Documentary styles, street art and spoken word blend in Night Watches Us as it examines the systemic forces that caused a young man’s tragic death.
On August 21, 2018, a son lost his father, a mother lost her son and a nephew lost his uncle. The community knows what happened. Flowers bloom where Nicholas Gibbs last drew breath. He was a 23-year-old Black man plagued by mental health issues but was murdered by the Montreal police. Stefan Verna’s Night Watches Us examines the systemic forces that lead to Nicholas’s tragic death, telling the story through the eyes of his family and community, united in their collective grief. Using a blend of documentary styles mixed with street art and spoken word, this film is a love letter in honour of Nicholas and the Gibbs family.
Night Watches Us, Stefan Verna, provided by the National Film Board of Canada