Philippe Lacôte grew up in Abidjan near a cinema, the "Magic". He made several short films before concentrating on the recent history of his country with Chronicles of War in the Ivory Coast, a film straddling documentary and diary. In 2014 his feature film Run was selected at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. La Nuit des Rois had its world premiere in 2020 at the 77th Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section and won the Public’s Prize at the Toronto Festival.