British Universities Film & Video Council

moving image and sound, knowledge and access

Arcadia

Synopsis
Using footage from both national and regional archives, director Paul Wright explores our changing relationship with the land we live in. The film creates a mosaic of contrasting images, sounds and moods, taking in folk carnivals and masked parades, hunting and harvesting, communes and raves, mechanisation, environmental issues, fires, floods and storms. The archive material draws from more than 100 years of Britain on film, incorporating around 100 films/TV programmes; the work is set to a new score by Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp).
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
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Year of release
2017
Subjects
Film studies
Keywords
British cinema; British newsreels; archival film

Credits

Director
Paul Wright
Music
Adrian Utley; Will Gregory

Distribution Formats

Type
DVD
Format
Region 2 PAL
Price
£14.99
Availability
Sale
Duration/Size
78 minutes
Year
2018

Distributor

Name

BFI Distribution

Email
bookings.films@bfi.org.uk
Web
http://www.bfi.org.uk/distribution External site opens in new window
Phone
020 7957 8938/8935
Address
21 Stephen Street
London
W1P 2LN
Notes
The British Film Institute is a specialist non-theatric rental distributor of international fiction and documentary films on 16mm and 35mm film, as well as VHS and DVD video. The holdings are so vast that only those titles available on DVD and HD Digital are listed in full on the website, so it is worth enquiring about specific titles that might only be available for hire in other formats. The BFI has partnered with on-line platforms such as lovefilm and blinkbox to deliver a selection of films to buy or rent in digital format, and others are streamed free of charge on the BFI’s YouTube channel or as dowloadable clips on the Creative Archive section of the BFI’s own website.

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