Ben Rivers<\/a> and editing by Liyo Gong. The film is produced by Somesuch and Norte Productions.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cA filmmaker struggles to understand the film she is making,\u201d a synopsis says about the women we meet in At Night. \u201cA Black single mother refuses the categories imposed on her. A former sex worker reflects on her past. A poet gives up trying for a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe film features an array of Gibson\u2019s non-professional actor friends and influences as they discuss and explore such topics as sexuality, money, motherhood and mental health. \u201cThis isn\u2019t simply a feminist story, but a love letter to friendships, relationships, and the quiet yet poignant stories women share together but rarely to an audience,\u201d the press notes highlight.<\/p>\n
\n\tA thread that runs through the movie is poetry, with U.S. poet Alice Notley reciting one of her own poems for the film, recorded just months before her death in 2025. Inspired by her writings and the texts of such other cult literary figures as June Jordan and Kathy Acker, Gibson takes us on nocturnal searches for answers.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\u2018At Night,\u2019 courtesy of Night Films <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Night Films Ltd.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was interested in the structure of the journey, of a woman just walking through the night,\u201d explains Gibson. The idea for At Night came to her after she read two feminist takes on the epic quest narrative, namely Notley\u2019s book-length poem, The Descent of Alette (1992) and Acker\u2019s gender-flipped knight\u2019s tale, Don Quixote, Which Was a Dream (1986). <\/p>\n
\n\tBut scenes and narratives also emerged from the creative\u2019s thinking about the kinds of encounters and conversations that can only take place at night. \u201cWho really occupies the night? And what kinds of labor take place there?\u201d she wondered. That is why At Night also features \u201cundervalued work done by those who keep the city fed, clean, and moving,\u201d according to the press notes.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cMy casting process is one I\u2019ve developed over time and is folded into the writing process. I don\u2019t follow the traditional structure in which I\u2019m writing and then casting,\u201d Gibson explains. Instead, she casts her characters first, thinking about who might produce an interesting performance, and then collaborates with them to develop the material. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a collectively written film, in many ways,\u201d Gibson emphasizes. \u201cPeople write their own material for their scenes, depending on what they want to develop.\u201d She concludes: \u201cIt\u2019s autofiction really, so generating that material is a delicate and sensitive process, and it takes a lot of time and revision. People need to feel comfortable with what they\u2019ve authored, where it\u2019s placed and with whom it\u2019s in dialogue. It\u2019s quite a deep process.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\tNo surprise then that it took six years to make At Night. <\/p>\n
\n\tAs with all of Gibson\u2019s work, the film emphasizes a working process that is collaborative and improvisatory. \u201cI\u2019m utopian at heart,\u201d Gibson says. \u201cI wanted to make a film about trying to be together at a time when everyone is divided. Maybe it was a naive and misguided thing to do, although, that said, I would do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat theme of being together also applies to Gibson appearing in front of the camera in At Night. As for her decision to do so, she says she felt a responsibility to delve into her own sense of privilege: \u201cI didn\u2019t realize the extent to which race and class would play out during the process. That\u2019s why I\u2019m in the film,\u201d she explains. \u201cI wasn\u2019t supposed to be initially, but I felt I had to take responsibility somehow, in relation to my positionality. I come from a deeper place of privilege than most of the characters in the film; there was critical tension in that, and I felt like I had to take responsibility for it and explore it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe relationships and shared thoughts, as well as the sights, sounds and rhythm of the film, are what At Night is really all about. You can watch an exclusive clip for the film, which THR can premiere, right here:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six women roam the neon-lit city of Paris after dark. Over the course of a single night, their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[247344,93,61,1042,60,232172,3428,270],"class_list":["post-585996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-bbc-films","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-locarno-2026","tag-locarno-film-festival","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}