La Nuit

Beatrice Gibson

United Kingdom

Genre : Fiction
Length : 90’

Project status : Development
Budget : 2 121 788 €
Acquired budget : 660 000 €
Fund : Development funding from BBC Film
Shooting countries : United Kingdom, France

First Feature Film

After an abortion, a woman wanders the streets, embarking on a series of encounters under the neon glow of karaoke bars, cinemas and clubs.
Shot with a cast of artists, poets and non-professional actors, La Nuit is a collectively written autofiction.

A post-gender epic about the journeys we undertake, the relentless decisions we face. A tale of love, grief and nocturnal wandering, told by a series of minor characters in a series of minor quotidian moments, nonetheless steeped in a vertiginous magic. A story about love in the apocalypse.

The film takes place over the course of a single night and is inspired by the writings of cult literary figures Kathy Acker, Bernadette Mayer and Alice Notley. A debut feature that intertwines dream and reality, liquefying both.

Note of intention

In 2017, on his third day in office, President Trump signed the Global Gag Rule, a restriction on international organizations that receive U.S. global health assistance, blocking them from using their own funds to provide or refer women to abortion services. Trump signed the Gag Rule with seven men standing behind him. In June 2022, the US Supreme court overturned the historic Roe versus Wade and abortions are now actually banned in 13 US states. In the UK abortion still legally requires two doctors to sign off on the procedure, and any termination must be justified in relation to a patient’s mental health. A similar logic applies in the 30 out of 197 countries in which abortion is actually legal.

This is a political film. Like the politics of a dream, however, its politics are contained in its characters. Experiencing a feeling of freedom after her abortion, the film’s protagonist drifts aimlessly through the city at night. Radicalized by the birth of her daughter and her experience of racism in the French welfare system she contemplates returning to Bamako, her parents’ home. We follow her through a series of locations, observing encounters with an array of characters; others traversing the city at night. They find and sustain each other by chance – in bars, nail salons, petrol stations, gaming arcades. They discuss, love, sex, money, race and class. Around them, sirens wail – a world in turmoil spins on its axis.

Director

Beatrice Gibson

Filmography

Dreaming Alcestis / 2022 / 23′
Dear Barbara, Bette, Nina / 2021 / 4′
Deux soeurs qui ne sont pas soeurs / 2019 / 21′
l Hope l’m Loud When l’m Dead / 2018 / 20′
For Eileen / 2018 / 10′
For CA / 2018 / 10′
F for Fibonacci / 2014 / 16′
The Tiger’s Mind / 2012 / 23′

Production

Production: Somesuch (United Kingdom)
Producer: Denna Cartamkhoob

Selective filmography

Sweet Sue / Leo Leigh / 2023 / 97’

Sophia / Crystal Moselle / 2022 / 89’

Honesty / Roxy Rezvany / 2022 / 9’

The Long Goodbye / Aneil Karia / 2020 / 12’

Pitch Black Panacea / Tom Hardiman / 2020 / 7’

A Zona / Clayton Vomero / 2019 / 63’

You will be with us in Paradise / Isaac Lock / 2019 / 68’

Brigitte / Lynne Ramsay / 2019 / 30’

Mother / Leo Leigh / 2016 / 22’

Home / Daniel Mulloy / 2016 / 20’

Production : Norte (France)
Producer : Valentina Novati

De Humani Corporis Fabrica / Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor / 2022

Zahori / Marí Alessandrini / 2021 / 105’

Tuffo / Jean-Guillaume Sonnier / 2021 / 30’

Avant Que Je M’en Aille / Julien Barazer / 2019 / 22’

Soleil Noir / Maureen Fazendeiro / 2019 / 7’

Zona / Clayton Vomero / 2019 / 63’

Travelers / Gabrielle Culand / 2018 / 23’

Caniba / Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor / 2017 / 92’

Des Moutons et Des Hommes / Karim Sayad / 2017 / 75’

Somniloques / Verena Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor / 2016 / 75’

Azayz / Ilias Dupuis / 2015 / 11’

Mobile / Gabrielle Culand / 2015 / 17’

Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe

Alan Martín Segal

Julien Ticot-Guillet

Jazmín López

Ann Oren

Salomé Lamas

Gregor Božič