Directed by Paul Wright, Music by Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp)
Award-winning director Paul Wright (For Those in Peril) explores our complex connection to the land we live in with an archival remix drawn from more than 100 years of Britain on film. With a new score by Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp), Arcadia embarks on a visceral sensory journey through the seasons, exploring the beauty, brutality, magic and madness of our changing relationship with both the land and each other. This fresh new work crafted from the past is a folk horror wrapped in an archive film; get ready for a very strange trip indeed...
"Wonderful, frightening, lovely and engrossing"
Stuart Maconie, BBC 6 Music
Made with support from the BFI Film Fund. Every purchase from the BFI Shop contributes to the work of the BFI.
Extras
Arcadia Q&A (2018, 27 mins): Paul Wright, Will Gregory and Adrian Utley discuss the film at BFI Southbank
A Day in the Hayfields (1904, 4 mins): Edwardian midsummer captured on film
Tame Animals at Work (1909, 6 mins): strange scenes from a private zoo
Championship Ploughing Match (1912, 1 min): newsreel item
Ancient Cornish Custom (1921, 1 min): the Furry Dance in St Ives
The Kibbo Kift (1923, 1 min): a meeting of the folkloric social movement
''Oppin' Makes You Earty!' (1925, 1 min): hop-picking in Kent
Old Norse Vikings Festival (1927, 9 mins): Shetland's Up Helly Aa
Once We Were Four... (1942, 9 mins): young rabbits face the perils of rural Britain
Peter and Ruby (1973, 35 mins): poignant portrait of traditional Dartmoor farmers
Theatrical trailer (2018, 2 mins)
Illustrated booklet featuring writing by Simon McCallum, Stanley Donwood and Adrian Utley, director Paul Wright interviewed by Adam Scovell, and full film credits
