Sam Williams
The Eel's Tale (2025)

The Open Road: Online Screening
 

We are thrilled to be presenting Sam Williams' newly developed film The Eel’s Tale online for a limited time as part of The Open Road.

Drawing upon the radical structure and spirit of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, The Eel’s Tale is a multi-species portrait of the lives found in Kent’s wetlands.

Tracing the life cycle of the European eel, and its elusive presence in the Kent’s waterways, Sam Williams’ The Eel’s Tale explores how a creature defined by its journeys across national borders, changing environments, and bodily transformation can redefine how we understand our place in the world. Considering the boundaries that separate us from each other, the land, and our multispecies kin, the film asks: “Are we free to move?”

Commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, The Amelia Scott, Cement Fields, FLAMIN, Forma, and Three Rivers, The Open Road reimagines the timeless tale of a journey taken. Loosely inspired by The Canterbury Tales, each film charts a distinct path, drawing on various storytelling traditions to explore ideas of migration and belonging, untold histories, and the deep connections between humans and the more-than-human world.

Let us know what you think of the works commissioned for The Open Road by filling in our audience survey HERE.

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The Eel’s Tale has been commissioned by Cement Fields and FLAMIN (Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network) for the The Open Road. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.