After recovering from the mania of Klaus Kinski (was slightly worried about him turning up in my dreams for a final bout of preaching), I woke up bright and early and headed down to the Fazeley Studios in Digbeth – grand converted factories. The studios were host to a day-long set of panels aiming to ‘unpack’ various Flatpack filmmakers. The event was brilliantly organised and really well attended with a mixture of artists, students and cinema-goers hoping to find out more about the creative process behind making films. Read more
After spending several hours in the relatively sedate company of Waller Jeffs, I was flung headlong into a 1970s nightmare as Klaus Kinski stepped up to the mic. The second night at Flatpack ended with a screening of Jesus Christ Saviour – a 16mm recording of Kinski’s one man show taking to a Berlin stage in 1971. Read more
No, I’m not talking about Royston Vasey’s new cinema. This tag-line was how Waller Jeffs’ shows were billed in Birmingham newspapers at the turn of the century. Having been introduced to our friend, Jeffs, at Curzonara, I decided to attend Professor Vanessa Tomlins’ complimentary talk on the city’s premier film exhibitor. Read more
Well, Flatpack has arrived! And, after a snaking rail journey through the Midlands countryside, so have I. Leaving Moor Street Station with my suitcase in hand, I headed towards my festival digs – a beautiful National Trust property known as Back to Backs. Set in an old terrace of workers’ cottages bang in the middle of the city centre, my 1930s cottage acts as a time capsule to another world of Clarice Cliff tea-sets and ‘Home Sweet Home’ embroideries. A perfect setting for Flatpack’s first day of events, which took a nostalgic look at early cinema. Read more
Hello there! I’m Eleanor McKeown from Electric Sheep, a quarterly cinema magazine published from London reviewing cutting edge, alternative, arthouse and offbeat cinema. Everyone at ES has been very excited about Flatpack for some months now so we were really chuffed when Pip and Ian, the festival directors, asked us to come along and get involved. I’ll be blogging here about my experiences at my very-first-and-very-exciting Flatpack! Here we go…
© Flatpack Festival 2010