Philippe Lacôte discovered cinema in the theatres of Abidjan. In the 1980s, as a neighbour of the "Magic", he was introduced to genre films through Bollywood productions and martial arts films. His work as a director began with short films shot in 35mm and in black and white, before focusing on the recent history of Côte d'Ivoire.
In 2002, he filmed his childhood neighbourhood during the first three weeks of the curfew that plunged his country into armed rebellion. The result was Chroniques de guerre en Côte d'Ivoire, both a portrait of a country in crisis and an autobiographical story. In 2014, his first feature film Run was selected at Cannes (Un certain regard). La Nuit des Rois, his second feature film selected at La Fabrique Cinéma, had its world premiere in Venice. Produced by Banshee Films, it won numerous awards, including the Amplify Voices prize at TIFF and the Youth Jury Award in Rotterdam. The film was distributed in the USA by NEON and shortlisted for the 2021 Oscars.
Alongside his career as a scriptwriter and director, Philippe Lacôte was a production assistant at Atria, where he worked alongside filmmakers Souleymane Cissé, Rithy Panh and Raoul Peck. He then co-founded Wassakara Productions, which supports new talent and develops series on the African continent.
Philippe Lacôte is currently in post-production on the feature film Killer Heat, for Amazon Studios. He is also developing a new feature film, Les 7 voleurs d'or, which he is co-directing with Delphine Jaquet. Told from the perspective of a Sufi community in Harlem, the story follows the exile of a family struck by a curse. Les 7 voleurs d'or has been selected for the Villa Albertine writing residencies.