AT NIGHT

A word from the selection committee :

We will never fail to be seduced by a film placed under the patronage of an owl, an animal ideally suited to the symbolism it carries (nocturnal, solitary, urban) as not the multifaceted formal entity it represents (capable of twisting its head to take in a 360-degree view, without even mentioning that it may well be the most beautiful of bird…) 

Béatrice Gibson’s operation is to film six women in Paris at night, each in their own solitude and to weave it into a single continuous movement; At Night is an iteration of an ensemble film but whose singularity is not in finding traces of reconciliation or reunion between its characters through the script; rather, it is their words, caught like songs (like hoots) that give rise to a polyphony, drawing on texts by English-speaking poets who lived in Paris, such as June Jordan and Alice Notley. This work around multiplicity reveals as much what constitutes Parisian identity as it does about the director herself – a multilingual, multidisciplinary artist. The ways in which she has surrounded herself with collaborators for this project are themselves precious testimonies: we shall mention the cinematographer by British artist Ben Rivers, who shoots on one of the most magical 16mm films in recent memory, and the syncretic ambient music by Welsh musician Elvin Brandhi. And giving away any of the surprises the Parisian night has in store: At Night never seeks to transfigure that, but would rather experience it. 

Pierre Guidez

Traduction : Aurore Kahan