Davaa and Zaya are a young nomadic couple in the vast Bayanhongor region of Mongolia who are in the throes of animal birthing season when a seismic event suddenly changes their lives. They are forced to migrate afar but are haunted by their past lives. The director, Gabrielle Brady shapes the family’s stark reality into a vivid fable, capturing the family’s deep connection and unbreakable bonds to nature.

Blurring the boundary between fiction and documentary, The Wolves Come at Night follows a couple raising their four children in the increasingly inhospitable Mongolian grasslands. The family member’s symbiotic relationship with nature is vividly reflected in tender moments with their animals, central to their livelihood as herders. The narrative shifts when, after a devastating night shatters the family’s pastoral life, they are forced to uproot to the city. While navigating the harsh new textures of urban existence, they are haunted by the spectre of their former life. Through bold directorial choices, Gabrielle Brady (The Island of Hungry Ghosts, 2019) shapes the family’s stark reality into a fable. The central couple, Davaasuren Dagvasuren and Otgonzaya Dashzeveg, share writing credits with Brady, which adds a layer of experimental strangeness to the film while grounding it in authenticity and emotional depth.