About this Event
Thamesmead African Film Club is a community film series dedicated to showcasing African and diaspora cinema, creating space for audiences to gather, watch, reflect, and discuss films that explore culture, history, identity, and more.
Our first screening presents La Nuit des rois, written and directed by Philippe Lacôte.
Set inside Ivory Coast’s notorious MACA Pr*son, inmates govern themselves according to their own codes. On the night of the red moon, a newly arrived prisoner is chosen to become the Pr*son’s “Roman”, a storyteller tasked with entertaining the population until dawn. If he fails, he will be killed.
To survive, he begins narrating the mythical life of Zama King, a legendary outlaw, drawing the prisoners into a living performance where story, memory, fantasy, and reality blur. As the night unfolds, tensions rise within the Pr*son hierarchy, power struggles intensify, and the fate of both storyteller and audience hangs in the balance.
Rooted in the tradition of West African griot storytelling and oral tradition, the film reflects a cultural practice in which history, myth, performance, and collective memory are preserved through spoken word, performance, and communal participation.
What to expect
- Film screening
- Post-film discussion
La Nuit des rois will be in French and Dyula, with English subtitles.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Nest - Community Centre, Cygnet Square, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
