After The Nothing Factory, The Laughter and the Knife (I Only Rest in the Storm) seeks to further radicalize the exploration of discursiveness within narrative, inviting characters to speak from the wound of our time: the neo-colonial border. It builds a polyphonic journey of perspectives around a problem far from resolution. Immersed in suffocating heat, air-conditioned NGO offices, white jeeps, dusty streets, and lavish parties, the film portrays the expat community within post-colonial capitalism. At its heart lies the endless “encounter” between Europe and Africa, and a queer struggle for becoming—unfolding in the nightclubs, streets, and backrooms of a West African city. Within this violent quest for transcendence, fleeting tenderness and radical subversion coexist. A road is being built between desert and jungle—a mission mired in power, failure, and desire. Amidst this landscape that resists taming, three characters’ entanglement mirrors both power structures and the longing for connection and escape.