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Film Data
Night Of The Kings  2020
La Nuit des Rois
Director:  Philippe Lacôte
Producer:
  Delphine Jaquet, Yanick Létourneau, Ernest Konan and Yoro Mbaye
Art Director:
  Samuel Reisseire, with Marius Tagba
Editor:
  Aube Foglia
Music:
  Olivier Alary
Screenplay:
  Philippe Lacôte
Director of Photography:
  Tobie Marier Robitaille
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Cast:
spacer1 Koné Bakary
spacer1 Steve Tientcheu
spacer1 Jean Cyrille Digbeu
spacer1 Denis Lavant
spacer1 Rasmané Ouédraogo
spacer1 Issaka Sawadogo
spacer1 Abdoul Karim Konaté
spacer1 Macel Anzian
spacer1 Laetitia Ky
spacer1 Zunin François Lopez
spacer1 Lago Woroka Gilles
spacer1 Sandrine Digbeu
spacer1 Koné Bakary spacer1 Steve Tientcheu spacer1 Jean Cyrille Digbeu
spacer1 Denis Lavant spacer1 Rasmané Ouédraogo spacer1 Issaka Sawadogo
spacer1 Abdoul Karim Konaté spacer1 Macel Anzian spacer1 Laetitia Ky
spacer1 Zunin François Lopez spacer1 Lago Woroka Gilles spacer1 Sandrine Digbeu
spacer1 Koné Bakary spacer1 Steve Tientcheu
spacer1 Jean Cyrille Digbeu spacer1 Denis Lavant
spacer1 Rasmané Ouédraogo spacer1 Issaka Sawadogo
spacer1 Abdoul Karim Konaté spacer1 Macel Anzian
spacer1 Laetitia Ky spacer1 Zunin François Lopez
spacer1 Lago Woroka Gilles spacer1 Sandrine Digbeu

Synopsis:
When a young man is incarcerated in Côte d’Ivoire’s largest prison, La MACA, he finds himself entering a world as dangerous and complex as the one he was navigating on the outside. While ostensibly overseen by a team of rundown guards, the prison is really ruled by Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu, Les Misérables). On his last legs, and seeing his power waning, Blackbeard makes one final play to keep his power over the prison: on the night of the red moon, he designates MACA’s newcomer “Roman.”

In a griot role that recalls Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights, Roman (Koné Bakary) must recount a story until the sun rises if he wants to keep his life and the prison from falling into chaos. Roman spins a story about Zama King, a notorious gang leader whose life spanned from ancient times to the fall of Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, and was filled with intrigue and magic.

Review:
With his sophomore feature – his first, Run (2014), debuted at Cannes in Un Certain Regard – writer-director Philippe Lacôte refuses all genre expectations, flowing between a prison drama and visually stunning sequences that depict Roman’s elaborate tale. Further incorporating song and dance (and a cameo by icon Denis Lavant), Night of the Kings is a mesmerising meditation on the art of storytelling and its role in survival.

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