Fishguard Film Society

Night of the Kings, Philippe Lacôte, Ivory Coast, 2020, (15) Subtitles 
93mins

Inspired by his own childhood, Philippe Lacôte’s hallucinogenic fable plays out in a notorious Ivory Coast jail, La Maca which is run by its own inmates.  Lacôte traces inspiration for this project back to his childhood visiting his mother at La Maca which gave him the experience of “being at the court of some archaic kingdom”. We see the life of Zama, a notorious gang leader, transformed from a blood splattered headline to a mythical tale of grand queens and legendary beasts.  

‘Night of the Kings proves most captivating in evoking the transformative power of the imagination.’ MarkKermode