Photograph by Hilmi Ramlan
As it involved quite a lot of things going on at the same time, there was only so much of the festival we could get to ourselves. Thankfully the joys of self-googling mean that we can relive the whole shebang through other people’s blogs…
Both Winnie and Kate Spragg wandered around Birmingham on the installation trail;
Owen Lee painted walls and took photos at Floodgate Kino;
Russl got annoyed with the calendar, but enjoyed Curzonora;
Nixon Leung was knocked out by David O’Reilly;
Samantha Moore took her offspring to Paper CInema;
James Yarker took his down to Floodgate St, and loved Rod McLachlan’s Paintcan;
Alec Chalmers had a jampacked Friday and Saturday, then decided to knock off on Sunday before his brains and eyes became runny;
Hilmi Ramlan had a mixed Saturday afternoon;
and Meme Cortex got lost in Digbeth after watching Sleep Furiously.
>> Extras
Olivier Ruellet’s flatpacked weekend;
Post mortem (arf);
Mubarak Elmubarak on In a Dream, Unpacked and the festival in general;
A feast of post-match analysis on the Little White Lies blog – 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 ;
David O’Reilly on his Birmingham jaunt;
Friction Arts look back on their weekend at the Edge;
and a review of Curzonora at Birmingham Live.
So we are left with an empty warehouse, a bad head and lots of memories. Many thanks to Eleanor McKeown for diligently feeding the blog while we were elsewhere. And thank you to the legions of people who have helped out in so many ways over the past few days/weeks/months. Still can’t believe we actually did it. Pictures, post mortem shortly. All feedback and constructive criticism much appreciated.
Made it to the Floodgate Kino just in time to catch Knitflicks, a programme of films originally put together to accompany Compton Verney’s ‘Fabric of Myth’ exhibition. The shorts – a combination of live action and animation – all focused on wool and thread. The charming programme was given an extra special touch when the audience was encouraged to knit as they watched (wool and needles kindly donated by Stitches and Hos!). I particularly enjoyed Knitting Pretty – a psychedelic Yugoslavian cartoon about Professor Balthasar and his merry band knitting eight-sleeved jumpers for a bunch of octopuses. Read more
I’ve just left my very first screening of ‘The Travelling Picture Show’ – a weekend of family matinees at the Electric. The cinema was packed with a sea of children (and a fair few adults!), squeezing into seats for illustrator Nic Rawling’s magnificent Paper Cinema. I, for one, had been waiting to see his show for some time now and, settling down in the auditorium to the strains of A-Ha with a box of chocolates, I wasn’t disappointed! Accompanied by live violin and guitar music, Paper Cinema provided an awe-inspiringly beautiful spectacle. Read more
After Unpacked, I caught up with Kieran Evans, the filmmaker behind Vashti Bunyan: From Here to Before, before heading down to the Electric Cinema to host a screening of the film and Q&A session together. The cinema was full of Vashti fans and had a really nice, friendly atmosphere. Kieran’s film presented an intimate portrait of the folk singer, Vashti Bunyan, who had a brief dalliance with fame in the 60s. Despite being billed as the new Marianne Faithfull, she never gained the success she hoped for and retreated from society, taking to the road in a horse and cart with her boyfriend, Robert Lewis, and artist friend, John James. Kieran and Vashti re-traced her original steps up to Scotland, just as she was re-emerging into the limelight, championed by musicians such as Devendra Banhart and Adem after a 30 years’ break.
In our Q&A after the film, Kieran explored ideas of myth and memory surrounding the legendary journey and explained how he approached Vashti to make the film (apparently it took lots of tea and cake and a whole two years of cajoling!). Read more
© Flatpack Festival 2010