Matter of Britain
Peter Treherne / United Kingdom / 2026 / European Premiere / 103 min
An enchanting film about an entire British village reenacting the myth of the Holy Grail over the course of a year. A striking debut film with enormous imaginative power.
One of the most famous myths in medieval literature is that of the Holy Grail. In the story, King Arthur’s knights ride out to find the grail that will heal their land, which has been laid waste by human greed and violence. More than a thousand years later, the inhabitants of an English village reenact the myth in a collective performance that takes place over an entire year in the twilight between the mythological Middle Ages and our own moment.
Suddenly, today’s rainy and windswept England becomes a place full of knights in chain mail and armor, flanked by both angel choirs and devils. In between, however, a combine harvester has to mow the fields before a battle can be fought, and the knights keep their feet warm in modern boots.
British artist Peter Treherne’s debut film is a supernaturally beautiful document that, with simple means and great loyalty to the cast, sets the imagination spinning. Treherne himself has called his film an ethnographic fantasy. In a time when nature is once again suffering from human greed, Sir Lancelot and Sir Percival must once again mount their horses and set out in search of the Holy Grail, which can save us from all our sins.