Video transcript
Film By the Eucalypts 2023 - 05. Blaxland Public School - Night School

[eerie music playing]

NARRATOR: Night is coming, and this old school beside the wilderness empties. The rules of day wither and blow away. Now it is a school for shadows.

Once a year the children sleep over. They bring blankets and bags and swags of food. The children form a circle, then a whisper goes around. Shall we have a night walk?

TEACHER: Follow the path of light. You must go out one at a time. There are three doors. You must go into each room and write your name.

[eerie music playing]

The hall is cold, and the school has changed shape. There are mysterious doors and extra floors, corners and cracks that do not bear looking into.

GIRL 1: I'm not afraid. Quick! Write your name. Make no mistake. This is the only way to draw them back. We're running out of time.

GIRL 2: There's no going back. We've done two, and there's only one more to go. Let's go, people.

NARRATOR: The children write their names on the blackboard in letters that shiver but stay. The hidden boys come masked and flapping. But the children's hard-won lanterns reveal the trick. A girl laughs, and the thwarted boys flee.

BOY 1: Boo.

GIRL 1: [laughs]

NARRATOR: Here is the Prince of midwinter night, blackness spilling out of him. The lights hurt his eyes. Quench them, whisper the shadows. Write your name, and you will remember, says the girl. When it is done, the shadows flee.

Well done, says the teacher when the children return. They smile as their secret daylight comes.

[upbeat music playing]