Arcadia blends a mixture of film and television footage from the BFI National Archive and regional archives around the UK, creating a powerful mosaic of images, sounds and moods, taking in folk carnivals and masked parades, hunting and harvesting, communes and raves, mechanisation, environmental destruction, fires, floods, storms.
Arcadia reminds us what happens when our connection to nature, and each other, frays and unravels. By exploring and asking ourselves what we have gained and lost in the last century, perhaps we will discover something of what we’ll need to survive in the next.
Scouring 100 years of archive footage, BAFTA-winner Paul Wright constructs an exhilarating study of the British people’s shifting — and contradictory — relationship to the land. The film goes on a sensory, visceral journey through the contrasting seasons, taking in folk carnivals and fetes, masked parades, water divining and harvesting.
Set to a grand, expressive new score from Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) alongside folk music from the likes of Anne Briggs, Wright’s captivating film essay captures the beauty and brutality, and the magic and madness of rural Britain.
Director: Paul Wright
Music: Adrian Utley, Will Gregory
There is magic in this film. 9/10" - Uncut
An exhilarating audio-visual journey" - Sight & Sound
“Arcadia is a revolutionary document” - Paul Kingsnorth, author
Arcadia blends a mixture of film and television footage from the BFI National Archive and regional archives around the UK, creating a powerful mosaic of images, sounds and moods, taking in folk carnivals and masked parades, hunting and harvesting, communes and raves, mechanisation, environmental destruction, fires, floods, storms.
Arcadia reminds us what happens when our connection to nature, and each other, frays and unravels. By exploring and asking ourselves what we have gained and lost in the last century, perhaps we will discover something of what we’ll need to survive in the next.
Scouring 100 years of archive footage, BAFTA-winner Paul Wright constructs an exhilarating study of the British people’s shifting — and contradictory — relationship to the land. The film goes on a sensory, visceral journey through the contrasting seasons, taking in folk carnivals and fetes, masked parades, water divining and harvesting.
Set to a grand, expressive new score from Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) alongside folk music from the likes of Anne Briggs, Wright’s captivating film essay captures the beauty and brutality, and the magic and madness of rural Britain.
Director: Paul Wright
Music: Adrian Utley, Will Gregory
There is magic in this film. 9/10" - Uncut
An exhilarating audio-visual journey" - Sight & Sound
“Arcadia is a revolutionary document” - Paul Kingsnorth, author
