Night of the Kings

Night of the Rings is another movie presented at New Horizons Festival that I want to talk about. La Nuit des Rois has clearly nothing to do with Twelfth Night, Or What You Will written by Shakespeare yet the title was translated into French as La Nuit des rois, ou Ce que vous voudrez ;) Anyways, the film is truly exceptional. It's a drama film, directed by Philippe Lacôte and released our favorite 2020. It's a co-production of companies from France, Côte d'Ivoire, Canada and Senegal. It was selected as the Ivorian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. 

Credits: TIFF

So basically, it tells a story about a young pickpocket called Roman (direct translation: Novel) (Bakary Koné) who is sent to the MACA prison in Abidjan. In MACA, being one of the most overcrowded prisons in West Africa, in order to survive you need to make up a story all night long. Aging and sick, Barbe Noir (direct translation: Black Beard) is increasingly contested. To retain his power, he returns to the “Roman” ritual, which consists of forcing a prisoner to tell stories all night long. Storytelling, known since forever, here shows us how huge importance it has. The movie is really about the universal power of storytelling regardless of tongue — and how it can be used as a way to survive. Lacôte creates a unique, immersive world so steeped in obscure ancient history and rituals that it feels like a rude awakening when the audience is brought back to La MACA. The prisoners sing and chant (it's a real performance) with a spiritual conviction as Roman’s story unfolds, and, often, a group of them act out the story in a trance-like choreographed dance.

Will Roman come up with a good story? Will he persists all night long? I'll let you check it out yourself. 


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