Genome Chronicles 2009

Directed by John Akomfrah

The Genome Chronicles is an epic investigation, unbounded by traditional notions of time, into the relationship between image and memory. Fusing personal archival material of Donald Rodney with newly shot footage and material from Smoking Dogs Films personal archive of images and textures to create a poetic personal landscape. Conceived as a “song cycle” in ten distinct but interrelated parts, The Genome Chronicles is organised by music from a variety of genres such as Tibetan chants, Indian Ghazals and post-punk noise pieces. The film uses this montage of sounds to explore overlapping concerns on the ethics of image making, on legacy and inheritance and on the unspoken perils of patrimony and kinship.