Film, and then some birmingham, uk 20–30 March 2014
flatpackfestival.org.uk
Grayson Perry: The Vanity of Small Differences 14 Feb - 11 May
A series of six tapestries by Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry created during the Channel 4 television series All in the Best Possible Taste, exploring his fascination with British taste and tell a story of class mobility.
New Art West Midlands 2014 14 Feb - 18 May
A showcase of new work by some of the best artists graduating from University art schools in the region. Also taking place at: Grand Union, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. newartwestmidlands.org
For the Record 27 Jan – 29 Jun
For the Record is the first exhibition to re-launch the Waterhall Gallery; a dedicated space for showing Birmingham’s modern and contemporary art collections. This exhibition explores themes of preservation, recording and tradition in the work of a range of female artists. Arts Council Collection Partnerships supported by Christie’s.
Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close, 2012 by Grayson Perry © the artist. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London and British Council. Gift of the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery with the support of Channel 4 Television, The Art Fund and Sfumato Foundation with additional support from AlixPartners. The UK tour of the tapestries is supported by the Art Fund and the Sfumato Foundation.
Supporters
Contents 5
INTRODUCTION
6
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
8
FULL PROGRAMME including
9
Partners
FILM BUG
14
CAFÉ NEURO
16 • 30 • 36 COLOUR BOX
22
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
CALENDAR
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BIRMINGHAM GUIDE & FESTIVAL TEAM
41
MAP & BOOKING INFO Est. 1876
42
INDEX
SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS THIS IS FOR YOU
Gym Party
Sun 25 May Join us to celebrate the start of summer with a programme packed with festival spirit.
Wed 23 & Thu 24 Apr A razor sharp and darkly comic exploration of our universal desire to win.
BALLETLORENT AND NORTHERN STAGE
Put Your Sweet Hand in Mine
Rapunzel
Thu 29 – Sat 31 May
written and performed by Andy Field and Ira Brand Fri 25 Apr This is a show about love. It is a show about candlelight and longing and catching the eye of a stranger unexpectedly in the theatre or on a train.
GECKO
A spellbinding retelling of a classic fairytale, balletLORENT’s Rapunzel is full of colour and emotion and is as much for adults as it is children.
SCIENCE MUSEUM LIVE
The Energy Show Tue 3 Jun
Institute by Amit Lahav Tue 13 – Fri 16 May
COMEDY FILM
dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip
The Horne Section
Only Lovers Left Alive 15
support: ITCH and Sarah Williams White
Mon 5 May
Fri 21 – Tue 25 Mar
The first band to ever host Never Mind The Buzzcocks will be rolling into town with a barnstorming show, providing top-notch musical mayhem for the night.
Indie director Jim Jarmusch’s (Broken Flowers) new film is a poetic twist on the vampire genre starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as undead lovers Adam and Eve.
Fri 25 Apr Visually and musically dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip defy any prefab industry model with their towering structures of Casio enthused electrohip-pop.
Rufus Wainwright
Comedy Central Nights Sun 18 May & Sun 15 Jun
support Lucy Wainwright Roche
A triple bill of up-and-coming comedy acts featuring comedians such as Gary Delaney, Nathan Caton and Brett Goldstein.
Sun 27 Apr One of modern music’s most innovative talents will be performing an intimate solo show at Warwick Arts Centre this coming April.
Teenage 12a Wed 2 & Thu 3 Apr Based on Jon Savage’s 2007 book of the same name, this fascinating documentary uses archive and newsreel footage to explore the origins of teen culture.
Rocket 12a Jon Richardson The Wed 9 & Thu 10 Apr Nidiot
The Fall
Thu 22 May Jon Richardson is checking his tyre pressures, hoovering his floor mats and putting an emergency packed lunch in the boot of his car, ready to hit the road again.
Thu 1 May English post-punk band The Fall perform classics and songs from their 30th studio album, Re-mit.
Jeremy Deller curates All That Is Solid Melts Into Air Fri 2 May – Sat 21 Jun A Hayward Touring Exhibition Jeremy Deller takes a personal look at the impact of the Industrial Revolution on British popular culture, and its persisting influence on our lives today. Deller combines contemporary music, film and photography with 19th century objects, approaching this material like a social cartographer to reveal the ley lines of cultural history.
A visually stunning coming of age story about a 10 year old boy leading his family across Laos in search of a new home.
The Fall
dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip
The Energy Show
Institute
Gym Party
Critically acclaimed physical dance theatre company Gecko return with an intimate, funny and revealing exploration of care.
Science Museum Live presents The Energy Show: explosive family theatre for curious minds.
MUSIC
Rufus Wainwright
Family Day
MADE IN CHINA
MEAD GALLERY
Rapunzel
THEATRE & DANCE FAMILY
Warwick Arts Centre
@warwickarts
box office 024 7652 4524 / warwickartscentre.co.uk
Warwick Arts Centre, The University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL
8 t h A n n ua l F l at pack F i lm F est i va l
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Here you hold the roadmap to eleven days of amazing events and screenings in venues all over Birmingham, taking you from a Korean-style DVD lounge to canalside walks, from once-lost archive treasures with live music to the best new films from around the world. We’ve gone the full three Fs this year and called ourselves Flatpack Film Festival, but as ever we’re defining ‘film’ very broadly. This whole thing is one giant chemistry experiment, and none of it happens without a lot of people giving their time, imagination and resources. There isn’t the room to thank everyone here, but please check out the full cast list on our website.
Live events & parties New features animation Documentaries Artists’ film & installations Walks & talks shorts FAMILY FILM archive & reissues
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Highl Live cinema
ANIMATION
We may have finally outed ourselves as a film festival, but performers, artists and musicians continue to play a vital role in Flatpack.
If you decided to limit yourself only to animation events you could still have a pretty busy time at the festival, joining the dots between rarely-screened rediscoveries and new work hot off the presses.
When it comes to live soundtracks this year you’re spoilt for choice, from the beautiful rescore of Nosferatu at Birmingham Cathedral (p.17) to a sonic overhaul of Peter Fonda obscurity Idaho Transfer (p.29). An ensemble from the Conservatoire will accompany Joris Ivens’ short documentary Rain (p.13), and a motley gypsy folk trio invite you to help them score a selection of cartoons gathered on their travels (p.16). To top it all off John Sweeney assembles a trio to help bring to life films unseen for over a century, in PHONO-CINÉMA-THÉÂTRE (p.17). On the performance side, Miwa Matreyek’s blend of digital trickery and shadow puppetry needs to be seen to be believed (p.24), while Jodie Mack turns the demise of her parents’ poster business into a mock rock epic (p.25). Birmingham collective Sellotape Cinema (p.9) spin stationery into gold, and Bristol artist STEPHEN CORNFORD’s expanded cinema performance brings a 16mm projector face-to-face with itself (p.31). Over the opening weekend, Café Neuro (p.14-15) includes an opportunity to eat your food off an OHP, a visit from the Cabinet of Living Cinema, and a game of Kino Bingo.
Special guests this year include Estonian legend PRIIT PÄRN and a group from the brilliant Tokyo DVD label Calf (p.18), both visiting Birmingham City University to screen their work as part of new student-led strand Swipeside. Unsung hero Gisaburo Sugii also gets his due with a series of screenings including a one-off 35mm outing for his metaphysical kids movie NIGHT ON THE Galactic Railroad (p.36) and a new portrait of the man himself (p.28). Other influential gems from the past include a programme of work by Saul Bass (p.39) and a sharp selection of cartoons from America’s UPA Studios (p.17). As well as the likes of Miwa Matreyek and Jodie Mack interacting with their own work (see Live Cinema), new animation this year includes a survey of Austria’s experimental scene (p.36) and the topsy-turvy anime of Patema Inverted (p.13). Once again two packed programmes of shorts gather the best new work from across the world (p.24 and 36) and the Colour Box section (see opposite) is packed with animation for all ages.
8 t h A n n ua l F l at pack F i lm F est i va l
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lights BIRMINGHAM-ON-SEA
BILL MORRISON
COLOUR BOX
Despite – or perhaps because of – its land-locked position, Birmingham has had a long-standing love-affair with water. This year Flatpack undertakes a full investigation of the city’s aquaphilia, from our oft-quoted claim to outstrip Venice in canals (p.38) to our obsession with seaside holidays (p.17). A variety of walks will explore nautical connections (p.10), the source of our lovely tap water (p.16) and the sounds of the Grand Union (p.31). A new video installation by David Rowan – running at mac throughout the festival – gives you privileged access to the River Rea (p.19), and we’ll also be paying homage to Handsworth-born poet Roy Fisher, more adept than most at conjuring up these hidden waterways in words (p.36).
We’ve loved the work of Bill Morrison since seeing Decasia, a symphony of nitrate damage which highlights the accidental beauty that can occur when films age. His films tend to be shaped by a hunt through the archives, and his musical collaborators are an important part of the resurrection process. In the case of new film The Great Flood, the surface decay is still present but our attention is on the unfolding story of the Mississippi floods, given an additional tragic dimension and contemporary relevance by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. We’re delighted to welcome Bill Morrison to Flatpack for the UK premiere of The Great Flood (p.33), and will also take the opportunity to screen Decasia (p.37) and The Miners’ Hymns (p.27).
Our family programme is this year stretched across both weekends of the festival, and offers the usual mix of screenings and activities for younger viewers and doers. Highlights include Caravan of Film, where you can help Trio Damba create the soundtracks to a range of short films (p.16), and a celebration of the mind-boggling fifth series of Adventure Time (p.30). Free workshops will help you to create cut-out films (p.15), handmade animation (p.16) and puppets (p.30), and on the final day there’s a chance to see a newly restored version of French classic The King and the MockinGbird (p.36).
And of course, this doesn’t end at the city’s boundaries. Bubbling up elsewhere in the programme you can find LA power-struggles in Chinatown (p.31), an impressionistic portrait of Granada’s Alhambra (p.13) and a global perspective in the breathtaking Watermark (p.25). Sonic salon If Wet includes a hydrophone demonstration (p.31), and curator Bryony Dixon will delve into early cinema’s obsession with Rough Seas and Unquiet Waters (p.37).
He is not the only artist reworking archive materials in the programme. Imaginary Poland (p.25) is a chance to delve into 70s television’s ‘socialist James Bond’, and new film Year Zero: BLACK COUNTRY (p.25) reimagines the story of Smethwick’s migrant population. Found footage and old movies also provide the raw ingredients for shorts programme LOST and Refound (p.39), including Grease as you’ve never seen it before.
Clockwise from top left: Watermark (p.25); G/R/E/A/S/E (p.39); Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre (p.17); Decasia (p.37); Gerald McBoingBoing (p.17); Miwa Matreyek (p.24); JAM (p.18)
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T h u rs day 2 0 t h — F ri day 2 1 ST o f M a rch V i c tori a n M ag ic LANTERN SHOW Thursday 20 March, 12:00 & 14:00 Winterbourne House and Garden Free (see below for booking) 60 mins
Th e PUNK SINGER Friday 21 March, 18:30 The Electric Cinema £7.50 / £5.50 Dir: Sini Anderson USA 2013, 80 mins, Cert. 15*
Catapulted around the stage with righteous fury and charisma to burn, it’s not hard to see how Kathleen Hanna became a focus and figurehead for the riot-grrl movement of the early 90s. Leaving behind a turbulent childhood, she started out as a spoken-word performer in Olympia, Washington and then decided that if she was going to make a real impact she needed to join a band. One of the best things about Sini Anderson’s portrait is seeing the different forms that Hanna’s creativity takes, from Bikini Kill right up to the point in 2005 where misdiagnosed Lyme disease forced her to pull the plug on electroclash trio Le Tigre. Exhilarating and moving in equal parts. This preview screening is presented in tandem with record emporium Milque and Muhle, and afterwards appropriate tunes will be played by Doll Steak DJs at Cherry Reds on John Bright Street.
If our Box of Light season last autumn whetted your appetite, Winterbourne House and Garden are offering another audio-visual experience, Victorian style. Using glass slides from the University of Birmingham Research and Cultural Collection’s vast archaeological section, this event will explore significant sites and discoveries and highlight a few of the most interesting images in the collection. These events are free entry, but you need to reserve a place by emailing enquiries@winterbourne.org.uk.
Lit tl e Fe e t Friday 21 March, 20:30 The Electric Cinema £7.50 / £5.50 Dir: Alexandre Rockwell USA 2013, 60 mins, Cert. PG* Lana and Nico have lost their mother, and their dad (played by the director) is a useless drunk who wears a panda suit for a living. It sounds like a recipe for misery, but in fact this could be the most pleasure you’ve had in the cinema for a while. Little Feet is a hymn to the way summer days stretch out forever in childhood, as our phlegmatic – and undeniably cute – heroes attempt to chaperone their goldfish across Los Angeles to the coast. Frustrated with trying to get a ‘proper movie’ off the ground, Alexandre Rockwell decided to use various scraps of 16mm film to shoot a script developed with his seven year-old daughter, and ended up recapturing the energy and warmth of his breakthrough work In The Soup (p.28).
T h u rs day 2 0 t h M a rch
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Opening Night A departure from our usual single-event opening nights of previous years, we’re mixing things up this year and kicking off the festival with a series of installations, exhibitions and screenings, culminating in an old-fashioned knees-up.
It Happen ed On e N ight
Eve rybody St re e t + Stre e t Ph oto gr a p hy Exh i bit io n Thursday 20 March, 19:00 6/8 Kafé Free Dir: Cheryl Dunn USA 2013, 83 mins, Cert. 12* Illuminating the lives and work of New York’s iconic street photographers, Everybody Street captures the visceral rush, singular perseverance and at times immediate danger customary to these artists. Presented in association with Birmingham Loves Photographers, who will also be launching an exhibition of street photography in the upstairs café.
A Taste of F l at pack Thursday 20 March, 17:30 Home Café Deli Free 60 mins With films handpicked from all of our shorts programmes, this eclectic compendium should help you map out your itinerary for the rest of the festival.
Fl e a p it Ci n e m a Thursday 20 March Dinner from 18:00, Film 20:15 Opus Restaurant £14 Dir: Frank Capra USA 1934, 105 mins, Cert. U
Kicking off a series of food and film events running through the festival, Opus Restaurant are serving up two courses from their seasonal market menu to precede one of the greats from Hollywood’s golden age. It Happened One Night was the first film to win all five major Academy Awards, and the appearance of a bare-chested Clark Gable set in motion a 75% decline in American vest sales. Bookings for dinner run from 6 – 7pm, with the film starting at 8:15pm. To book, call Opus on 0121 200 2323.
Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 March 12:00 - 20:00 Free Great Western Arcade Take a stroll down the Great Western Arcade and you’ll find shops, restaurants, and for three days only, you’ll find a cinema. But this is no ordinary cinema - it’s one that you have full control of! Simply scan the QR code with your smartphone, open the curtains and take your pick of the movies. The tiny version – a miniature cinema, small enough to fit in a suitcase, will be on display in Yorks Bakery Cafe (Thusday 20 - Friday 21) and the BMI (Saturday 22).
Se l lota p e Ci n e m a Kn e e s-U p Thursday 20 March, 20:00 onwards The Old Royal Free Join us for a beverage as we take over the upstairs of The Old Royal with various DJs and Sellotape Cinema on hand to provide the visuals via multiple Sellotrope projectors. You’ll have a chance to make your own sticky films, and get a lesson in how to doodle from their mechanical drawing machines.
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T h u rs day 2 0 t h — sat u rday 2 2 n d o f M a rch
Lu n ch D ox Friday 21 March, 12:00 & 13:00 Jekyll & Hyde Free Dir: Various 60 mins, Cert. 18* A recent poll revealed that 60 percent of us eat lunch at our desks. Bad times. Why not mix things up today, and take in some of the latest international short documentaries while you eat your sandwiches? Drop in at any point between 12-2pm.
Ku ch Ku ch H ota H a i
Pick n M ix 1
Friday 21 March, 18:30 Jojolapa £15 Dir. Karan Johar India 1998, 177 mins, Cert. U
Saturday 22 March, 15:30 Birmingham and Midland Institute Free Dir. Various 90 mins, Cert. 15*
This Hindi coming-of-age rom-com from the late 90s is an absolute treat. A three hour epic full of song and dance numbers with a heart-warming love story to boot. To make sure you don’t go hungry, there’ll be a three course Nepalese buffet – for the full menu see the Flatpack website. Film starts at 19:00 prompt. To book, call Jojolapa on 0121 212 2511.
Ch a p l i n: A Cent u ry o n Scre e n Saturday 22 March, 15:30 Old Joint Stock Theatre Free Dir: Charles Chaplin 75 mins, Cert. PG In 1914, a funny little chap called Chaplin made his screen debut. 100 years on, he’s still making us laugh. We pay tribute to the little tramp with three of his Mutual Studio shorts, Easy Street, The Adventurer, and his first true masterpiece, The Vagabond.
Our ever popular Pick n Mix programmes are back again this year (see p.36 for PnM 2), featuring Sandy, a fictional animation about Joseph Mann’s beach holiday memories as a child, a few docs including Edinburgh College of Art graduate Duncan Cowles’ personal account of his relationship with his father, and Cristina Picchi’s award-winning Zima – a beautifully filmed journey through North Russia and Siberia.
Fi lm b ug 20-23 MARCH, COLMORE BUSINESS DISTRICT
Back for a third year, Film Bug is our annual foray into the heart of Birmingham’s commercial quarter and this year boasts an even grander programme with live scores, shorts programmes, feature films, talks, demonstrations, installations, walking tours and much more. Whether you’re just dipping in on your lunch-hour or blocking out the weekend for it, there’s genuinely something for everyone to get their teeth stuck into. Take a stroll around the district, and look out for our A-boards – most of what’s on offer is free. Film Bug is created in partnership with Colmore Business District.
F or m ore F i lm B u g events See Opening Night (p.9), Cafe Neuro (p. 14-15) and Nosferatu (p.17)
An ch o rs aw e igh!
Wh ose Ro u n d Is It Any way?
Saturday 22 March, 11:00 Start at BM&AG, Main Entrance £8 / £6 90 mins Cert. PG
Saturday 22 March 14:00 & 15:30 The Wellington Free Dir: Various 90 mins, Cert. PG
‘Anchors Aweigh!’ charts a meandering course through the backwaters, coves and inlets of Birmingham-on-Sea, sifting through the flotsam and jetsam of the city’s various nautical connections. Our famously landlocked city has nevertheless formed nautical clubs, sailed single-handedly around the world, celebrated aquatic legends of ancient and modern history, created precision maritime instruments, adopted the emblem of the mermaid for its university and the anchor for its assaying office. Discover your Birmingham sea legs on this 90-minute guided tour with Ben Waddington, washing up at the Anchor Inn, Digbeth where we will trade unlikely scaryarns and splice the mainbrace with a ration of rum.
Fantabulous 5D Food Experience Saturday 22 March, 12:00 Old Joint Stock Theatre Free Dir: Various 100 mins, Cert. PG* Labelled as “Britain’s foodiest town” (The Guardian), Birmingham has an important relationship with grub, and this selection of food films takes us on a journey through the Midlands, illustrating the Brummies’ appetite for cuisine. Accompanying each film will be an item of food, with a theatrical performance to boot. This really is 5D cinema. Curated by Chadwick Jackson.
There are few institutions so central to Britain’s community life as the local boozer. And despite the fact 18,000 have shut their doors in Britain over the last 30 years, it’s still a haven for many of us, and so we pay homage to the pub with a selection of archive films about our treasured watering holes. Featuring two of the Pythons (Palin & Jones) in a 70s promotional film for Guinness, and some local footage of Midlands taverns provided by the Media Archive for Central England. Screens again on Sunday 30 (see p.38).
T h u rs day 2 0 t h — sat u rday 2 2 n d of Ma rch
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Vi de o Ju k e b ox Friday 21 March, 17:30 Yorks Bakery Café Free Dir: Various 60 mins, Cert. 12* The music video continues to be a source for some of the most inventive filmmaking around. Here’s a chance to catch up with some of the best promos from the last 12 months.
Slow Lig h t Saturday 22 March, 12:00 6/8 Kafé Free Dir: Various 45 mins, Cert. PG
T h e L ast L augh Saturday 22 March, 20:00 Hotel du Vin Free Dir: F.W. Murnau Germany 1924, 90 mins, Cert. U The first of two Murnau films over the weekend (see Nosferatu, p .17) sees Emil Jannings playing an aging doorman, who gets fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel, and is then forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society. A landmark silent film, and one that regularly finds its way into ‘greatest films’ lists.
Since the dawn of film, photographers and animators have been experimenting with lights and long exposures. A century on, light painting is still hugely popular as this programme of shorts testifies. Featuring new work by Japanese duo Tochka (who will be following the screening with a light painting workshop (see below)).
Tochka: Light Painting Workshop Saturday 22 March 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00 6/8 Kafé Free 40 mins, Cert. PG Animation workshops don’t come much more fun than this one. Japanese arts collective Tochka will be here to help you create your own moving light paintings, all with the use of a flashlight. Tochka are made up of Kazue Monno and Takeshi Nagata and are part of Calf (see page 18).
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Sat u rday 2 2 n d o f M a rch
Th e Str ange colou r of you r body ’s tears Saturday 22 March, 20:30 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani Belgium 2013, 102 mins, Cert. 18
Aside from being a title that stubbornly resists abbreviation, The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears is the second loving homage to giallo by husband-and-wife team Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet, after 2009 thriller Amer. While the label “not for the faint-hearted” may get bandied about quite a lot these days, this really is one film that warrants it. Ladlefuls of sexuality, saturated colour and sleep-preventing terror are applied, as we follow one man’s search for answers following his wife’s seemingly inexplicable disappearance from their labyrinthine apartment block.
A STORY O F CHILDREn a n d fi l m Saturday 22 March, 18:00 mac birmingham £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Mark Cousins UK 2013, 106 mins, Cert. PG With the core footage shot in less time than it will have taken you to watch his epic The Story of Film: An Odyssey, Mark Cousins’ latest essay on the moving image looks set to take us back to the time when we were all influenced most by the silver screen: childhood. In A Story of Children and Film, Cousins mixes what is effectively a home-movie of his niece and nephew at play with his familiar collage of clips and commentary, gathering an illuminating range of examples from Ozu and Loach to Margaret O’Brien and Drew Barrymore. There are some great examples of children on film in this year’s programme – most notably Little Feet (p.9) and The Strange Little Cat (p.28).
Sat u rday 2 2 n d o f M a rch
Ta l k th e walk
139 5 Days W i t h o u t Red
Saturday 22 March, 10:30 A3 Project Space £7/£3.50
Saturday 22 March, 15:30 mac Birmingham Free Dir: Šejla Kameric & Anri Sala Bosnia & Herzegovina 2011, 110 mins, Cert. PG
Artist Tim Knowles has taken on a series of exploratory, map-free walks across various terrain, afterwards retracing his route using GPS records. Today he’ll be talking about his practice as part of a study day involving a range of other footloose artist-pedestrians.
The Siege of Sarajevo lasted for 1395 days. In this haunting film a woman (Maribel Verdú) makes her way across the deserted city, running the gauntlet of what was known during the war as Sniper Alley. Introduced by Eleanor Nairne, Curator of Public Programmes at Artangel.
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Wate r-M i rro r o f Gr a na da (Agua e sp e jo Gr a na d i no) Saturday 22 March, 11:00 - 18:00 Ikon Gallery Free Dir: José Val del Omar Spain 1955, 23 mins, Cert. PG* José Val del Omar was a restless experimental filmmaker and inventor of audio-visual gadgetry who somehow managed to carve out a career in Franco’s Spain. This beautifully impressionistic portrait of the Alhambra forms the first part of his Elementary Triptych of Spain, a patch-work of time-lapse footage, documentary snippets and colour filters all underscored by a rhythmic, diaphonic soundtrack that was way ahead of its time. Please note that this film includes some stroboscopic effects. The film will play on a loop from 11am.
EISLER SHORTS Saturday 22 March, 16:00 Rep - The Door £10/£7 Dir: Various 110 mins, Cert. PG* Hanns Eisler’s life as a composer offers a window on the tumult of the 20th century: wounded in the first World War; studied under Schoenberg; began a lifelong collaboration with Bertolt Brecht; fled the Third Reich for Hollywood exile; ostracised as a Communist, and ended his career in East Germany where he wrote the GDR’s national anthem. This afternoon we follow this journey through a diverse range of short films featuring Eisler’s music, including a live performance of his score for Joris Iven’s Rain (1929) by an ensemble from Birmingham Conservatoire. Elizabeth Adam from the Conservatoire will also sing a selection from the composer’s Hollywood Songbook. Part of the REP’s Epic Encounters season, which includes David Bowie in Baal (p.19).
PATEMA INVERTED Saturday 22 March, 18:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Yasuhiro Yoshiura Japan 2013, 99 mins, Cert. PG* Patema is a teenage girl who lives as part of an underground community, confined there thanks to a switch in gravity which would send them flying off into the sky if they went above ground. When she ventures into the ‘danger zone’ and encounters Age, a boy subject to opposite forces, an unlikely bond is forged. Yasuhiro Yoshiura uses this bizarre scenario for comedy, but also to play with perspective and create a sense of topsy-turvy weightlessness. The result is a charmingly skewed anime that has already picked up a number of festival awards.
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THURSDAY 2 0 t h — F ri day 2 1 st o f M a rch
Over the past few years, advances in imaging technology have offered up fascinating insights into the way the human mind works. But what does neuroscience tell us about the film-going experience? Can br ain-scanning really help us to make more exciting movies, or more effective advertising? With the support of the Wellcome Trust, Café Neuro is an exciting new collabor ation between Flatpack and the University of Birmingham’s School of Neuroscience. As part of Film Bug, this weekend of screenings, talks and activities will give you an opportunity to delve into the exciting, fertile territory where cinema and science meet, and to think about what happens in our heads when we watch a film. Events are free entry unless otherwise stated. Now you se e it, n ow yo u d o n ’ t
BRAIN WAVES
Thursday 20 & Friday 21 March, 11:00 BIAD, Margaret St
Thursday 20 March, 12.00 Jekyll and Hyde Friday 21 March, 14:00 6/8 Kafé
Canadian filmmaker Jared Raab caused quite the viral stir with his latest music video for indie band Young Rival. To some it’s visual snow, to others, it’s far more interesting. See if your brain can visualise the figures behind the noise.
A selection of short films which explore the workings of the mind. Includes Through the Hawthorn, a thought-provoking animation about schizophrenia, The Love Competition, a heart-warming doc in which contestants battle it out to see who can love the hardest (monitored using an MRI machine), and a fictional film about phantom limb syndrome.
NEUROCINEMATICS: THE NEUROSCIENCE O F F ILM
THE CABINET O F LIVING CINEMA : THE SOUND O F MIND
Friday 21 March 18.15 Birmingham and Midland Institute
Friday 21 March, 20:00 Birmingham and Midland Institute £5
This discussion will explore a new area of neurocognitive studies, using movies to study aspects of human cognition that cannot be readily studied in controlled and simplified experimental settings. Uri Hasson (Princeton University, US), a senior author on those studies, will present some of their more recent results, while Gina Rippon, Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging at Aston University, will provide some further perspective on the uses of neuroimaging. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session chaired by Emil Toescu.
The Cabinet of Living Cinema delve into film’s relationship with psychoanalysis, artificial intelligence and neuroscience. Building up live scores using an array of instruments and live foley, the Cabinet explore three themes: Mind, Dreams and the Self. The programme includes excerpts from ground-breaking cinema, award-winning animation, and readings from Mary Shelley and Shakespeare, all exploring what it means to be human.
GHEORGHE MARINESCU: SCIENCE FILM PIONEER Friday 21 March, 12:30 Six Eight Kafe Neurologist Ghorghe Marinescu was the first scientist to make use of film in his research, in order to record the movements of different patients. This short talk by Emil Toescu (University of Birmingham) will include a selection of Marinescu’s work from the Romanian Film Archive.
Alte re d State s Friday 21 March, 20:30 Birmingham and Midland Institute Dir: Ken Russell USA 1980, 102 mins, Cert. 18 Liberally adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the life and ideas of neuroscientist and psychonaut John C. Lilly, this barmy slice of sci-fi horror pretty much ensured Ken Russell’s blacklisting in Hollywood. Nonetheless it stands up well today, with William Hurt in his first film role voyaging into the outer reaches with the help of a flotation tank and a heavy dose of hallucinogens. Also features the screen debut of Drew Barrymore, and the always-watchable Bob Balaban.
Sat u rday 2 2 n d o f M a rch AN EYE ON FILM
I llu m i nat i ng B r a i ns wo rks h op
Saturday 22 March, 11.30 Birmingham and Midland Institute
Saturday 22 March, 11:00 – 13:30; 14:30 – 17:00 Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 15 places per workshop, booking advised. Suitable for age 6 upwards. — Sunday 23 March, 11:00 – 17:00 Thinktank Drop-in workshop, free with Thinktank ticket
Using eye-tracking to investigate film viewing How does the way you watch a movie compare to somebody else? Do the director’s decisions about editing, camera work, sound design, and staging influence what you see on the screen? In this interactive presentation the science of film spectatorship will be introduced and eye tracking - a technique for monitoring how viewers attend to a screen - will be used to expose how film subtly but powerfully shapes viewer cognition. Hosted by Tim Smith, cognitive psychologist at Birkbeck.
This exciting workshop led by Lightbox Cinema delves into the inner workings of the brain with creative stop-motion animation techniques. Learn about the brain and create your own animation about seeing, touching, hearing or smelling. With silhouette cut outs, illuminated coloured tissue paper and transparencies you will be able to recreate the journey of a sense input along the neurons into the brain, and discover how the brain interprets our experience of the world.
COMPANIS PRESENTS… A SCINTILLATING SYNAESTHETIC SUPPER
Join culinary adventurers Companis for a thoroughly multi-sensory experience of food. Inspired by the structural approach to filmmaking, and the neural phenomenon of synaesthesia, this tasting menu will allow you to see, taste, and hear colour as it’s being made.
Based on personal experience, Zanussi’s ingenious, mosaic-like film dramatises the crisis of confidence suffered by a young physics graduate in his search for ‘unequivocal certainties’. Is the human mind capable of true enlightenment? Presented in association with Birmingham International Film Society.
CA FE NEURO : SHORT TALKS Saturday 22 March 14:00 - 16:00 Birmingham and Midland Institute A selection of bite-sized lectures looking at different aspects of the mind. Includes a presentation from Guy Reason (‘i-am’ associates) on neuromarketing; can neuroscience really help us to locate the mythical ‘buy button’ that will bring consumers running? And ‘50 Shades of Brain Imaging’, a participatory talk by Jon Wood (Aston University) which looks at the changing face of neuroscience, and how 19th century discoveries continue to inform neurosurgeons today. Throughout the afternoon you can also take part in ‘The CinEEG Experiment’, conducted by Dr. Martin Vreugdenhil (University of Birmingham) to see how visual stimuli affects brain activity. See the Flatpack website for detailed schedule.
Saturday 22 March, 18:00 Birmingham and Midland Institute Dir: Adam Elliot Australia 2009, 92 mins, Cert. 12
Ever wondered what colour tastes like? Or what sounds it might make? Ever been truly immersed in what you’re eating?
Saturday 22 March, 13:00 Birmingham and Midland Institute Dir: Krzysztof Zanussi Poland 1972, 89 mins
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MARY AND MA X
Saturday 22 March, 14:00 and 18:00 BIAD School of Art £10
THE ILLUMINATION
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Plasticine animator Adam Elliot made the leap into features with this beautiful, melancholic tale of an unlikely penpal correspondence between two misfits; an eight year-old girl in the Melbourne suburbs (Toni Collette), and an obese New Yorker with Asperger Syndrome (Philip Seymour Hoffmann). As with Elliot’s shorts, flawed human beings are rendered with warmth, wit and zero sentimentality, and the depiction of autism puts most Hollywood treatments to shame.
BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY IMAGING CENTRE Saturday 22 March, 11:00, 12:00 and 13:00 (visits on the hour) University of Birmingham Neural imaging provides the basis for many of these discussions, and this is a rare opportunity to visit a research centre dedicated to study of the human brain. Facilities include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and transcranial magnetic and direct current stimulation (TMS/TDCS). Spaces are strictly limited, and need to be booked in advance. See website for details.
Ki no Bi ngo Saturday 22 March, 20:00 Old Joint Stock £5 As we approach the end of Café Neuro, it’s time to give your brain a work-out. Using multiple 16mm projectors, host and projectionist David Leister’s legendary Kino Bingo is a fiendish game in which you must match onscreen details with the cryptic clues on your Kino Bingo card. By spotting the relevant film noir clips, you could win one of their fabulously redundant prizes! Plus assorted short films and DJs.
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S u n day 23 rd o f M a rch
Ca rtoo n Ro ck Sunday 23 March, 14:00 Library of Birmingham, Studio Theatre £5/£1 for children under 12 Dir: Various 80 mins, Cert. PG* The return of Flatpack’s popular matinee show with a selection of cult family favourites, some of them familiar and some which you may never have heard of. (Though if you’re over a certain age they may stir up distant childhood memories.) All of these films will be screened from actual 16mm prints, with comforting projector noise included in the price of admission.
H a n d - D r aw n Animation Workshop Sunday 23 March, 11:00 - 16:00 Library of Birmingham, Mezzanine Free Paint, draw and animate directly onto 16mm film, and see your work come to life as it runs through the projector. This free drop-in workshop will also include a chance to make other optical toys including flipbooks and zoetropes.
Bob Stanley: Pop Double-Bill Sunday 23 March, 15:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 80 mins, Cert. PG*
As well as making plenty of his own great pop as one third of Saint Etienne, Bob Stanley recently achieved the impossible with Yeah Yeah Yeah - a comprehensive and engaging history of modern pop music. Today he’ll be presenting a pair of brilliant films on almost-forgotten teen sensations. LONELY BOY
(Canada 1962, 27 mins, pictured) is a vérité snapshot of the Bieber-like mania surrounding young Canadian crooner Paul Anka. TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR
(UK 1973, 50 mins) is a TV documentary about EMI’s attempt to manufacture their own Jimmy Osmond in the shape of 12 yearold Darren Burn.
B i rm i ng h a m o n ta p Sunday 23 March, 11:00 Custard Factory, Reception £8/£6 120 mins
Ca r ava n o f Fi l m Sunday 23 March, 11:30 Library of Birmingham, Studio Theatre £6/£3 Dir: Various 80 mins, Cert. PG*
Three wandering minstrels have collected a bulging trunk full of cartoons on their travels across Europe, but they need your help to create the music and sound effects. This unique family show features charming animated films of all shapes and sizes from the past hundred years, with live accompaniment by Birmingham-based gypsy folk outfit Trio Damba. After launching at Flatpack, the Caravan of Film will continue to wend its way across the city for the next few months. If you’d like to book a performance or workshop after the festival get in touch with info@flatpackfestival.org.uk.
One of the world’s biggest infrastructure projects at the end of the 19th century, the Elan Valley Dam and 73 miles of pipeline brought Birmingham one of its enduring assets; soft, clean, and eminently quaffable tap water. Before Chamberlain pillaged our corporation pop from Wales, though, it was a very different story. On this leisurely cross-town ramble historian Chris Upton (Newman University) will trace the bloodstream of the city, and show how access to water has shaped its development.
S u n day 23 rd o f M a rch NOS F ERATU Sunday 23 March, 20:00 Birmingham Cathedral £12/£9 Dir: F.W. Murnau Germany 1922, 93 mins, Cert. PG
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Endlessly parodied and plagiarised, the first ever vampire film remains one of the best, and ninety years on it retains the power to chill you to the bone. Summoned to the remote castle of Count Orlok, estate agent Hutter finds a shadowy, nocturnal creature who gets extremely animated at the sight of blood. Before long, Orlok is steaming towards Hutter’s home-town in a boat-load of coffins, with Hutter’s own wife Ellen firmly in his sights… An expressionist fever-dream with moments of surprising tenderness, Murnau’s Nosferatu could so easily have been lost forever. After facing its own (fully justified) charges of plagiarism from the Bram Stoker estate all copies were ordered to be destroyed, but happily one stray print turned up in the USA many years later. The version screening here is from a recent restoration that has done the film full justice at last. Although we’ll grant you it isn’t a silent movie that has suffered from under-exposure, you will see it in a different light tonight thanks to a terrific live score from a Birmingham ensemble made up of Matt Eaton (Pram, Micronormous), Grandmaster Gareth and other members of Misty’s Big Adventure.
PHONO - CINEMA-TH É ÂTRE Sunday 23 March, 15:00 The Barber Institute of Fine Arts £12/£9 Dir: Various 90 mins, Cert. PG*
At the 1900 Paris Exposition visitors had their first taste of sound cinema, thanks to the Phono-Cinema-Théâtre. This special pavilion featured current stars of theatre and variety, including Sarah Bernhardt’s Hamlet and a can-can by Gabrielle Réjane, captured on film with original sound thanks to an ingenious gramophone system. After a century in obscurity these startling short films, many of them in hand-tinted colour, have been restored by the Cinémathèque Française and after being unveiled in Pordenone screen here in the UK for the first time. The material without sound will be accompanied by a live trio led by pianist and arranger John Sweeney. This UK premiere is presented in partnership with the Barber Institute and the University of Birmingham’s Cultural Engagement team.
THEY TOOK US TO THE SEA
UPA CARTOONS
Sunday 23 March, 18:00 mac Birmingham £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 90 mins, Cert. PG
Sunday 23 March, 18:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 90 mins, Cert. PG*
In 1961 John Krish was commissioned by the NSPCC to make a film about the seaside outings they organised for inner-city youngsters. The result is this gem of a half-hour documentary, which follows a group of wide-eyed kids from bomb-damaged Nechells to the front at Weston-super-Mare where they taste the joy of donkey-rides and toffee-apples.
With sinuous lines, bold colours and jazzy editing, UPA made a real splash when it arrived on the animation scene in the 1940s. Avoiding the talking animals and cartoon violence of their rivals, these short films showed a refreshing wit and sophistication, and established a ‘cartoon modern’ style that is still influential today. Some of the studio’s finest moments have now been digitally restored, and this is the first chance to see them in the UK. Along with familiar faces, including the myopic Mr Magoo and the sonically inventive Gerald McBoingBoing, you’ll find more obscure delights: the sassy courtroom show-down of Rooty Toot Toot; James Thurber fable The Unicorn in the Garden; and The Telltale Heart, a splendid Poe adaptation narrated by James Mason.
To accompany the film, the Media Archive for Central England have compiled a selection of home-movies from the 30s through to the 60s, all featuring Brummie coastal escapades. Fresh from this morning’s walk (Birmingham on Tap, opposite), Chris Upton will also be present to talk about the changing face of the Birmingham holiday and the lost tradition of ‘factory fortnight’.
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M o n day 24 t h — w ed n es day 2 6 t h o f Ma rch
This year we’ve been working with a team of students at Birmingham City University to cur ate and deliver a new str and, Swipeside. Focussing on student, emerging, and visually distinctive work, Swipeside takes place at the university’s br and-spanking new building in eastside (next to Millennium Point). Guests will include Nobuaki Doi and Mir ai Mizue (Calf), Priit Pärn (see below), and master of mutating mashups Cyriak, to name a few. Animate Projects will be with us on Wednesday along with a gang of animators (lineup TBC – see website for updates) for a panel discussion focussing on animators, their studios and the tr ansition from aspiring bedroom oper ations to fully-fledged businesses. As well as talks and film screenings, there’s also Story Spline, an unfolding narr ative of words and illustr ations that anyone can contribute to. Drop in to the atrium and you’ll find Story Spline waiting for your contribution – all you need is a pen and a little imagination… The final story will screen on Wednesday night, with a wr ap party to follow.
sw i p e s i de at BCU Parkside
Monday 24 Nobuaki Doi and Calf Retrospective (6pm – 8pm)
Tuesday 25 Mirai Mizue: ‘Wonder of Animation’ Workshop
Wednesday 26 Animate Projects - Studio Panel Discussion (5pm – 6:30pm)
(14:00 – 17:00)
Shorts Programmes (6:30 – 8:30pm)
Priit Parn Retrospective (18:00 – 20:00)
Knees-up (see website for venue details) (8:30pm – 11pm)
CAL F Retrospe ctive A n d scre e n ta l k
In 2010, four friends (three animators and a critic) got together and decided to set up a DVD label. When choosing a name for it, they asked each other “what part of a woman’s body do you like the most?”. One of them answered “the calf”. Thumbs up all round. The label was born.
Monday 24 March, 18:00 BCU Parkside £5 Cert. 12*
You might think that setting up an independent DVD label at a time when disc sales were in rapid decline was a bit of a mad move, but three of four friends just happened to be a group of the most exciting animators working in the artform today. Kei Oyama, Atsushi Wada, and Mirai Mizue have been making waves on the festival scene ever since. Their work is a unique blend of vibrantly colourful, abstract, morphing, humorous, weird, figurative, and occasionally grotesque animation. Here we present a selection of Calf’s most recent output which includes a couple of UK premieres by Oyama and Mizue. So what about the fourth friend? Well, he’s Nobuaki Doi, and when it comes to independent Japanese animation they don’t come much more knowledgeable or passionate than him. He’s written extensively on the subject and will be giving a talk on notable filmmakers from the 1960s onwards, and how Calf has picked up the baton from them.
Pärnography: Selected Works and Screen Talk Tuesday 25 March, 18:00 BCU Parkside £5 Cert. 12*
With an approach described as “an illegitimate cross-breeding of George Grosz, Monty Python, and Jean-Luc Godard”, Priit Pärn is one of the most adventurous and influential animators on the international scene. With an oeuvre of over fifteen animated films spanning five decades, he is forever winning awards, and his work has left its mark on a whole generation of young filmmakers as well as more unlikely descendants, like the Rugrats TV show. For this special presentation, Priit will be here to show a selection of his funny, complex, and playfully surreal short films (amongst them Breakfast on the Grass and Hotel E), and will follow the screening with a talk about his work.
Full details of the Swipeside strand will be available on the Flatpack website from Monday 3rd March and look out for Swipeside leaflets making their way across the city from Thursday 6th March.
T u es day 25 t h o f M a rch
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th e Se con d co m i n g Monday 24 March, 18:30 Carrs Lane Church £5 Dir: Adrian Shergold UK 2003, 144 mins, Cert. 15 Following on from last year’s rare showing of Dennis Potter’s Son of Man, we return to Carrs Lane Church for another unconventional screen Messiah. This time Christ arrives in present-day Manchester in the form of Blockbusters employee Steve (Christopher Eccleston), who discovers his divinity outside a pub and then after forty days on Saddleworth Moor commandeers the Man City ground as his pulpit. Though all of this could be played as satire, writer Russell T Davies and his terrific cast handle tricky territory with a warm and thought-provoking approach, combining humour and drama to speculate on the role spirituality plays in the internet age.
BAAL Tuesday 25 March, 19:45 Library of Birmingham, Studio Theatre £10/£7 Dir: Alan Clarke UK 1982, 62 mins, Cert. 12A* First screened on the BBC in the early 80s and then almost instantly forgotten and hidden away, we are pleased to bring you this rare chance to see Alan Clarke’s bracing adaptation of an early (and uncharacteristic) play by Bertolt Brecht. Making imaginative use of studio sets and split screen, it’s the story of a drifter poet (played by David Bowie) on a course of self-preservation through the destruction of others – including Zoe Wanamaker as his mistress. A number of Brecht’s songs are performed to camera by Bowie, who later recorded them for an EP. Mildly interesting fact: this is the third of Alan Clarke’s television films to screen at Flatpack, after Penda’s Fen and Christine.
DVDBANG 24-30 March, 8:00-2:00 Custard Factory, Lakeside Prices vary - see website The screening room is a privately booked space and films range from U to 18. All ages welcome but ID may be required for certain film choices. DVDBANG is supported by the BFI. With special thanks to Terracotta, Third Window and The Lost Picture Show.
From South Korea’s city streets, DVDBANG is a new format for the UK. Half rental shop, half cinema, DVD-bangs are an icon of Korean entertainment culture. In 24 hour districts, the streets hum with neon signs for spaces to pass cold days and nights with friends or strangers, to bond over a shot of soju, instant noodles and a film. Designed by a London-based collective of ex-expats, designers and builders, DVDBANG is a not-for-profit cinema installation screening South Korea’s finest and wildest imports in a reimagined 24-hour private movie room. 8ft HD projection for a maximum of 8 people at a time, DVDBANG is Flatpack’s smallest cinema, screening what you want, when you want. In a glowing foyer, choose from more than 30 South Korean titles, try local snacks and drinks, and get comfy amongst the neon. Featuring: revenge, comedy, romance, chocolate sticks, beer, dried squid, barley tea, kimchi, sofas, blackout, freebies, dawn discounts and surprise screenings in a cinema like no other. *choice of 1 free Korean beer or tea/coffee + snack with every ticket* *free Korean samples and tasters*
Part of the REP’s Epic Encounters season. See also Eisler Shorts (p.13).
NIGHT MOVES
T h e Da rk Rive r
Tuesday 25 March, 20:30 Millennium Point, Giant Screen £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Kelly Reichardt USA 2013, 112 mins, Cert. 15*
7 February - 27 April mac Birmingham Free
A heart-stopping night-time trip downriver with three environmental activists, on a mission to destroy a hydroelectric dam in Southern Oregon. The contrasting motives and attitudes of the trio are beautifully sketched out, with Dakota Fanning, Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard creating an electricity that grips throughout. As the tale unfolds, their idealism is fiercely tested and notions of guilt and loyalty begin to bite with venom. Quietly amassing a brilliant and distinctive body of work, Kelly Reichardt continues to explore questions of resistance and survival in North America. Following the pared-down western Meek’s Cut-off (screened at Flatpack 2011), Night Moves is Reichardt’s most accessible film yet and confirms her place as one of the most fascinating filmmakers working today.
Toting industrial-strength waders and a camera David Rowan spent the best part of two years exploring the River Rea, from its source in the Waseley Hills down to Spaghetti Junction where it converges with the Tame. For the majority of its course the Rea is concealed in culverts and tunnels. Part of the fascination of this series of short videos is gaining access to a secret, slippery world, and seeing it negotiated by car-drivers, waterfowl and footballing kids. The Dark River builds on Rowan’s previous survey of underground Birmingham, Pacha Kuti X, and was partly inspired by the work of Roy Fisher, a Handsworth-born poet and jazz pianist who has often written about the city’s hidden waterways. On the last day of the festival we’ll be showing Birmingham’s What I Think With, a portrait of Fisher (see p.36). The installation was commissioned by Flatpack as part of Birmingham-on-Sea (p.6), and it sits alongside Walk On, a wide-ranging survey of walking artists which includes Richard Long, Marina Abramovic and Hamish Fulton.
Search ‘Town Hall Symphony Hall’ @THSHBirmingham
Search ‘townhallsymphonyhall’
Jazz, Folk, World & Roots
©James Adams
Jazz, Folk, World & Roots
Eska
Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding & Leo Genovese – The Spring Quartet
©Jimmy Katz
Part of Jazzlines
Thursday 29 May 8.30pm The Hare and Hounds
Part of Jazzlines ©LaNita Adams
Friday 4 April 8pm Town Hall
©Caros Pericias
£10 plus transaction fee*
£25 plus transaction fee*
Film
Sons of Kemet
Alfred Hitchcock’s
Psycho Live
Part of Jazzlines
with live orchestral accompaniment Wednesday 9 April 7.30pm Symphony Hall
Thursday 24 April 8.30pm The Hare and Hounds
£25 plus transaction fee*
£10 plus transaction fee* © Russ Escritt
To see what’s on when, visit www.thsh.co.uk/whats-on
Box office 0121 345 0602 www.thsh.co.uk
Comedy
Kit Downes Quintet & Motif Part of Jazzlines
Rhys Darby: Mr Adventure
Friday 9 May 8pm CBSO Centre
Sunday 20 July 8pm Town Hall
£20 plus transaction fee*
£15 plus transaction fee*
*A £2.50 transaction fee, plus £1 (optional) postage, will be charged on all bookings except purchases made in person at the Town Hall or Symphony Hall Box office.
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SATURDAY 19TH & SUNDAY 20TH APRIL
tickets on sale: 9AM MON 17TH FEB
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What’s on
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Th u rsday 20 th of March
Now you see it, now you don’t Victorian Magic Lantern Show Fleapit Cinema Br ain Waves A Taste of Flatpack It Happened One Night Everybody Street Sellotape Cinema Knees-Up
BIAD School of Art Winterbourne House and Garden Great Western Arcade Jek yll & Hyde Home Café Deli Opus 6/8 K afe Old Royal
11:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00
18:00 15:00 20:00 13:30 18:30 22:00 20:30 23:00
Free Free Free Free Free £14 Free Free
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fri day 2 1 st of March
Now you see it, now you don’t Lunch Dox Fleapit Cinema Gheorghe Marinescu: Science Film Pioneer Br ain Waves Video Jukebox Neurocinematics: The Neuroscience of Film The Punk Singer Kuch Kuch Hota Hai The Cabinet of Living Cinema: The Sound of Mind Punk Singer After Party Altered States Little Feet
BIAD School of Art Jek yll & Hyde Great Western Arcade 6/8 K afe 6/8 K afe York’s Bakery Café Birmingham and Midland Institute The Electric Cinema Jojolapa Birmingham and Midland Institute Cherry Reds Birmingham and Midland Institute The Electric Cinema
11:00 12:00 12:00 12:30 14:00 17:30 18:15 18:30 18:30 20:00 20:00 20:30 20:30
18:00 14:00 20:00 13:00 15:30 18:30 20:00 20:00 22:00 21:15 0:00 22:30 22:00
Free Free Free Free Free Free Free £7.50/£5.50 £15 £5 Free Free £7.50/£5.50
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satu rday 22 n d of March
Talk the Walk Anchors Aweigh! Birmingham University Imaging Centre Illuminating Br ains with Lightbox Cinema Water-Mirror of Gr anada An Eye on Film Slow Light Fantabulous 5D Food Experience Fleapit Cinema The Illumination Tochk a: Light Painting Workshop CAFE NEuro: Short Talks Whose Round is it Any way? A Scintillating Synaesthetic Supper Chaplin: A Century on Screen Pick n Mix 1 1395 Days Without Red Eisler Shorts Mary and Ma x Patema Inverted A Scintillating Synaesthetic Supper A Story of Children and Film Kino Bingo The Last Laugh The Str ange Colour of Your Body’s Tears
A3 Project Space BM&AG, Main Entr ance University of Birmingham Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Ikon Gallery Birmingham and Midland Institute 6/8 K afe Old Joint Stock Theatre Great Western Arcade Birmingham and Midland Institute 6/8 K afe Birmingham and Midland Institute Wellington BIAD School of Art Old Joint Stock Birmingham and Midland Institute mac birmingham Rep - The Door Birmingham and Midland Institute The Electric Cinema BIAD School of Art mac birmingham Old Joint Stock Hotel du Vin The Electric Cinema
10:30 11:00 11:00 11:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:00 12:00 13:00 13:00 14:00 14:00 14:00 15:30 15:30 15:30 16:00 18:00 18:00 18:00 18:00 20:00 20:00 20:30
14:30 12:30 13:00 17:00 18:00 13:00 12:45 13:45 20:00 14:45 16:45 16:00 17:00 15:30 16:45 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:30 19:45 19:30 19:45 23:00 21:30 22:15
£7/£3.50 £8/£6 Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free £10 Free Free Free £10/£7 Free £7.50/£5.50 £10 £7.50/£5.50 £5 Free £7.50/£5.50
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su n day 23 rd of March
Birmingham on Tap Hand-Dr awn Animation Workshop Illuminating Br ains with Lightbox Cinema Car avan of Film Anchors Aweigh! Cartoon Rock Bob Stanley: Pop Double-Bill Phono-Cinema-Théâtre They Took Us to the Sea UPA Cartoons Nosfer atu
Custard Factory, Reception Libr ary of Birmingham Thinktank Libr ary of Birmingham BM&AG, Main Entr ance Libr ary of Birmingham The Electric Cinema The Barber Institute of Fine Arts mac birmingham The Electric Cinema Birmingham Cathedr al
11:00 11:00 11:00 11:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:00 18:00 18:00 20:00
13:00 16:00 17:00 13:00 14:30 15:30 17:00 17:00 19:30 19:30 22:00
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mon day 24 th of March
Calf Retrospective and Screen Talk The Second Coming
BCU Parkside Carrs Lane Church
18:00 18:30
20:00 21:00
£5 £5
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tu esday 25 th of March
Pärnogr aphy: Selected Works and Screen Talk Ba al Night Moves
BCU Parkside Libr ary of Birmingham Millennium Point, Giant Screen
18:00 19:45 20:30
20:00 21:30 22:30
£5 £10/£7 £7.50/£5.50
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Wedn esday 26 th of March
Evolutionary Road The Magic Cinema We Are the Best!
The Electric Cinema Ort Cafe Millennium Point, Giant Screen
18:30 19:00 20:30
20:00 22:00 22:30
£7.50/£5.50 Free £7.50/£5.50
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Live events & parti es
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Th u rsday 27 th of March
Year Zero: Black Country Jodie Mack: Let Your Light Shine This World Made Itself Fame Festival Watermark
Custard Factory Theatre Flatpack Palais Libr ary of Birmingham, Studio Theatre Custard Factory Theatre mac birmingham
18:15 21:00 20:00 20:30 20:30
20:00 23:00 21:15 22:30 22:30
£7.50/£5.50 £6/£4 £10/£7 £7.50/£5.50 £7.50/£5.50
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Fri day 28 th of March
Archive Innovation Lab Seconds The Str ange Little Cat Maia Conr an opening The Miners’ Hymns Black Hole Club Animation Maestro This Ain’t California In the Soup Silent Running Downtown NYC: Henry Hills Talk Smoke and Mirrors Sensateria Belladonna of Sadness Elektro Mosk va
The Bond Custard Factory Theatre The Electric Cinema Gr and Union mac birmingham Vivid Projects Custard Factory Theatre Ideal Sk ate-r amp Flatpack Palais Millennium Point, Atrium Eastside Projects Custard Factory Theatre 22 Green Street The Electric Cinema Custard Factory Theatre
10:00 15:30 18:00 18:00 18:00 18:00 18:15 18:30 19:00 19:45 19:30 20:00 20:00 20:30 22:00
13:00 17:15 19:30 20:00 19:30 21:00 19:45 20:15 21:00 23:30 21:00 21:30 03:00 22:15 23:30
Free £7.50/£5.50 £7.50/£5.50 Free £7.50/£5.50 Free £7.50/£5.50 £4 £5 £12/£10 £4/£2 £7.50/£5.50 £10 £7.50/£5.50 £7.50/£5.50
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Satu rday 29 th of March
SOUNDwalk: Gr and Union Canal Archive Innovation Lab Best of the Magic Cinema Colour Box: Taking Off Model-Making Workshop How We Played the Revolution Black Hole Club Hugo the Hippo I Want to be a Cinema In Conversation - A Snapshot of Chinese Cinema Today Sidewalk Poetry: Selected Films by Henry Hills Adventure Time Chinatown If Wet UK Film Hubs Rock vs Doris: Lover Come Back Mir age Men Medium Cool The Great Flood Solipsism Cinema R andom Acts Party Fake Thackr ay Vic + Flo Saw a Bear Freida Abtan Punk Heritage Brum Viva VHS present: Popcorn + Anguish After-party
Flatpack K avarna The Bond Flatpack Palais mac birmingham mac birmingham Custard Factory Theatre Vivid Projects mac birmingham The Bond Eastside Projects Custard Factory Theatre mac birmingham The Electric Cinema Flatpack Palais Flatpack Palais Custard Factory Theatre The Electric Cinema Libr ary of Birmingham, Studio Theatre mac birmingham Flatpack Palais Flatpack K avarna Flatpack Palais The Electric Cinema Muthers Studio The Edge (Friction Arts) Custard Factory Theatre Spotted Dog
10:00 10:30 11:00 11:00 11:00 12:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:00 15:00 15:00 15:00 17:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:00 20:00 21:00 21:00
16:30 13:00 12:15 12:15 16:00 13:30 17:00 14:30 16:00 16:00 16:00 16:45 17:15 18:00 18:00 20:00 19:15 20:00 20:15 19:00 23:00 21:30 21:45 23:30 00:00 00:30 Late
£8/£6 Free Free £6/£3 Free £7.50/£5.50 Free £6/£3 Free Free £7.50/£5.50 £6/£3 £7.50/£5.50 £7.50/£5.50 £5* Free £7.50/£5.50 £7.50/£5.50 £7.50/£5.50 £5* Free £8/£6 £7.50/£5.50 £8/£6 £3 £7.50/£5.50 Free
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su n day 30 th of March
THE KING AND THE MOCKINGBIRD Pick n Mix 2 Friends and Remedies Calling 07, or A Message From the Past Birmingham’s What I Think With Decasia Night on the Galactic R ailroad Whose Round is it Any way? The Dark House Lindgren & Lanlglois: The Archive Par adox Colour Box: You’ve Got a Friend in Me Occupy Music Rough Seas and Unquiet Waters Post Avantgarde Animation: Austria 2009-2013 More Canals than Venice Exhibition Lost and Refound Saul Bass: Quest + Why Man Creates Short Film Awards + Unlikely Film Quiz Electro Cha abi
mac birmingham Flatpack Palais The Electric Cinema Flatpack Palais mac birmingham The Electric Cinema The Electric Cinema - Screen 1 Spotted Dog Custard Factory Theatre Flatpack Palais mac birmingham Flatpack Palais The Electric Cinema Custard Factory Theatre Flatpack Palais mac birmingham The Electric Cinema Custard Factory Theatre Flatpack K avarna Custard Factory Theatre
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The Dark River DVDBANG Imaginary Poland
mac birmingham Custard Factory, Lakeside Flatpack K avarna
09:00 08:00
22:00 02:00
Free £4-£6 Free
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Note that clocks go forward today
ongoi ng 07/02/2014 — 27/04/2014 24/03/2014 — 30/03/2014 27/03/2014 — 30/03/2014
Artists’ fi lm & i nstall ations
Walks & talks
FAMILY FILM
arch ive & reissu es
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W ed n es day 2 6 t h — T h u rs day 2 7 t h o f Ma rch e vo lu tio na ry roa d Wednesday 26 March, 18:30 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 80 mins, Cert. 15* Our annual round-up of the best international animation spans two programmes again this year. First up, it’s the slightly wacky stuff, the type of films you’d have to be either mad or a genius to make. We may be biased, but in our opinion it’s the latter. Matus Vizar’s Pandas is a whirlwind evolutionary journey which is a joy to behold. Japanese animator Sawako Kabuki’s Ketsujiru Juke is just about as bonkers as they come – there really aren’t words to describe it, you just have to see it. And a year-long project by Midlands animation duo the Brothers McLeod’s – 365: One Year, One Film, One Second a Day – is a testament to dedication, and a compelling watch. .
WE ARE THE BEST ! Wednesday 26 March, 20:30 Giant Screen, Millennium Point £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Lukas Moodysson Sweden 2013, 102 mins, Cert. 15
Bobo and Klara are friends in early 80s Stockholm, two tomboyish 13 year-olds who disdain their permed blonde classmates and form a punk group in order to vent fury over the stupidity of PE lessons. In true punk style neither of them can play for toffee, and they decide to add a bit of musical nous by recruiting shy classical guitarist Hedvig (“we can influence her away from God”). Director Lukas Moodysson comes bursting out of a decade-long bad mood with a film that glows with the kind of warm, spunky ebullience that made Show Me Love and Together such a joy. Adapted from a graphic novel by his wife Coco, We Are the Best! is a hymn to teenage friendships and plotting your own path.
Th e MAGIC CINEMA Wednesday 26 March, 19:00 Ort Cafe Free Dir: Various The Magic Cinema is a DIY film event that gives local filmmakers a chance to show their work and be inspired by the work of others. We have an “open reel” policy which means we’ll show any film we’re given as long as it’s under 10 minutes and as long as the filmmaker comes along to present it. We also try to showcase works from further afield, works that we feel exemplify the DIY spirit of filmmaking. On this occasion our favourite lo-fi filmmaker Owen Davey will be visiting from London to present his mini-opus The Making of Godard and Others – never before seen on the big screen!
THIS WORLD MADE ITSEL F Thursday 27 March, 20:00 Library of Birmingham, Studio Theatre £10/£7 Cert. PG*
Miwa Matreyek is both an animator and a performer, creating beautifully layered digital imagery and then inserting herself into the frame to interact live with the work onscreen. This UK premiere of her new show reimagines the history of the earth, in an immersive visual journey that combines traditional shadow puppetry with eye-popping animation and music by Flying Lotus. This event will also include Matreyek’s 2010 performance Myth and Infrastructure.
To submit a film please email: themagiccinema@live.co.uk. Spaces are limited so first come, first served.
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Fl atpack pal ais + k avarna K avarna opening times:
Thurs - 6pm-11pm; Fri - 12-midnight; Sat - 10am-11pm; Sun - 11-11pm Food served:
Friday, 12–5pm; Sat and Sun, 11-9pm Once again the festival hub has a new home. As with last year, for the climax of Flatpack we’ll be setting up a café-bar and screening/events room, but this time they’re right next to each other. The Spotlight bar on Lower Trinity Street, round the corner from the Custard Factory, will become the Flatpack Kavarna with various discussions and an exhibition throughout the weekend (see Imaginary Poland, below) and Change Kitchen return to provide excellent veggie food. If you’re looking to get your bearings, pick up info or have a drink, mark this place on your map. And step next door to find the Flatpack Palais, a new auditorium space which will host an abundance of screenings – many of them free – and live events including...
Year Ze ro: Bl ack cou n try Thursday 27 March, 18:15 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 80 mins, Cert. PG* A double serving of Black Country films. First up, Barney Snow’s real-life shaggy dog story, Some Day I’ll Find You. Mick Pearson, a retired police inspector is on the trail of a mystery – for the last 50 years, an enigmatic street artist, known as AJW has been leaving handdrawn images of the actor and opera singer Mario Lanza in pubs all over the Black Country. But who is the artist, and why does he do it? Billy Dosanjh’s Year Zero: Black Country builds on the filmmaker’s previous short, the award-winning A Miracle in West Brom. Using previously unseen found footage, recorded anecdotes and fictional diaries, he sketches out the hopes and fears of the thousands of migrants who came to Smethwick in the 1960s to find work as manual labourers.
Wate rmark Thursday 27 March, 20:30 mac Birmingham £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Edward Burtynsky & Jennifer Baichwal Canada 2013, 92 mins Cert. U*
J ODIE MACK : LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE
I m ag i na ry Po l a n d
Thursday 27 March, 9pm Flatpack Palais £6/£8 Dir: Various 80 mins, Cert. PG*
27 - 30 March, during Kavarna opening times Flatpack Kavarna Free
To launch the new Palais, we welcome an American filmmaker who weaves together abstract animation, junk-shop treasure and live performance. Along with a selection of her short films, including 3-D photo-kinetic spectacle Let Your Light Shine, tonight’s show includes rock epic Dusty Stacks of Mom, which rewites The Dark Side of the Moon to recount Mack’s personal experience of ‘how drag-and-drop killed Mom and Pop’s shop.’ Mack’s performance begins at 9.30pm, and before that from 7.30pm a selection of shorts will be screening in the Kavarna.
Providing the perfect global context for our Birmingham-on-Sea theme (p.6), this new documentary takes to the skies to investigate ‘how water shapes us, and how we shape water.’ From the pounding torrents of the Xiaolangdi dam in China to the arid wastes of the Colorado River Basin, a spectacular and sobering series of images eloquently bring home our water-dependence. Watermark is the second collaboration between documentarist Jennifer Baichwal and photographer Edward Burtynsky (after Manufactured Landscapes, 2006), and this time the focus is less on Burtynsky’s work than the world he explores, aided by some astonishing high-definition camerawork.
FAME F ESTIVAL Thursday 27 March, 20:30 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Cert. 15*
This image/text exhibition explores Calling 07, a crime series broadcast by Polish television between 1976 and 1987 and inspired in part by the James Bond character. 007 was considered in communist Poland to be anti-socialist, so an alternative version was created. The original series premiered on 25 November 1976, one day before the release of ‘Anarchy in the UK’ by Sex Pistols. Artist Brendan Jackson, inspired by the ‘socialist Bond’, has initiated a project to explore this murky world. (See also Supported by the Polish Cultural Institute in London.
Over the past few years Angelo Milano has lured a plane-load of brilliant artists including Blu, David Ellis, Momo, Akay and Birmingham’s own Lucy MacLauchlan to a small town in southern Italy, by dangling the carrot of sea, sun and blank walls to paint on. With minimal budget and a tiny team – his dad did the driving, his mum the cooking – he created FAME, one of the world’s most unique and respected festivals of street art. Though some of the artworks have lasted longer than others, thankfully Angelo has done a great job of capturing the whole process on video. Tonight he’ll be talking about the highs and lows of festival organisation, and showing some of FAME’s best films.
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M a i a con r an Opening: Friday 28 March, 18:00 Grand Union Free Grand Union welcomes London-based artist Maia Conran for a solo exhibition featuring a selection of new work. Running through Conran’s practice is a fascination with the stage as a threshold and a place of dualities. Her works move between old and new media, from film to computer animation and from video to sculpture or performance. Runs until 10 May. + Artist’s Talk Saturday 29 March, 13.30–15:00 Join artist Maia Conran for a discussion about her practice with Gil Leung, Head of Programme at LUX.
bl ack hole clu b Friday 28 March, 18:00 - 21:00 — Saturday 29 March, 12:00 - 17:00 Vivid Projects Free
T h i s A i n’ t Ca li f orn i a Friday 28 March, 18:30 Ideal Skate Ramp, Custard Factory £4 Dir: Martin Persiel Germany 2012, 100 mins, Cert. 15
The Black Hole Club launches in March: a lively, daring arts club for artists, curators, academics, musicians and producers to share and test ideas. The club reflects the membership, and is open-minded, eclectic and experimental. Join us at Vivid Projects for the first Superclubber Social – meet the artists, see their work, and hear about their plans for the Black Hole Club.
This skilful film sheds light on the little-documented skateboard scene that emerged in East Germany during the 1980s, using the tale of pack leader Denis “Panik” Paraceck as its central thread. Unfortunately, it turned out that the scene was so little documented that a lot of the gorgeous super 8 and 16mm archive footage gathered here was actually staged by actors. Nonetheless, not all of this film is completely made up; viewers can have fun separating out fiction from fact, and all controversy aside, the actual skating is pure magic. This one-off screening is presented in association with Ideal at their Custard Factory skate-ramp.
The club will be open to individual membership subscription from March 2014. Minimum membership is for 6 months and includes working access to our expansive project space, special events and discounts. Contact info@vividprojects.org.uk for details.
Th e M i n e rs’ Hy m n s Friday 28 March, 18:00 mac birmingham £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Bill Morrison UK 2010, 50 mins, Cert. U A small retrospective of Bill Morrison’s work opens with this beautiful patchwork of footage from north-east England, mapping the rise and fall of the region’s mining industry. Along with the spectacular underground ‘black gold’ sequences that you’d expect there is pageantry and riot police, and threaded through it a rousing, plaintive brass score by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Screening with Just Ancient Loops (2012, 25 mins) a survey of the heavens created by Morrison in collaboration with celloist Maya Beiser and composer Michael Harrison.
t h e St r a ng e li t t le cat Friday 28 March, 18:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Ramon Zurcher Germany 2013, 72 mins, Cert. 12A*
This one-of-a-kind domestic drama marks the arrival of a refreshing talent in Swiss-born filmmaker Ramon Zurcher. He describes his debut as ‘a horror film without any horror,’ and by carefully choregraphing the movements of an extended family within a Berlin apartment The Strange Little Cat spins the everyday into something otherworldly. The characters are all fascinated by the world around them, researching spinning bottles, or the way orange peel falls to the ground, or what happens when you touch a stranger’s foot in the cinema. It sounds odd, and it is – but in a good way.
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I n th e sou p Friday 28 March, 19:00 Flatpack Palais £5 Dir: Alexandre Rockwell USA 1992, 95 min, Cert. 15
F ri day 2 8 t h o f M a rch Watching Alexandre Rockwell’s terrific Little Feet (p.8) made us want to revisit his film In The Soup, one of those groovy indie movies you might have caught on a rainy Tuesday at the Electric (during its early 90s carrot-cake incarnation). Well, it’s still a blast, with Steve Buscemi as a wannabe screenwriter who gets taken under the wing of dubious money-man Joe (Seymour Cassel). Like Little Feet it’s shot in gorgeous black-and-white, and Rockwell takes full advantage of a cast which includes Jennifer Beals, Sam Rockwell, and cameos by Jim Jarmusch and Carol Kane as producers of a nude cable access show.
smoke and m i rrors Friday 28 March, 20:00 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 80 mins, Cert. 15*
This screening is presented in association with Digbeth Diners Club. If you want to enjoy a meal with the film, just pop into the backyard and take your pick from one of their excellent street food stalls including Manila Munchies, The Meatshack and Habanero Cafe.
ELEKTRO MOSKVA Friday 28 March, 22:00 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Dominik Spritzendorfer and Elena Tikhonova Austria 2013, 89 mins, Cert. PG*
Soviet electronic music was always intertwined with the defence industry, right back to theremin-inventor (and KGB advisor) Leon Theremin. This enjoyably droll documentary delves into hidden corners of the USSR’s electronic age, uncovering synthesiser relics in dusty basements and showing how a whole generation of post-Soviet composers are adapting this heavy-duty gadgetry for their own ends. A tribute to the ingenuity that went on behind the iron curtain.
downtow n N yc: HENRY HILLS ta l k Friday 28 March, 19:30 Eastside Projects £4/£2 90 mins The first part of our Henry Hills focus (see page 31 for part 2), has the man himself discussing his work and the 80s downtown art scenes in New York from which it emerged. He’ll be showing clips of a number of his videos, including the rarely seen ‘Naked City’ Series (Gotham, Igneous Ejaculation, & Osaka Bondage). Presented in partnership with the Frontiers Festival - see p.40 for more details.
Belladonna of Sadness Friday 28 March, 20:30 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Eiichi Yamamoto Japan 1973, 93 mins, Cert. 18
Things aren’t always as they seem in this batch of filmed experiments and video essays. Nicolas Provost subverts narrative conventions in the third and final part of his Plot Point trilogy, Tokyo Giants. Presenting the man in the street as a protagonist in the film, Provost hides cameras in the hyperkinetic streets of Tokyo in search for the mystery of reality. Thomas Renoldner’s Sunny Afternoon is a confrontation between a music video and an avantgarde film, posing questions about the conventions, taboos and clichés of different film genres. And Patrick Cederberg & Walter Woodman’s Noah is a tale of deceit and jealousy played out through the interface of a Facebook profile.
An explicit odyssey based on a French novel about Satanism and witchcraft in the middle ages, with a stunning aesthetic more reminiscent of the psychedelic sixties than classic manga or anime. In fact Belladonna of Sadness was produced at the home of popular series Astroboy, but the studio had fallen on hard times and head honcho Osamu Tezuka had recently departed. This was a last throw of the dice for the filmmakers, and it’s fair to say they were not pitching their efforts at a mainstream family audience. The result is a true one-off, and a testament to the skills of animation director Gisaburo Sugii (see Animation Maestro, below).
s eco n ds
a n i m atio n m a e stro
Friday 28 March, 15:30 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: John Frankenheimer USA 1966, 106 mins, Cert. 15*
Friday 28 March, 18:15 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Masato Ishioka Japan 2012, 92 mins, Cert. 15*
As a warm-up to Rock vs Doris (see page 33), Seconds is proof that Rock Hudson was much more than a light romantic character actor. Here he gives a strikingly intense performance as a man desperate for an alternative existence, in a potent evocation of corporate paranoia and the loss of identity. Booed when it debuted at Cannes, viewers in 1966 weren’t quite ready for this dark vision of a technological future. Today however, it’s regarded as a brilliant, harrowing masterpiece.
With credits on series such as Astro Boy and Touch and films like Belladonna of Sadness (screening later tonight), not to mention his own prolific work as a director on films such as Night on the Galactic Railroad (p.36), Gisaburo Sugii has played a significant role in shaping the world of Japanese animation. And yet to the world at large, his name remains relatively unknown. In this documentary on Sugii’s life, works and the wider anime industry, director Masato Ishioka shines a light on the great man.
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S i lent Ru n n i ng Friday 28 March, 19:45 Millennium Point, Atrium £10/£8 Dir: Douglas Trumbull USA 1972, 89 mins, Cert. PG* Douglas Trumbull cut his teeth in the filmmaking business providing the visual effects for Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey at just 26 years of age. By the time he was 29, he was making his directorial debut, a heartfelt parable on man’s destructive and problematic relationship with the earth’s natural resources. Silent Running is set in a future where the only plant-life left is preserved in space by four crewmen aboard the Valley Forge, until one day they’re told to abandon the project, blow up all remaining plants, and return. However, renegade space botanist Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) has other ideas. Preceding the main feature, regular Flatpack collaborators Outer Sight will present a re-edit of Peter Fonda’s ‘72 eco-disaster-time-travel movie Idaho Transfer with a live soundtrack: an adaptation of Bruce Langhorne’s original score featuring guitar, synthesizers, percussion and flute. Buried and neglected at the bottom of public-domain dvd bargain bins for decades, the film’s cult appeal comes from its 70s eco-pessimism, no-budget sci-fi aesthetic. Transforming the atrium of Millennium Point into a set from Silent Running, you’ll find flora in abundance for this immersive evening of music and film, culminating in a semi-horizontal screening on the giant atrium screen. Lie back, and enjoy the ride.
SENSATERIA Friday 28 March, 20:00 22 Green Street £10
The original Sensateria was a back-street cult in the 80s and 90s, its womb-like interior helping to nurture seminal local bands like Broadcast, Pram and Plone (as well as some bloke from Oxford called Thom Yorke). Flatpack have always been suckers for an oil-wheel, and when this legendary psychedelic clubnight made its return last year we jumped at the chance to have them as part of the festival bill. Tonight’s immersive bacchanal will include Swedish psych band The Orange Revival, as well as support from The Velvet Texas Cannonball and the customary mixture of DJs, visuals and rabbit-hole confusion.
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Sat u rday 2 9 t h o f M a rch H ow W e P l ay ed t h e Revolu t i on
Be st o f th e Mag ic Ci n e m a
Saturday 29 March, 12:00 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Giedre Žickyte Lithuania/Frane 2013, 70 mins, Cert. 12A*
Saturday 29 March, 11:00 Flatpack Palais Free 75 mins
As with Elektro Moskva (p.29), here’s a tale of how music and politics became entangled under Communism – though with a more liberating conclusion in this case. The filmmakers argue persuasively for the role in Lithuania’s ‘Singing Revolution’ played by Antis, a theatrical post-modernist band formed as a joke on New Year’s Eve who became a figurehead for a growing independence movement during perestroika. Veterans of the period relive the Rock Marches with a twinkle in their eye, and some of the film’s most moving archive sequences show protestors encouraging elderly villagers to rediscover their long-suppressed national anthem.
Following on from Wednesday’s screening (p.24) we’ve taken this opportunity to show a selection of films that we feel demonstrate the extraordinary things that can be achieved with minimal resources; films that make the most of the freedom gained from working without a budget. The programme focuses largely on the work of local artists, but we’ve also thrown in a couple of obscurities from further afield for good measure. If you leave without a burning desire to make a film of your own then we have failed.
Adve n t u re T i m e
h u go THE H i p p o
Saturday 29 March, 15:00 mac Birmingham £6/£3 Dir: Various 120 mins, Cert. PG*
Saturday 29 March, 13:00 mac Birmingham £6/£3 Dir: Bill Feigenbaum USA/Hungary 1975, 86 mins, Cert. PG*
Shmowzow! With its marathon fifth season winning plaudits and fans globally, we’ll be visiting the magical Land of Ooo to pay tribute to what is probably the best cartoon show ever; Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time. The tale of a boy (Finn) and his shape-shifting dog (Jake), it features a colourful cast of weird characters including Lumpy Space Princess and the bitter, twisted Ice King. If you’ve never seen it, you’re in for a treat; this afternoon’s one-off screening will include various highlights from the current series.
The Sultan of Zanzibar has a problem - his harbour is infested with sharks. With only one option left, he calls upon a herd of hippos to get rid of them. Obligingly, they do the job and the sharks are banished forever. But after a while Zanzibar’s townspeople turn against the hippos, leaving little Hugo to fend for himself. Hugo is a steadfast little character though, and makes a life for himself with the help of a group of friendly children. But will they manage to change the people’s opinions of hippos?
colo u r b ox : Ta k i n g o ff Sunday 29 March, 11:00 mac Birmingham, £6/£3 Some old Flatpack friends crop up in this batch of new animated shorts including Komaneko, the fuzzy felt cat from Japan who finds herself in a bit of a pickle when she’s left home alone for the first time. Miriam, the redheaded Estonian girl who is never without her trusted chicken, is off flying a kite with her little brother when they realise the kite is too big for them to handle. There are also some new faces and places including Hop Frog and his weird and wonderful world where bouncing is contagious, and dotted throughout the programme you’ll find a selection of Tony Dusko’s short, silly, one-minute films; an absolute joy. For children aged 4+.
Join Hugo on a kaleidoscopically colourful psychedelic trip, with sword-fighting apple-men and planets made out of cauliflower. It’s a film from the same mould as the Yellow Submarine but instead of The Beatles our heroes are Jimmy and Marie Osmond, who also provide a hugely hummable soundtrack. For children aged 7+.
Mo d e l-Ma ki ng Wo rksh o p Saturday 29 March, 11:00 - 16:00 mac Birmingham, Atrium Free Ever wondered how those amazing puppets and figurines are made in the Colour Box films? Well here’s your chance to find out, and make your very own plasticine model. Animators Drew Roper (Director at Birmingham’s Yamination Studios) and Tim Allen (Frankenweekie, Corpse Bride, Fantastic Mr Fox) will guide you through the art of figurine sculpting. No need to book, just drop in during the day. Suitable for ages 6 and above.
Sat u rday 2 9 t h o f M a rch
SOUNDWALK : g r a n d u n i on ca na l Saturday 29 March, 10:00 - 16:30 Meet at Flatpack Kavarna £8/£6
Si dewalk poe t ry: s el ecte d fi lms by HENRY HILLS Saturday 29 March, 14:00 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Henry Hills Cert. PG*
For over thirty years Henry Hills has pursued a restless, freewheeling and very personal form of cinema, one that has taken him from Manhattan cut-ups (SSS, Money) to Indonesian fever-dreams (Bali Mecanique, Goa Lawah). A regular collaborator with John Zorn and other members of the New York improv scene, Hills’ own love of jazz and dance are evident from the fractured rhythms of his editing. This special event is a rare chance to catch some of his key works on 16mm, and to hear from Hills himself in conversation with Vivienne Dick.
Join the SOUNDkitchen collective on a guided SOUNDwalk, to experience the Grand Union Canal and the backstreets of Digbeth through your ears. This often overlooked but varied urban landscape, close to the city centre, presents a rich listening environment for those who take the time to stop and listen. Using some simple listening exercises participants will be encouraged to tune into the sounds around them, actively listening to the ever-changing sonic features. Specialist microphones will augment the walker’s hearing ability to rediscover the environment from differing sonic perspectives. Come and listen under water, discover hidden sounds and enjoy the rhythms of passing trains.
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ch i natown Saturday 29 March, 15:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Roman Polanski USA 1974, 130 mins, Cert. 15 We couldn’t very well programme an aquatic film strand without including the grandaddy of all water movies - although one where the stuff itself is in short supply. Robert Towne’s razor-sharp script shows how power-struggles over the Los Angeles water supply are etched on the landscape itself (much like oil in There Will Be Blood), and help to create a vortex of intrigue which sucks in laconic private eye Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson). Cold, stylish, and fabulously bleak; picking one Polanski film for a desert island would be tough, but this is probably ours. (It also scrubs up very nicely in a new digital print.)
The walk lasts about an hour. Places for each walk are strictly limited.
I F WET
SOl i p sism ci n e m a
Saturday 29 March, 15:00 Flatpack Palais £5 (joint ticket with Solipsism Cinema)
Saturday 29 March, 18:30 Flatpack Palais £5 (joint ticket with If Wet) 30 mins
If Wet is a monthly event of sonic exploration in a village hall in rural Worcestershire; part show-and-tell, part test-bed, part salon. For their first urban venture hosts MortonUnderwood have assembled a lineup to suit Flatpack’s aquatic leanings, including a demonstration of their own One Water Instrument (pictured). Other guests include: interdisciplinary artist Sebastiane Hegarty, who will be talking about rain choir, a sound installation he created for the crypt at Winchester Cathedral; and Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford and author of Sonic Wonderland: A Scientific Odyssey of Sound. To round things off you are invited to bring a sonic oddity (of any kind) to share as part of ‘Run What Ya Brung’. If you do wish to contribute please drop a line to: hello@ifwet.org.uk.
A solo performance from Bristol-based sound artist Stephen Cornford, last in Birmingham with a van-full of used tape-players to present his installation Binatone Galaxy. This time he brings a piece of expanded cinema built on a kind of optical feedback, with a 16mm projector and camera positioned lens to lens. In performance the projector (re)produces its own image on the screen in front of us, the gaze of the audience met only by the gaze of the machine looking back at them.
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Sat u rday 2 9 t h o f M a rch
SHOW ME NOW The changing face of film-going
a rch ive i n novat io n LAB
I WANT TO BE A CINEMA
Saturday 29 March, 10:30 The Bond Free
Saturday 29 March, 13:30 The Bond Free
Join Film Hub South West & West Midlands for an exploration of the regional film and television archives and a look at innovative practices in building audiences for specialised film.
Scalarama present a comprehensive and interactive workshop for all those who want to screen films to others - whether that be as a film club, festival, pop-up venue or full time cinema.
This half-day workshop will offer professionals in cinema and film exhibition in the South West and West Midlands an opportunity to explore the potential of working with the regional archives to develop inventive screen heritage programmes. Discover the wealth of archive material available from The South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA) and the Media Archive for Central England (MACE), and meet exhibitors delivering exciting archive projects.
With a presentation detailing programming, promotion and sustainability, the event will then highlight examples of start-up cinemas and film clubs from around the UK, before breaking into smaller groups to workshop your ideas. Perfect for both complete novices and seasoned professionals, this event seeks to help share ideas and resources and build on the Scalarama network of exhibitors.
Places are free, but please reserve your place by emailing: filmhub@watershed.co.uk.
ChangeKitchen is looking forward to welcoming punters at our Popup Cafe at the Flatpack Festival Kavarna. We will be offering hot drinks, cakes, pastries, lunches, dinners & snacks. Opening hours: Friday 12–5pm, Saturday & Sunday 11am - 9pm
Flatpack Kavana at Spotlight, Lower Trinity Street, Digbeth
IN CONVERSATION A SNAPSHOT OF CHINESE CINEMA TODAY Saturday 29 March, 14:00 Eastside Projects Free An afternoon of short presentations and informal discussion with Rachel Marsden, Lucy Sheen and Dr. Victor Fan about the exhibition, display and curation of Chinese cinema in Chinese and non-Chinese contexts, whilst giving a brief survey of Chinese cinema in the UK today. This event is scheduled in conjunction with ‘The Temporary: 01’, a new transcultural exchange platform curated by Rachel Marsden. The inaugural exhibition is on show at ARTicle Gallery, Birmingham, until 4 April 2014.
UK Fi l m H u bs Saturday 29 March, 17:00 Flatpack Kavarna Free
Last year the British Film Institute established a new network of Film Hubs, designed to develop UK audiences for a wider variety of film. This is a free and informal session to meet the team from Film Hub South West & West Midlands, to look at some of the projects they are supporting, and to find out about the opportunities on offer for the exhibition sector. This session will be followed by a drinks reception.
Sat u rday 2 9 t h o f M a rch T h e GREAT F LOOD Saturday 29 March, 18:00 mac Birmingham £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Bill Morrison USA 2013, 78 mins, Cert. U* As Darren Aronofsky’s Noah steams towards multiplexes, this new film from Bill Morrison needs no digital trickery to show the damage that water can do. It’s built up from hours of archive footage filmed in 1927, when the Mississippi’s banks broke in 145 different places and forced thousands of people from their homes. There are some familiar sights – families fished from their front doorsteps into dinghies, a couple stranded on a car-roof – and like Hurricane Katrina, it’s a natural disaster that throws man-made inequality into sharp relief. Threaded through the whole film is a beautiful score by jazz legend Bill Frisell, who hints at the way this mass migration northwards helped to change music forever. Filmmaker Bill Morrison will be present to introduce this UK premiere, and elsewhere we’ll be screening his previous works including Decasia (p.37) and The Miners’ Hymns (p.27).
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ROCK vs DORIS : Love r Co m e back Saturday 29 March, 17:00 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Delbert Mann USA 1961, 107 mins, Cert. PG I like Rock Hudson. I like Doris Day. But which is better? There’s only one way to find out… Rock and Doris dominated the box office and defined an era with a trio of sweet-but-tart sex comedies, pitting footloose bachelor against diligent career-girl. Here we present the second and funniest of their three films, a Madison Avenue satire offering reams of material for Mad Men researchers and featuring a delirious publicity campaign for a product that doesn’t even exist – the mysterious ‘Vip’. Our stars are at their peak, and it’s very difficult to choose between them. Happily, we have some assistance tonight: in the career-girl corner, Doris Day specialist Tamar Jeffers McDonald (University of Kent); in the bachelor corner, Rock Hudson aficionado John Mercer (Birmingham City University). The casting vote is yours.
MIRAGE MEN
MEDIUM COOL
fa k e THACKRAY
VIC + FLO SAw a be a r
Saturday 29 March, 17:30 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: John Lundberg USA 2013, 85 mins, Cert. PG*
Saturday 29 March, 18:00 Library of Birmingham, Studio Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Haskell Wexler USA 1969, 111 mins, Cert. 15*
Saturday 29 March, 19:30 Flatpack Palais £8/£6
Saturday 29 March, 20:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Denis Côté Canada 2013, 95 mins, Cert. 12A*
This engagingly deadpan documentary flips the script on UFO conspiracy theories, positing that the US intelligence services found it convenient during the 60s and 70s to encourage these beliefs as a cover for their more clandestine activities. Stirring mutilated cattle, Apache folk tales and sci-fi movies into the mix, the filmmakers (including Mark Pilkington, whose book of the same name forms the basis of the story) draw us into a vortex where the truth becomes increasingly slippery. And with fracking, unmanned drones and NSA surveillance also playing their part, there’s no denying Mirage Men’s resonance in 2014.
Few films capture the spirit of the 60s counterculture as potently as Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool, a news cameraman’s zigzag journey through 1968 Chicago which just happened to coincide with the turbulent Democratic Convention. “Look out Haskell, it’s real,” we hear a crew-member shout as a tear-gas canister flies in and the boundaries between fact and fiction explode. Featuring the local wing of the Black Panthers and musical contributions from Frank Zappa and Mike Bloomfield, it’s still hard to credit that something so radical was made by a Hollywood studio. This screening is the first in a series of decade-spanning film events that Flatpack are planning throughout the year as part of Ikon Gallery’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Check www. ikon-gallery.co.uk for further details.
Jake Thackray was always a bit of a square peg in a round hole: a Yorkshire singer-songwriter with a love of Brel and Brassens; a devout Catholic whose subversive lyrics often ruffled feathers; and an accomplished performer who hated the paraphernalia of showbiz. Here we are doffing our cap to him in the company of John Watterson, aka ‘Fake Thackray’, who has done a terrific job of keeping these songs alive in theatres and clubs up and down the country. By way of a support act, there’s a rare chance to see an episode from the 1981 TV series ‘Jake Thackray and Sons’, filmed at the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath and featuring guests The Maddy Prior Band. “When John sings, it’s as though Jake is with us in the room.” – Ian MacMillan, Radio 3
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Vic is holed up in the woods, recuperating from unspecified horrors in her past including a spell in prison. When fellow inmate and lover Flo joins her, they slowly start to build a life in the sticks under the watchful eye of parole officer Guillaume. However, Flo’s regular golf-buggy jaunts to the local bar are a sign that the Quebec countryside won’t contain her for long. A plot description gives very little sense of this beguiling, devastating, uncategorisable film. We’re not supposed to have favourites, but between you and us this is one of the best things you’ll find at this year’s festival.
Take a Fresh Look private dining // kitchen table // dinner series // daily market menu
‘exhilarating modern cooking and great value market menu’ AA Restaurant Guide 2014 ‘The most sustainable restaurant in the Midlands’ SRA 2014 ‘The kitchen is serious about sourcing and hosts regular events celebrating regional food heroes’ The Good Food Guide 2014
54 Cornwall Street, Birmingham B3 2DE 0121 200 2323 @OpusCornwallSt opusrestaurant.co.uk
Sat u rday 2 9 t h o f M a rch
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Fre i da a Bta n Saturday 29 March, 20:00 Muthers Studio £8/£6 Freida Abtan is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist and composer living in London. Falling somewhere between musique concrete and more modern noise and experimental audio, her work has been compared to bands such as Coil and Zoviet France thanks to her use of spectral manipulation and collage. Freida primarily works with samples of both musical and non-musical objects that she records herself and then manipulates, often beyond recognition. She uses structures reminiscent of popular music and more abstract compositional variants to sequence these sounds into melodic songs before incorporating her own treated voice. As well as having created visual shows for and performed with cult group Nurse with Wound, Freida has presented her own sound and visual work at festivals across North America and Europe. The performance will be followed by a film specially selected by Freida herself. Presented in association with Radio Black Forest.
VIVA VHS pre s e n t: popcorn + angu ish Saturday 29 March, 21:00 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Cert: 18
Two almost-forgotten horror films from the video rental era, both of them tapping into the uncanny terror of the movie theatre itself. Midlands-based collector Dale Lloyd has been hoarding chunky black tapes for years, amassing several thousand cult pre- and post-cert titles – many of which can’t be found on any other format. We’re delighted to welcome him to the Custard Factory for a one-off double-bill, featuring two films that will make you check twice under your seat. Also includes one of Viva VHS’ legendary trailer reels! POPCORN
ANGUISH
(dir: Mark Herrier, USA 1991) ‘Buy a bag… go home in a box…’ Brilliantly camp slasher flick, about a group of film-nerds gathering at local fleapit Dreamland for a marathon of mythical B-movies with titles like The Amazing Electrified Man and The Stench. One of them (Jill Schoelen) begins to suspect that her childhood nightmares are coming to life…
(dir: Bigas Luna, Spain 1987) A mild-mannered optometrist under the control of his creepy, telepathic mother goes on a killing spree. Once again the cinema provides the perfect location for gory mayhem, beautifully realised by late director Bigas Luna (Jamón Jamón).
r a n d om ac ts PARTY
PUNK HERITAGE BRUM
Saturday 29 March, 19:00 Flatpack Kavarna Free
Saturday 29 March, 20:00 The Edge £3 on the door
For nearly three decades, Channel 4 have been championing experimental short films through a range of late-night strands. Midnight Underground, Four-Mations, Eleventh Hour, and Ghosts in the Machine have all promoted the very best in the field, and the most recent incarnation to commission and advocate unusual shorts is Random Acts. Our Saturday night shindig sees us teaming up with them and filmmaking community Shooting People, with a selection of Random Acts playing throughout the evening (on wireless headphones) and various DJs providing the soundtrack.
Friction Arts are delighted to host a special screening event documenting and celebrating Birmingham subculture, featuring unseen footage unearthed from the attics of some of Brum music’s most notable characters. Also on the bill will be excerpts from the brand new live DVD of new wave favourites the Au Pairs, as well as line-dancing local punk classic ‘The Westerner’, special guests, live music and bumflaps. Free entry to anyone in bondage trousers.
Once we wrap things up at the Kavarna, it’s all over to the Spotted Dog (Warwick St) where the Sugarfoot Ladies will be spinning their customary menu of vintage delights.
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S u n day 3 0 t h o f M a rch
co lo u r box : Yo u ’ ve got a fri e n d i n m e
Th e Ki n g an d th e Mock i n gb i rd
Sunday 30 March, 16:00 mac birmingham £6/£3
Sunday 30 March, 11:00 mac birmingham £6/£3 Dir: Paul Grimault France 1980, 83 mins, Cert. U
This heart-warming selection of shorts is underpinned by friendship. An unlikely one in the case of Mr Hublot, who is a withdrawn, idiosyncratic character, scared of the outside world; that is until Robot Pet arrives on the scene and turns his life upside down. In Love in the Time of Advertising, a young man living inside a billboard uses his advertising nous to charm a beautiful lady living across the highway. And in the case of Rabbit and Deer, their companionship is put to the test by Deer’s obsession to find the formula for the third dimension – will they still be able to live together when one is 2D and the other 3D…?
Thirty years in the making, this wonderful animated feature is a well-loved classic in its native France, and screens here for the first time in a new restoration with English soundtrack. The tale of a pompous king and the bird who teases him at every turn, its technical achievements are unrivalled; the men who founded Studio Ghibli studied it frame by frame before making their first film. A treat not to be missed.
For children aged 7+.
N ight o n th e Gal actic R ai l roa d Sunday 30 March, 14:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Gisaburo Sugii & Arlen Tarlofsky Japan 1985, 113 mins, Cert. PG*
Pi ck n m ix 2 Sunday 30 March, 11:30 Flatpack Palais Free Dir: Various 75 mins, Cert. 15* A full bag of assorted filmic treats awaits with the second of our Pick n Mix programmes (see p.10). Featuring new work by Flatpack favourites, Finnish animator Elli Vuorinen (Sock Skewer Street 8), American artist filmmaker Hope Tucker (Handful of Dust), and filmmaker Chris Keenan (Over Toast). There’s also a selection of films from those new to the festival, including RCA graduate Yu Yu, whose animated curiosity U U is a strange joy that’ll have you simultaneously scratching your head and giggling under your breath, and Birmingham-based production company 144’s Progress is a testament to what you can achieve with a one-day shoot.
After many years of animating for others (p.28), Gisaburo Sugii finally had the opportunity to spread his wings on his own feature, adapting a classic Japanese novel about a boy and his friend voyaging across the Milky Way. It’s properly cosmic stuff, full of musings on God(s) and the universe, but it’s also a brilliantly visualised adventure with the two boys rendered as kittens and a suitably spacy score by Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra. With thanks to Offscreen Festival in Brussels, we’re delighted to have the chance to screen Night on the Galactic Railroad from a 35mm print.
Birmingham’s What I Think With Sunday 30 March, 13:30 mac Birmingham £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Tom Pickard UK 1991, 60 mins, Cert. U* A touchstone for the Dark River installation (p.19) was the poetry of Roy Fisher, and this gentle portrait offers an insight into how Birmingham shaped Fisher’s work. Born and raised in Handsworth, he worked as a jazz pianist and a teacher while steadily building a reputation as one of Britain’s most distinctive modernist voices. Tom Pickard’s film sees him back at his childhood home, exploring the local canals, and playing piano at the Midlands Arts Centre.
F ri en ds & rem e d i e s Sunday 30 March, 12:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 80 mins, Cert. 15* The second instalment of international animated shorts touches on the theme of companionship, and includes Becky and Joe’s sequel to Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, in which a clock teaches the ramshackle gang about the notion of time. Late Night Work Club member, Alex Grigg’s Phantom Limb sees a couple coming to terms with their lives together after a serious bike accident, and Jochen Kuhn’s third film in his Sunday outings trilogy sees German Chancellor Angela Merkel go on a blind date with an unsuspecting man. There’s also new work from Mikey Please (The Eagleman Stag) and Nicolai Troshinsky.
Post Ava ntga rd e An i m atio n: Au stria 2 009 -2 013 Sunday 30 March, 16:30 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 70 mins, Cert. 15* Austria’s ‘avant-garde film tradition’ is in flux. There’s a group of innovative filmmakers who are departing from the forms that have dominated over recent years, and this programme, curated by filmmaker and animation scholar Thomas Renoldner, is a showcase of their work. With a richness of different artistic interests, strategies and techniques, and an undogmatic openness to experimentation and entertainment, these films are not just progressive, but they’re pure fun too. We’re pleased to have Thomas here to introduce the screening.
S u n day 3 0 t h o f M a rch
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Li n d gre n & L an glo is: Th e Arch iv e Pa r ad ox Sunday 30 March, 14:30 Flatpack Palais Free Lindgren & Langlois: The Archive Paradox features an intense letter exchange between two influential film archivists on opposing sides of the debate between preservation and circulation. Simply constructed, with each one reading their letters aloud, the film reveals each archivist’s frustrations with the other’s practices, whilst revealing a reluctant mutual respect. Artist Ruth Beale has constructed the narrative from the writing, correspondence and commentators of Ernest Lindgren (19101973), the BFI National Film Archive’s first curator, and Henri Langlois (1914-1977), the flamboyant and passionate co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française.
DECASIA Sunday 30 March, 14:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Bill Morrison USA 2002, 67 min, Cert. U
T h e Da rk H o u s e Sunday 30 March, 2:15pm Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Wojciech Smarzowski Poland 2009, 105 min, Cert. 18*
Bill Morrison’s debut feature is a mesmerising collage of old nitrate footage, in which the original imagery fights a continual battle against the marks of decay. We’re not just talking about scratches and lines here; the focus is on the bizarre distortions and solarised effects that can affect nitrate film, creating a psychedelic journey which also serves as an elegy for celluloid, and for those depicted onscreen. Moving through a series of chapters from ‘creation’ to ‘rebirth’, this unearthly life/death-cycle is underscored by the work of contemporary composer Michael Gordon. Gordon also provides the music for preceding short film Light is Calling (2004, 8 mins).
Directly following on from Iwona Kurtz’s talk about evil in Polish cinema, here’s a rare example of a contemporary film willing to confront darker aspects of the country’s past. Built around the murder of a family on a remote farm, the story switches between the incident itself in 1978 and an investigation which takes place during martial law four years later. Combining Fargo-like black comedy and uncompromising horror, The Dark House gradually reveals a web of small-town corruption that leaves nobody untouched.
CALLING 07, or a M e ssage f ro m th e past Sunday 30 March, 13:00 Flatpack Palais Free To complement Imaginary Poland (p.25), a multi-faceted performative lecture by Dr Iwona Kurz (Director of Film and Visual Culture, Institute of Polish Culture, Warsaw), who will look at the reasons why evil did not exist in Poland under communism; at least, not in the movies. Lieutenant Borewicz – the 07 character – will serve as guide in this journey through the country’s cinema from late socialist state up to the present day.
Rou g h S eas a n d U nqu i et Wat ers Sunday 30 March, 16:00 The Electric Cinema £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Various 90 mins, Cert. PG*
One of cinema’s first spectacular coups was its ability to show water in movement. Films of sea waves that mesmerised audiences were essentially the first art films – reveling in the simple sensory pleasure of reflected light and motion. In this programme of eclectic early film survivals Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI, will demonstrate this natural affinity of film and fluid concluding with more recent works like the nightmare-inducing public information film Lonely Water (1973) and Peter Greenaway’s hypnotic Water Wrackets (1975). The first part of the programme will include accompaniment by SOUNDkitchen.
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o ccu py m usic Sunday 30 March, 16:00 Flatpack Palais Free Brazil’s protest movements have been well documented over the past year, but interesting developments are also afoot in the country’s independent music scene. Artists, labels and venues have banded together to form a parallel economy distinct from the mainstream industry, even establishing their own currency. Andrew Dubber, Professor of Music Industries Innovation at Birmingham City University, spent some time interviewing key players in this brave new world, and is now developing a documentary on the subject. Today he’s previewing extracts from the film and talking about what he found there.
S u n day 3 0 t h o f M a rch m o re ca na ls t h a n v e n i ce
w h os e rou n d is it a ny way?
Sunday 30 March, 18:00 Flatpack Palais Free Dir: Steve Rainbow UK 2013, 60 mins, Cert. 12*
Sunday 30 March, 14:00 & 15:30 The Spotted Dog Free
If you’re unaware that Birmingham has more miles of canal than Venice, then you’ve not spent nearly enough time with a proud Brummie. If, however, you’ve heard that fact a million times and believe it to be the only (semi-) impressive fact about the second city, you’re in for a bit of a surprise. Steve Rainbow’s labour of love covers 100 facts about Brum; some you might know, others you won’t. Here’s one to whet your appetite: in 1875, three quarters of the world were writing using pen nibs made in Birmingham. Not bad hey? 98 to go… Preceded by Digbeth Delights (dir: Andy Howlett), a filmmaker’s search for the elusive River Rea.
Another chance to catch this archive ale-house almanac, a compendium of old film celebrating the joys of the British boozer (see p.11).
e xh i bitio n Sunday 30 March, 18:00 Mac Birmingham £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Joanna Hogg UK 2013, 104 mins, Cert. 15 With Exhibition comes perhaps the most intriguing film yet by one of Britain’s most distinctive directors, Joanna Hogg. Set largely within the confines of one house, Exhibition is an uncomfortably intimate study of a middle-aged couple’s relationships with their art, each other and the striking building where they have spent their life together and which is now up for sale. Hogg explores how the place has become both prison and sanctuary for them; particularly the woman, known only as D. She is played by Viv Albertine, once of the Slits, with artist Liam Gillick as her other half, and the angular oddness of the film is enhanced by the fact that both are new to acting.
S u n day 3 0 t h o f M a rch Sau l Bass : Q u est + W h y Ma n Creat es Sunday 30 March, 18:30 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Saul Bass 90 mins, Cert. PG*
lost an d refou n d Sunday 30 March, 18:30 The Electric Cinema £7.50 / £5.50 Dir: Various 75 mins, Cert. 12*
We’re doffing our cap to one of this year’s guests, Bill Morrison (see The Great Flood, p.33) with this selection of shorts, all of which have been made by appropriating, reworking, and sampling archive and found footage. Hannes Vartiainen & Pekka Veikkolainen’s documentary Emergency Calls takes genuine recordings of phone calls to the Finnish emergency services, and weaves the images through the audio to powerful effect. Birmingham-based collective Sellotape Cinema use a recording from a found cassette tape from 1977 as the basis for their short TOHO (they’ll also be showing off their hand-crafted sellotape projectors on opening night – see p.9), and with Antoni Pinent’s G/R/E/A/S/E, you’ll see Olivia and John in a whole new light.
Saul Bass is best known for his iconic film poster designs and his title sequences (Vertigo, Anatomy of a Murder, The Man With the Golden Arm, Seconds – see p.28), but as well as being commissioned by the likes of Scorsese, Kubrick, and Preminger, he also got behind the camera and made a handful of films himself. Here, we pick out two: Why Man Creates (1968), Bass’s Oscar-winning animated documentary about the power of the creative process; and Quest (1983), a rarely-seen half hour live-action sci-fi based on Ray Bradbury’s short story ‘Frost And Fire’. Alongside those we have the 30-minute documentary, Bass on Titles, in which he himself becomes the subject and discusses his pioneering graphics work.
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El e c tro Ch a a bi Sunday 30 March, 20:30 Custard Factory Theatre £7.50/£5.50 Dir: Hind Meddeb Egypt/France 2013, 77 min, Cert (12A) * Long before the 2012 revolution, the frustration and fury of young Egyptians were being expressed on an unlikely platform. Designed to be performed at weddings, electro chaabi is an energetic meshing of dance music, hip hop and more traditional forms, with direct and often funny lyrics about everyday life. Its best-known performers have transcended weddings to become national stars, and as well as creating an indirect portrait of a country in flux, this film by Franco-Tunisian journalist Hind Meddeb explores the consequences of the media attention.
THE END IS NIGH
Sh o rt Fi lm Awa rds + U n l i k e ly Fi lm Q u i z
F LATPACK AWARDS
Sunday 30 March, 19:00 Flatpack Kavarna
For the second year we are presenting five short film awards tonight:
To see us through the home stretch and across the finishing line, we’ve invited the Unlikely Quiz team back for one of their offbeat film and music quizzes. With props, tunes and cabaret, it won’t be your average pub quiz.
FLATPACK WTF AWARD Judged by Team Flatpack
But before the questions begin, we have the small matter of announcing this year’s award winners and to make things a little more interesting this time round, we’re giving £1000 to the recipient of our main Short Film Award. We’ll also be screening the winning films, so if you haven’t managed to catch as many shorts as you’d have liked come and see a selection of the best, and then…let’s get quizzical. Quiz starts at 20:15. £3 per person, with a maximum of 6 per team.
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FLATPACK SHORT FILM AWARD Judged by our guest jury
FLATPACK AUDIENCE AWARD COLOUR BOX AWARD Judged by Team Flatpack. COLOUR BOX AUDIENCE AWARD Pictured above are two of last year’s winners: Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (dir: Becky Sloan & Joseph Pelling) and Trespass (dir: Paul Wenninger)
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Flatpack’s recommendations on where to eat, drink and be merry in the second city Around Digbeth The Warehouse Café A friendly restaurant/cafe serving a range of vegetarian and vegan food that will leave you with a wholesome feeling. 54-57 Allison Street, Birmingham. B5 5TH www.thewarehousecafe.com The Spotted Dog A good solid Irish boozer with excellent beer garden. Good ales and the occasional bit of ceilidh music to boot. Warwick Street, Digbeth. B12 0NH www.spotteddog.co.uk Old Crown & Old Crown Coffee Club Established in 1368, the Old Crown is the oldest Inn in the city. Good food and ales. They also have a little cafe where you can order everything from a full english to pastries and deli sandwiches. 188 High Street, Digbeth www.theoldcrown.com
The Karczma On the ground floor of the Polish Centre, the Karczma, or ‘Inn’, is a real treat. Serving traditional hearty and rustic Polish food, there is a lot of meat, but a few vegetarian choices too. Polish Millennium House, Bordesley Street, Digbeth. B5 5PH www.thekarczma.co.uk City Centre Topokki A relaxed canteen-style Korean restaurant. If you don’t know your Bibimbap from your Dubap, staff are happy to guide you through the menu. Unit 1C, South Side,Hurst Street. B5 4TD www.yelp.co.uk/biz/topokki-birmingham Sushi Passion Run by a Polish chef with a flair for sushi. Not many stools, so worth avoiding the lunch rush.
Le Truc Good, reasonably priced French fare. Beware of the decadent cocktails... 21 Ladywell Way, The Arcadian. B5 4ST www.letruc.co.uk Bistro 1847 Sophisticated vegetarian fare and great cocktails in this recent addition to the beautiful Great Western Arcade. 26 Great Western Arcade, Colmore Row. B2 5HU www.bistro1847.com Cherry Reds Good value homely food, snacks and a wide selection of guest ales. 88-90 John Bright Street. B1 1BN www.cherryreds.com
Near mac birmingham Ort Functioning as a cafe by day and bar by night, this art and community venue hosts events, screenings and performances. 500 Moseley Road, Balsall Heath.B12 9AH www.ortcafe.co.uk Soul-full Tucked away in deepest Balsall Heath, it’s worth seeking out this gem. The bakery specialises in Lebanese flatbreads (khobez), pizza and mezze bits and pieces to eat in or take away. 167 Mary St, Balsall Heath B12 9RN The Prince of Wales A front bar, back bar, wine bar and er...Tiki Bar. Neck and neck with The Spotted Dog over what could possibly be Birmingham’s Best Beer Garden. 118 Alcester Road, Moseley. B13 8EE www.theprincemoseley.co.uk
Bullring Indoor Market. B5 4RQ
Places to stay Holiday Inn Express Birmingham Quote ‘Flatpack’ in order to get a special rate of £59 per room including breakfast between 20-30 March.
Premier Apartments Stylish and spacious serviced apartments suitable for both short and longer stays. Located conveniently between Digbeth and the city centre.
1 Snow Hill Plaza, Birmingham. B4 6HY Dean House, 38 Upper Dean Street. B5 4SG www.www.hiebirmingham.co.uk www.premierapartmentsbirmingham.com For more options search the accommodation directory at www.visitbirmingham.com
Birmingham Central Backpackers Former pub made homely hostel with brightly painted walls. As well as a cinema room, some rooms are equipped with pods. 58 Coventry Street, Digbeth. B5 5NH www.birminghambackpackers.com
Hatters Friendly and comfortable hostel in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter. 92–95 Livery Street Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B3 1RJ www.hattersgroup.com
Flatpack not enough? Here are our picks of what else is on… Bill Drummond: World Tour 2014 -2025: The 25 Paintings 15 March – 14 June 2014 Bill Drummond commences his 10 year ‘World Tour’ Retrospective. The Scottish artist, perhaps best known as one half of acid house group The KLF, presents work from over the last twelve years. He will be performing in the gallery, across Birmingham and the region for 3 months.
Walk On 8 February - 30 March 2014 Exhibition exploring the varied ways in which artists have undertaken a seemingly universal act – taking a walk – as a means to create new types of art. Artists include: Marina Abramović, Hamish Fulton, Richard Long, Julian Opie, and Richard Wentworth. mac birmingham, Cannon Hill Park. B12 9QH www.macarts.co.uk
Eastside Projects, 86 Heath Mill Lane. B9 4AR www.eastsideprojects.org
Still Walking Festival 14-20 March 2014 Birmingham’s walking festival returns with a programme of compelling and often surprising walks, tours and social gatherings which will bring Birmingham into a new light. Guided by a range of artists, historians, geologists and poets, festival walkers are guaranteed to never look at the city in the same way again. Across Birmingham www.stillwalking.org
Frontiers Festival 22 March - 5 April & 2-8 June 2014 A festival of music celebrating the sounds and cultures of downtown New York and Birmingham. Events include a real-time improvised performance from pioneering American composer Pauline Oliveros, linking musicians in Birmingham, California, New York and Montreal; and a performance of an ambitious piece by Robert Ashley, ‘the David Lynch of American music,’ using 42 laptops.
Milque & Muhle / Outer Sight presents Space Lady + support from Two Dogs Wednesday 2 April 2014 Cult outsider musician Space Lady beams over from San Francisco to set up her Casiotone keyboard and sport her winged helmet to perform her unique covers of pop classics. Support from Two Dogs (Max Simpson and Sam Owen of Pram) Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath. www.milqueandmuhle.co.uk
Venues across Birmingham www.frontiersmusic.org
TEAM Director: Ian Francis
Programme Assistant: Morten Wright
Operations Manager: Selina Hewlett
Guest Liaison:
Programmer: Sam Groves
Volunteer Coordinator: Sarah Hamilton Baker
Marketing Coordinator: Annabel Clarke Production Coordinator: Chris Swann
Maya Darrell Hewins
Festival Intern: Flora Ward
Venue Coordinators / Guest Support: Jill Arbuckle, Alex King, Robyn Lawrence, Pip McKnight, Sally Richardson, Paul Rigby,
Esther Rush, Matt Saul, Pete Stevens, Andy Swann, Milly Walker, Hannah Wood, Morten Wright.
Design: Dot Dash [thisisdotdash.com] Web Developer: Jacob Masters [gabba.net] Press and PR: Emma Pettit & Hilary Cornwell [margaretlondon.com] Technical Co-ordination: Phil Slocombe and James Islip [lumen.org.uk]
Board of Directors: Jake Grimley (Chair) (MADE Media) Paul Drury (Unity) Sarah Gee (Indigo Ltd) Ruth Harvey (Birmingham Cathedral) Sally Hodgson (Pipoca Pictures)
Map
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Flatpack venues in Black Film Bug venues in red 1
22 Green Street 22 Green St, Birmingham B12
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A3 Project Space Unit A3, 2 Bowyer Street B10 0SA
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Barber Institute of Fine Arts Birmingham B15 2TS
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Birmingham Cathedr al Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2QB
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BCU Parkside Cardigan St, Birmingham B4
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BIAD School of Art Margaret Street, Birmingham, B3 3BX
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Birmingham & Midland Institute 9 Margaret St, Birmingham B3 3BS
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Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH
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Birmingham REP - The Door Broad St, Birmingham B1 2EP
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The Bond 180 – 182 Fazeley Street, B5 5SE
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Carrs Lane URC Church Carrs Lane, Birmingham B4 7SX
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The Custard Factory Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA
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Eastside Projects 86 Heath Mill Lane, B9 4AR
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The Edge 79-81 Cheapside, Birmingham B12 0QH
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Electric Cinema 47-49 Station St, Birmingham B5 4DX
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Flatpack Palais/Flatpack Kavarna Spot*light, Unit 2, Lower Trinity Street. B9 4AG
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Gr and Union Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley St, B5 5RS
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Great Western Arcade Colmore Row, Birmingham B2 SHU
19
Home Deli Cafe Church St, Birmingham B3 2NP
20
Hotel Du Vin 25 Church St, Birmingham B3 2NR
21
Ikon Gallery 1 Oozells St, Birmingham B1 2HS
22
Jek yll and Hyde 28 Steelhouse Lane, B4 6BJ
23
Jojolapa 55-59 Newhall St. B3 3RB
24
The Libr ary of Birmingham Centenary Square, Broad St
25
mac birmingham Cannon Hill Park. B12 9QH
26
Millennium Point Millennium Point, Curzon St B4 7XG
27
Muthers Studio 14 Rea Street, Birmingham. B5 6LB
28
The Old Joint Stock 4 Temple Row B2 5NY
29
The Old Royal 53 Church St B3 2DP
30
Opus 54 Cornwall St, Birmingham B3 2DE
31
Ort Cafe 500-504 Moseley Rd, Balsall Heath. B12 9AH
32
Six Eight K afé 6/8 Temple Row, Birmingham B2 5HG
33
The Spotted Dog 104 Warwick St, Digbeth B12 ONH
34
Thinktank Millennium Point, B4 7XG
35
Vivid Projects Minerva Works. 158 Fazeley Street. B5 5RS
36
The Wellington 37 Bennett’s Hill, B15 2RJ
37
Winterbourne House and Garden 58 Edgbaston Park Rd,
38
Yorks Bakery Cafe 1 Newhall Street. B3 3NH
B oo k i ng Tickets can be purchased through our ticketing partner, The Ticket Factory in two ways. 1. Online at www.flatpackfestival.org.uk or www.theticketfactory.com 2. The Ticket Factory 24 hour booking phone line 0844 338 8000. Ticket prices include the booking fee but tickets are subject to a transaction fee of £1 per order so it’s best to buy all of your tickets at the same time to keep charges down. Please be aware that advance sales for all events close at midnight, the night before the event takes place. Tickets for all mac birmingham and the Electric Cinema can also be purchased in advance from their respective box offices. Events at the Studio Theatre and REP Door can also be purchased from the Box www.birmingham-box.co.uk Ticket prices remain the same for disabled guests, but each disabled guest can bring one carer/signer with them free of charge.
On the Door Tickets are available to buy on the door at individual venues. Please be aware that all venues accept cash sales only with the exception of The Electric Cinema, mac Birmingham and the Library of Birmingham. Door sales will open 30 minutes before each event. Please bear in mind that capacity is quite limited at many venues. To guarantee entry we recommend booking in advance. Special screening package Maximise your Flatpack experience by buying 4 or more standard priced (£7.50) screening tickets and get 20% off your whole order. The offer can only be used to purchase one full price adult ticket for four or more separate screenings. This offer is only available online or by calling the Ticket Factory booking line.
Gener al Information We regret that latecomers will not be admitted once the event has begun. All tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Free events cannot be booked in advance unless stated. Concessionary rate tickets are available for students with a valid NUS or student card, registered unemployed with a valid DSS form, under 16s and over 60s with proof of age. Advance tickets and walk up purchases must be validated on the door with the correct ID. Please refer to the website for a full list of venues offering disabled access: www.flatpackfestival.org.uk
CERTIFICATES An asterisk next to film certificate (eg, Cert: 15*) indicates recommended.
Contact Web: www.flatpackfestival.org.uk Email: info@flatpackfestival.org.uk Telephone: 0121 771 1509 Twitter: @flatpack
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I n d ex
A — F Page
no
G — o Pag e n o
p — z Pag e no
1395 Days Without Red
13
Gheorgie Marinescu: Science Film Pioneer 14
Pärnography 18
A Story of Children and Film
12
Gisaburo Sugii
28, 36
Patema Inverted
A Taste of Flatpack
9
Great Flood, The
33
Phono-Cinema-Théâtre 17
Adventure Time
30
Hand-Drawn Animation
16
Pick n Mix 1
10
Altered States
14
Henry Hills
28, 31
Pick n Mix 2
36
Anchors Aweigh
10
How We Played The Revolution
30
Pocket Guide to Birmingham
40
Animation Maestro
28
Hugo the Hippo
30
Post Avantgarde Animation
37
Archive Innovation Lab
32
I Want To Be A Cinema
32
Punk Heritage Brum
35
Baal 19
If Wet
31
Punk Singer, The
8
Belladonna of Sadness
28
Illuminating Brains Workshop
15
Random Acts Party
35
Best of the Magic Cinema
30
Illumination, The
15
Rock vs Doris: Lover Come Back
33
Birmingham on Sea
7, 10, 13,
Imaginary Poland
25
Rough Seas and Unquiet Waters
37
16, 17, 19,
In Conversation –
32
Saul Bass: Quest + Why Man Creates
39
25, 31, 37,
A Snapshot of Chinese Cinema Today
13
Scintillating Synaesthetic Supper
15
38
In the Soup
28
Second Coming, The
19
Birmingham on Tap
16
It Happened One Night
9
Seconds 28
Birmingham University Imaging Centre
15
Jodie Mack: Let Your Light Shine
25
Sellotape Cinema Knees Up
Birmingham’s What I Think With
36
King and the Mockingbird, The
36
Sensateria 29
Black Hole Club
27
Kino Bingo
15
Short Film Awards + Unlikely Film Quiz
39
Bob Stanley: Pop Double-Bill
16
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
10
Short Talks
15
Booking 41
Last Laugh, The
11
Show Me Now
32
Brain Waves
14
Lindgren 37
Sidewalk Poetry
31
Cabinet of Living Cinema, The
14
Little Feet
8
Silent Running
29
Café Neuro
14, 15
Lost and Refound
39
Slow Light
11
Calendar
22, 23
Lunch Dox
10
Smoke and Mirrors
28
Calf Retrospective and Screen Talk
18
Magic Cinema, The
24
Solipsism Cinema
31
Caravan of Film
16
Maia Conran
27
SOUNDwalk: Grand Union Canal
31
9
Cartoon Rock
16
Maps and Venues
41
Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears, The 12
Chaplin: A Century On Screen
10
Mary and Max
15
Strange Little Cat
Chinatown 31
Medium Cool
33
Swipeside 18
Closing 39
Miners’ Hymns, The
27
Taking Off
30
Colour Box
16, 30, 36
Mirage Men
33
Talk the Walk
13
Dark House, The
37
Model-Making Workshop
30
Team 40
Dark River, The
19
27
More Canals Than Venice
38
They Took Us To The Sea
17
Decasia 37
Bill Morrison
7, 27, 33,
This Ain’t California
27
Downtown NYC: Henry Hills Talk
37, 39
This World Made Itself
24
28
DVDBang 19
Neurocinematics 14
Tochka: Light Painting Workshop
11
Eisler Shorts
13
Night Moves
19
UPA Cartoons
17
Electro Chaabi
39
Night on the Galactic Railroad
36
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear
33
Elektro Moskva
28
Nosferatu 17
Victorian Magic Lantern
8
Everybody Street
9
Occupy Music
37
Video Jukebox
11
Evolutionary Road
24
Opening Night
9
Viva VHS Present: Popcorn + Anguish
35
Exhibtion 38
Water Mirror of Granada
13
Eye-Tracking Event
15
Watermark 25
Fake Thackray
33
We Are The Best!
24
Fame Festival
25
Whose Round Is It Anyway?
10, 38
Fantabulous 5D Food Experience
10
Year Zero: Black Country
25
Film Bug
9, 10, 11,
You’ve Got a Friend In Me
36
14, 15
Film Hub Talk
32
Flatpack Palais/Kavarna
25
Fleapit Cinema
9
Freida Abtan
35
Friends & Remedies
36