Us and the Night

A storm summons the memory of a university library in the subtropics in this first feature by Australian filmmaker Audrey Lam, filmed on 16mm over a period of 10 years. Non-professionals Umi Ishihara and Xiao Deng play versions of themselves—solitary after-hours workers going about their mundane duties night after night. Imagining themselves as explorers lost in a labyrinth or marooned on an island, they embark on small, playful adventures both together and apart, as the library's vast yet shrinking collection becomes a playground for their own stories and secrets.