Night of the Kings

Night of the Kings
Film poster
FrenchLa Nuit des rois
Directed byPhilippe Lacôte
Written byPhilippe Lacôte
Produced byDelphine Jaquet
Yanick Létourneau
Ernest Konan
Yoro Mbaye
StarringKoné Bakary
Isaka Sawadogo
Steve Tientcheu, Nubel Felis Yan
CinematographyTobie Marier Robitaille
Edited byAube Foglia
Music byOlivier Alary
Production
companies
Banshee Films
Wassakara Productions
Peripheria
Yennenga Production
Distributed byNeon (United States)
Axia Films (Canada)
Release date
  • September 6, 2020 (2020-09-06) (Venice)[1]
Running time
93 minutes
CountriesFrance
Côte d'Ivoire
Canada
Senegal
LanguagesFrench
Dyula

Night of the Kings (French: La Nuit des rois) is a 2020 fantasy drama film written and directed by Philippe Lacôte.[2] The film is produced by Delphine Jaquet (Banshee Films, France), Yanick Letourneau (Peripheria, Canada), Ernest Konan (Wassakara Productions, Côte d'Ivoire), and Yoro Mbaye (Yennenga Production, Senegal). It was selected as the Ivorian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards,[3] making the shortlist of fifteen films.[4] The film is also nominated for Best international film at the Independent Spirit Award 2021.[5]

The cast includes Koné Bakary, Isaka Sawadogo, Steve Tientcheu, Rasmané Ouédraogo, Abdoul Karim Konaté, Laetitia Ky, Nubel Feliz Yan and Denis Lavant.[2]

Announced in 2017 under the working title Zama King,[6] the film premiered at the 77th Venice International Film Festival,[2] with a follow-up screening at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival[7] where it won the Amplify Voices Award.[8] The film was one of two films featured in the Spotlight section of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.[9] It won the Black Film Critics Circle Award for Best International Film,[10] the African American Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Film[11] and the NAACP Image Awards 2021 for Outstanding International Motion Picture[12]

  1. ^ "La Nuit des rois". Vienna Film Festival. Archived from the original on September 16, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Goodfellow, Melanie (July 28, 2020). "Memento boards Venice title 'Night Of The Kings' (exclusive)". ScreenDaily. Media Business Insight Limited. Archived from the original on August 11, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  3. ^ McNary, Dave (September 9, 2020). "Neon Buys Ivory Coast Awards Contender 'Night of the Kings'". Variety. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  4. ^ Davis, Clayton (February 9, 2021). "Oscars Shortlists Announced in Nine Categories". Variety. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  5. ^ "2021 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations Announced!". January 26, 2021. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  6. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (May 22, 2017). "Philippe Lacôte to shoot 'Zama King' in 2018". ScreenDaily. Media Business Insight Limited. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  7. ^ Ahearn, Victoria (July 30, 2020). "TIFF announces all 50 titles for pandemic-tailored 2020 event". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  8. ^ Gorber, Jason (September 21, 2020). "TIFF announces award winning films for 2020". blogTO. Freshdaily Inc. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  9. ^ "2021 Sundance Film Festival". fpg.festival.sundance.org. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  10. ^ Black Film Critics Circle
  11. ^ "African American Film Critics Association Awards: 'Judas and the Black Messiah' Named Best Picture". The Hollywood Reporter. March 9, 2021. Archived from the original on April 8, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  12. ^ Bosselman, Haley (March 28, 2021). "NAACP Image Awards 2021: The Complete Televised Winners List". Variety. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.