Posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 by Christopher Stipp
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising?
This week, we walk the grocery aisles in search of something visually delicious, tell a story as if our life depended on it, heat up the earth a bit, get snowed in, and have
Will Smith talk about issues plaguing America.
Entertainment
1 month, 2 weeks
Night of the Kings, written and directed by Philippe Lacôte, follows an unnamed protagonist (Koné Bakary) into Ivory Coast’s infamous MACA prison where he’s anointed the institutions “Roman” by the reigning inmate king, Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu). Now, it’s up to him to tell a story because his life quite literally depends on it. With the help of some brilliant cinematography by Tobie Marier-Robitaille, editing by Aube Foglia, and production design by Samuel Teisseire, Lacôte highlights the power of storytelling and how necessary it is for us to harness it in order to infuse magic into the otherwise mundane finiteness of it all.
Night of The Kings Trailer: NEON Sets Ivory Coast Oscar Entry for Release This Month
February 1, 2021
An official selection at the Venice Film Festival, TIFF, NYFF and the ongoing Sundance Film Festival, NEON has unveiled the first trailer for the Côte d’Ivoire’s critically acclaimed official selection for Best International Feature for the 93rd Academy Awards,
Night of the Kings. Directed by Philippe Lacôte, whose previous feature
Run (2014) was also the Ivorian’s Official Oscar entry, the film will arrive in theaters at the end of the month followed by a digital release in early March.
Set in a MACA prison ruled by the inmates in the capital of the Ivory Coast, Abidjan, the film conveys the story of a young pickpocket (Bakary Koné) who is designated by the inmates as the new “Roman,” Scheherazade-esque position in which he is compelled to tell a story to the other prisoners. With a desire to make the story last till dawn, he weaves the mythical tale of the leg
We ve Got Hollywood Covered
Koné Bakary’s Road to the Oscars: Recite a Poem, Land a Big Role
TheWrap magazine: Bakary was a student who had never before acted when he was cast as the lead in the acclaimed African film “Night of the Kings” By Steve Pond | January 14, 2021 @ 4:00 PM
This story about Koné Bakary and “Night of the Kings” first appeared in the International Films Issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Philippe Lacôte’s prison drama “Night of the Kings,” the Ivory Coast’s entry in this year’s Oscar race for Best International Feature Film, stars a lot of actors who are known in international cinema circles. Among them are Steve Tientcheu from the Oscar-nominated French film “Les Misérables” as the inmate boss of a brutal concrete prison, and “Holy Motors” star Denis Lavant in a feral and deranged performance as the sole white convict.
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After a year when Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” defied history and won the best picture Oscar, other international film contenders were expected to expand their influence throughout all Oscar categories. The COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas, and that anticipated new normal may be on hold this particular awards season.
With most of the world’s major film festivals becoming virtual affairs, the opportunity for publicity-friendly standing ovations and word-of-mouth moments have seemingly evaporated. There is a chance, however, that with an extended 2020 awards season, one of these international film submissions could still break out.
“La Llorona”
Guatemala
When Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante decided to craft a film about the genocide perpetrated on the nation’s native Maya population, he knew it would be a challenge. The government continues to insist the massacres didn’t occur, and capturing the attention of the general population is no easy task. The an