For the first time in twenty years, an Ivorian feature film will compete at the Venice International Film Festival. We are glad to share that Philippe Lacôte’s LA NUIT DES ROIS (NIGHT OF THE KINGS) is one of the 19 titles selected for 2020 Venice’s Orizzonti section, and will thus have its world premiere between the 2nd and the 12th of September 2020.
In Lacôte’s sophomore film – after RUN, selected at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard (2014) –, a young man is sent to "La Maca", a prison in the middle of the Ivorian 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. Learning what fate awaits him according to the rules of La Maca, Roman has no choice but to make his story last until dawn.
“Through LA NUIT DES ROIS (NIGHT OF THE KINGS), we realise that Africa is perhaps the very last antique theatre of today, where tragedy and stakes of power unfurl in a raw, frontal and eminently visual manner”, explains director Philippe Lacôte.
TorinoFilmLab has accompanied LA NUIT DES ROIS (NIGHT OF THE KINGS) during its writing process, within ScriptLab 2016; and later at distribution stage, through the Creative Europe – MEDIA-funded scheme TFL Audience Design Fund 2019 (€ 40.000). It also gained exposure among Decision Makers invited at the TFL Meeting Event 2019 during the work-in-progress event TFL Coming Soon.
In the frame of the TFL Audience Design Fund, the project recently participated in an online tailor-made consultancy. The film team had the chance to discuss their global distribution strategy with TFL-trained audience designers Greta Nordio and Riema Reybrouck, focusing on the 3 countries where it will get released with the support of the Fund: France, Ivory Coast and Canada.
LA NUIT DES ROIS is a production between Banshee Films (France), Wassakara Productions (Ivory Coast), Peripheria (Canada) and Yennenga Production (Senegal). The sales are handled by Memento Films International (France).
Discover Venice's complete line-up here.