Official Entry, 93rd Academy Awards® Best International Feature Film – Ivory Coast
A young man is sent to “La Maca”, a prison in the middle of the Ivorian forest ruled by its inmates. As tradition goes with the rising of the red moon, he is designated by the Boss to be the new “Roman” and must tell a story to the other prisoners. Learning what fate awaits him, he begins to narrate the mystical life of the legendary outlaw named “Zama King” and has no choice but to make his story last until dawn.
“[…] The telling is remarkable. Lacôte brings us into Zama King’s story — and out of La Maca’s claustrophobic environs — through brief illustrative sequences, the loveliest of which show an ancient warrior-queen (Laetitia Ky) leading a procession along the coast and, eventually, an army into battle. […] But as transporting as these embellishments are, we are held even more powerfully by the sheer force of Roman’s narration, by the glow of the torchlight on the faces of his captive audience and by their vigorous responses to each new twist and turn. Sometimes they push back vocally against his narrative; more often they accompany it, through song, dance and pantomime, their bodies giving flesh and form to the storyteller’s words.” ~ Justin Chang, LA Times
Philippe Lacôte | Writer and Director
Lacôte grew up in Abidjan near a movie theater –the “Magic”. His work as a director has taken on several forms, before focusing in 2002 on the recent history of his country with Chronicles Of War In The Ivory Coast, a film on the edge between a documentary and a diary. It is followed by the feature film Run, the story of a wandering madman, selected in Canne’s Un Certain Regard 2014. This selection confirmed his talent as a filmmaker and revealed a new voice from the African continent. Night of the Kings (original title La Nuit Des Rois), his second feature, is a dive into the largest prison in West Africa, during a night of red moon.
Read an interview with the director HERE
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