to make the story last till dawn, he weaves the mythical tale of the legendary outlaw “Zama King,...
Set in a MacA prison ruled by the inmates in the capital of the Ivory Coast, Abidjan, the film conveys the story of a young pickpocket (Bakary Koné) who is designated by the inmates as the new “Roman,” Scheherazade-esque position in which he is compelled to tell a story to the other prisoners. With a desire to make the story last till dawn, he weaves the mythical tale of the legendary outlaw “Zama King,...
- 2/1/2021
- by Margaret Rasberry
- The Film Stage
"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
In ninety-three spellbinding minutes, director Philippe Lacôte takes us through centuries of magical storytelling devices in Night of the Kings, as a young convict attempts to talk his way through the night in this magnificent take on One Thousand and One Nights. Featuring a fiercely layered performance from newcomer Bakary Koné as the Scheherazade-esque balladeer charged with this mammoth task, the film becomes more than the sum of its very impressive parts through masterful weaving of sound, light, and movement in one of the year's most impressively artful outings. A young man (Bakary Koné) stares down his fate as his transport van approaches the more notorious prison in the Côte d’Ivoire, la MacA. His first stretch is about to begin, unluckily for him a man on the inside is...
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- 9/15/2020
- Screen Anarchy
by Nathaniel R
Director Philippe Lacôte and a still from "Night of the Kings" his second feature
We have our third reported Oscar submission for Best International Feature at the 2020 Oscars and this one is a rarity. Ivory Coast, a West African country, has only ever submitted two previous films to the race. Though Ivory Coast, a former French colony, became independent in 1960, their first submission Black and White in Color (1976), which won the Oscar, was the debut of French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud who was quickly snapped up by Hollywood. Ivory Coast didn't submit again until they had their own debut director, Philippe Lacôte. His first film, a crime drama called Run, was submitted to represent the country in 2015 and his sophomore feature will represent the country again. Screen Daily recently spoke with the filmmaker about why there are so few African films at A-list festivals and how this new film came into being.
Director Philippe Lacôte and a still from "Night of the Kings" his second feature
We have our third reported Oscar submission for Best International Feature at the 2020 Oscars and this one is a rarity. Ivory Coast, a West African country, has only ever submitted two previous films to the race. Though Ivory Coast, a former French colony, became independent in 1960, their first submission Black and White in Color (1976), which won the Oscar, was the debut of French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud who was quickly snapped up by Hollywood. Ivory Coast didn't submit again until they had their own debut director, Philippe Lacôte. His first film, a crime drama called Run, was submitted to represent the country in 2015 and his sophomore feature will represent the country again. Screen Daily recently spoke with the filmmaker about why there are so few African films at A-list festivals and how this new film came into being.
- 9/13/2020
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
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
Nineteen French feature films, including minority coproductions, will screen at the 77th edition of the Venice Film Festival, which runs Sept. 2-12. There are also four short films produced by France, and six French VR productions.
Nicole Garcia will represent France in the Official Competition with “Lovers,” her ninth feature film. She will be joined in the section by Amos Gitaï, whose film “Laila in Haifa” is a majority-French coproduction.
In addition to those movies, six films majority produced or coproduced by France will be showcased at the festival. They include Quentin Dupieux’s “Mandibules,” presented out of competition, and “Princesse Europe” by Camille Lotteau, to be shown in a special screening. The competitive Orizzonti section features four majority-French films.
“Honey Cigar” plays in Giornate degli Autori, a sidebar event.
Majority-French Feature Films in Venice
“Lovers”
Section: In Competition
Director: Nicole Garcia
Cast: Stacy Martin, Pierre Niney, Benoît Magimel
Sales:...
Nicole Garcia will represent France in the Official Competition with “Lovers,” her ninth feature film. She will be joined in the section by Amos Gitaï, whose film “Laila in Haifa” is a majority-French coproduction.
In addition to those movies, six films majority produced or coproduced by France will be showcased at the festival. They include Quentin Dupieux’s “Mandibules,” presented out of competition, and “Princesse Europe” by Camille Lotteau, to be shown in a special screening. The competitive Orizzonti section features four majority-French films.
“Honey Cigar” plays in Giornate degli Autori, a sidebar event.
Majority-French Feature Films in Venice
“Lovers”
Section: In Competition
Director: Nicole Garcia
Cast: Stacy Martin, Pierre Niney, Benoît Magimel
Sales:...
- 8/27/2020
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
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