Drawing upon the radical structure and spirit of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Sam Williams' new work is a multi-species portrait of the lives found in Kent’s wetlands. Framed by the migratory story of the European eel in its journey from the Sargasso Sea to the rivers of Kent, a cast of local characters speak to their experiences navigating through the landscape, drawing a lyrical connection between human and non-human life. In The Eel’s Tale, we discover how the eel’s journeys through national borders and changing environments can redefine how we understand our place in the world. By considering the borders that separate us from each other, the land, and our multispecies kin, the film asks: “Are we free to move?"

Sam Williams is an artist with a practice that intertwines moving-image, collage, choreography, sound and writing. His ongoing research focuses on multispecies entanglements, ecological systems, bodies-as-worlds and folk mythologies and how they propose possibilities for present and future ways of non-human-centric living. Sam is based in London where he is a resident at Somerset House Studios. He has presented work at institutions including Chisenhale Gallery, Arnolfini, Siobhan Davies Dance, Somerset House, Tate Britain, Studio Voltaire and South Kiosk (UK), She Will (Norway); Röda Sten Konsthall (SE); Kino Arsenal, Akademie der Kunst, Tanzhalle Wisenberg and B3 Biennale (Germany).

Commissioned for The Open Road by Cement Fields and FLAMIN (Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network). Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Presented in Canterbury as part of Canterbury Festival 2025.