10 Directors to Watch: Ivory Coast’s Philippe Lacôte Makes Oscar International Shortlist With ‘Night of the Kings’
Guy Lodge Film CriticPhilippe Lacôte’s career in film began at the end, rather than the beginning, of the cinematic life cycle: as a projectionist in a small regional theater in Toulouse, France, where the Ivory Coast-born director had moved to study linguistics. Those studies had led to work as a fledgling radio reporter, but it was the audiovisual medium that kept beckoning him.Forgoing film school, but instilled with a deep love of Tarkovsky and Fassbinder, he moved from his projectionist gig to jobs in distribution, post-production and production — finally landing at Atria, a French-based production company dedicated to African film.