Philippe Lacôte
Philippe LACÔTE (1969) grew up in the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, Abidjan. He started making short films after a career as a radio reporter. His work as a director took on several forms before focusing on the recent history of his country with the short film Chronicles of War in the Ivory Coast (2008). After the social and political crisis in the Ivory Coast in 2002, Lacôte founded Wassakara Productions together with a collective of artists, in an attempt to give voices other than those of media outlets a chance to be heard. In 2014, his feature-film debut Run was selected for Cannes Un Certain Regard. With La nuit des rois, he dives into the largest prison in West Africa, during a night of red moon. The film, nourished by the political history of Lacôte’s country, represents Côte d’Ivoire at the Academy Awards 2021.
Filmography
(selection) Somnambule (1995, short), Affaire Libinski (2001, short), Cairo Hours (2003, short), Safary Hotel (2003, short), Le passeur/The Messenger (2006, short), Chroniques de guerre en Côte d’Ivoire/Chronicles of War in the Ivory Coast (2008, short), To Repel Ghosts (2013, short), Run (2014), La nuit des rois/Night of the Kings (2020)
Philippe Lacôte at IFFR
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La nuit des rois
The power of storytelling underpins this stifling, inventive film from Côte d’Ivoire about life inside a gigantic prison.
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To Repel Ghosts
Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is shown around by an Ivorian painter. Exhausted by depression Basquiat seeks salvation in local rituals.