This October, acclaimed Mancunian electronic outfit Space Afrika unites with filmmaker Valentin Noujaïm for the premiere of Opera Omnia at Aviva Studios, performed live with Manchester Camerata.
Equal parts music video and arthouse odyssey, the captivating new film combines Noujaïm’s thrilling cinematic flair with the sonic innovation of Space Afrika’s soundtrack to render a vivid, haunting portrait of Manchester after dark, followed by a reading from Dante’s Inferno and a one-off collaborative set with new, unreleased music by Manchester Camerata, widely regarded as the UK’s most relentlessly pioneering orchestra.
Opera Omnia follows two Black teenagers on a foreboding, hallucinatory night through the city as their urban adventure contorts into a Lynchian journey through Manchester’s sinister underbelly, guided by Space Afrika’s eerie soundscapes.
Renowned for their genre-bending approach to composition, homegrown duo Space Afrika (Josh Inyang and Joshua Tarelle Reid) have established a global reputation as contemporary composers, visual artists, performers and NTS Radio hosts. Last year’s Factory International showcase saw them create an immersive audio-visual installation as part of the 54: Collective. French-Lebanese artist and filmmaker Valentin Noujaïm specialises in unpacking the conventional limitations and boundless potential of the moving image.
Together, they deliver a wholly unique evening of multi-disciplinary experimentation, alongside live musical performance and beguiling audial textures drawn from the city’s cultural personality.
Book tickets below.
Sun 5 Oct, 7pm, Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ, £22.50
factoryinternational.org
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Tue 12 Aug 2025
