The Flatpack Film Festival
From the 13th to the 22nd of April, venues across Birmingham will be hosting the Flatpack Film Festival. If you’ve never been to a film festival before, this is a great chance to see one locally and if you’re well acquainted with film festivals already, Flatpack promises to have different events every day to attend; from film to theatre, music to workshops!
Celebrating 50 years of art and creativity in the city
This year Flatpack has somewhat of a theme with a focus around the year of 1968, celebrating 50 years of art and creativity in the city. There is a full programme dedicated to this, with the first weekend of the festival focusing heavily on the 60s vibe. There will be photography exhibitions featuring photographs of the lost streets of Balsall Heath, special events and parties!
Throughout the next week, there is a full line up of films, short film collections, music events and workshops on a variety of themes. There are too many to list here, so it’s best to check out their website, however, The Boar Film is at hand to give you a run-down of some of the most exciting events! We’ll be reviewing some of these events too, so keep your eye on the page for the very best of the festival!
The Boar’s picks:
Special Events: Flatpack is showing a rare screening of 1922’s Swedish silent oddity HÄXAN with live narration by Reece Shearsmith and musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. They’re also showing a “live animation” performance of Macbeth from Paper Cinema, a fantastic looking showing of the 1925 film Variety which will be screen accompanied by a live performance of trapeze, acrobatics and physical theatre by RoguePlay Theatre Company, and a live-scored screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger.
Unpacked: A series of workshops with industry professionals from Oscar-nominee and BAFTA-winner Daisy Jacobs to media artist Anna Vasof.
Documentaries: In particular the Italian documentary Spettacolo, about the town of Monticello and the play the residents perform every year, looks excellent. There are documentaries about topics from dance to nuclear fusion, so definitely be sure to check out their collection!
Shorts: Shorts are some of the best things at any film festival, period. Flatpack has a whole section dedicated to short collections, some of which are shown in pubs and cosy locations across the city!
Pin Cushion: Remember our interview with director Deborah Haywood? If you have your own questions, here’s your chance! The showing of her debut feature is followed by a Q&A with the director.
The Eyeslicer: A quirky oddity in the festival, the ‘Eyeslicer’ is a selection of shorts that is 10 hours long, all made by young independent American filmmakers and animators. It’s drop-in-drop-out and totally free!
It’s a packed programme and right on our doorstep, so if you’re stuck for things to do over the Easter holidays and want to get involved with some movie mania, head over to the Flatpack festival!
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