John Akomfrah’s entrancing experimental film combines archive imagery with the striking wintry landscapes of Alaska to paint a picture of the immigrant experience in the UK.

Through the suggestive lens of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey and loosely inspired by existential science fiction, The Nine Muses offers a stylised and idiosyncratic retelling of the history of mass migration to post-war Britain.

With glorious shots of Alaskan shores and the beautiful desolation of barely travelled snowy roads; a soundtrack rich in readings, from Beckett to Dante to T. S. Eliot; and the music of Arvo Pärt and India’s Gundecha Brothers, Akomfrah presents a haunting journey through myth and landscape.

Screening as part of our Out of Arcadia season – Akomfrah’s piece on the theme of migration rests, similarly to Paul Wright’s Arcadia, on a reimagining of the archive, charting our changing relationship to the land through reframing historic footage.

John Akomfrah’s powerful Mimesis: African Soldier is also screening at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery until 8 Jan.

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