The first clip from the festival-bound drama Night Of The Kings has arrived. The film revolves around a young man who is incarcerated in a prison in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire who must spend the whole night recounting a story if he hopes to survive, Philippe Lacôte writes and directs the new feature which will premiere at this week’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Here’s the full synopsis as provided by TIFF.
When a young man is incarcerated in Côte d’Ivoire’s largest prison, La MACA, he finds himself entering a world as dangerous and complex as the one he was navigating on the outside. While ostensibly overseen by a team of rundown guards, the prison is really ruled by Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu, seen at TIFF last year in Les Misérables). On his last legs, and seeing his power waning, Blackbeard makes one final play to keep his power over the prison: on the night of the red moon, he designates MACA’s newcomer “Roman.” In a griot role that recalls Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights, Roman (Koné Bakary) must recount a story until the sun rises if he wants to keep his life and the prison from falling into chaos. Roman spins a story about Zama King, a notorious gang leader whose life spanned from ancient times to the fall of Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, and was filled with intrigue and magic.
We’ll have more coverage on this film soon. For now, here’s the first clip.
