Paris Nights: Women Explore Dreams and Reality

Beatrice Gibson's feature debut, "At Night," premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. The film chronicles the journeys of six women traversing Paris by night, blurring the lines between dream, fiction, and reality. Inspired by poets Alice Notley and Kathy Acker, Gibson uses poetry as a structural and thematic backbone, appearing in voiceovers and spoken performances. This poetic element serves as a bridge connecting disparate characters and narratives across the city.

The film centers on the strained relationship between filmmaker Bea and her former colleague Didi, exploring racial and class tensions. Gibson intentionally depicts power imbalances within her "collective autofiction," framing it as a way to "stay with the trouble." The narrative also delves into "midlife revelation" rather than crisis, a phase of women's lives rarely seen in cinema.

Shot on grainy analogue footage by Ben Rivers, "At Night" possesses a dreamlike, present-tense quality. Themes of motherhood are explored subtly, depicting its varied experiences—from joy to grief—and how its definition can be liberating. The women in the film are portrayed as non-conformists, forging new paths for female selfhood beyond traditional structures.