Night Watches Us is Startling @Hot Docs 2025

You would think that incidents like George Floyd only happen in the US, where police brutality occurs and systemic racism oppresses its victims. What we fail to realize here in the Great White North is that these incidents occur and are prevalent. Now, in a Mark Carney era, we need to address some of these issues that have no place in our country. Director Stefan Verna is leading this charge in the right direction with his latest film Night Watches Us. The NFB mid-length documentary premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival, opening up the forum when it comes to subjects like systemic racism, mental health, police brutality, violence against minorities and social justice.

Verna creates this cinematic exploration of 24-year-old Nicholas Gibbs, who was shot down by the Montreal Police on the night of August 17th. At the time, he was going through mental health issues and a period of psychosis, which led to his death. The night he was shot on Montclair Street, still to this day, has never been forgotten. The whole incident was recorded on video, which Verna includes in this documentary, making it disturbingly compelling. Nicholas Gibb’s family, friends and even neighbours are interviewed and slotted into the right sequences of the film. They all share their stories about him and say that he did not deserve to die.

Whereas many documentary filmmakers today have added animation to their film, Verna adds dance, theatre and the spoken word as part of the creative process on such a tough and emotional subject. It alleviates all the pain from the interviews, the sequences as to where he was buried and to the actual video where he was shot. This is the most complementary part of Verna’s filmmaking because it shows the motion of visible minorities, especially in the black community, that they are making change. These sequences are aligned with the many protests that the friends and family of Nicholas Gibbs took part in to bring these ongoing problems to a halt.

No one deserves to die, especially Nicholas Gibbs, who was a good person, father and friend. He chose the music and the culture of hip-hop to alleviate his anxiety. It was his only way out that complemented who he was and represented. A man from the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood on Montclair Street, who had problems like many other young adults of today, was just longing for help, which was never given to him. Rather, he was looked down upon for his colour, his culture, his look, his age and where he resided, for being enough reasons for the Montreal Police to shoot him to his death.

This is the message that the director Stefan Verna and his film Night Watches Us address. There are so many ways that we can give the support that is needed to those who are suffering from mental health issues. The more we let police brutality continue, the more deaths will occur, and more protests will be organized. This is a vicious cycle, and nobody wins because it is just mentally exhausting. If we break that cycle and simply lend a hand, it will work wonders rather than lead to deaths. As Nicholas Gibb’s mother says, “A mother should never bury his son,” and this is the most brutal part about police brutality. FERNTV says that Night Watches Us is a must-watch now.