Fancy helping out at Flatpack? This year’s festival runs from 23-28 March in venues all over Birmingham, and the whole thing wouldn’t be possible without hordes of dedicated volunteers. (See a nice writeup from one of last year’s team here.) Responsibilities will include front-of-house, venue installation, technical support, marketing and bar work, and all volunteers will have the opportunity to make good use of their festival passes. If you’d like to get involved, please drop us a line at info@7inch.org.uk with your contact details before 15th February.
**Update**
Deadline extended to 22nd Feb — eager volunteers have another week to sign up. And keep in mind that our briefing meetup will be on Weds 3rd March, from 6:30pm.
The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was
Spawning snow and pink roses against it
Soundlessly collateral and incompatible:
World is suddener than we fancy it.
World is crazier and more of it than we think,
Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion
A tangerine and spit the pips and feel
The drunkenness of things being various.
And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world
Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes -
On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of one’s hands -
There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.
Written by Louis MacNeice while sat in a house in Birmingham in 1935.
Mike Johnston made a pilgrimage there last week.
It’s very easy to get tunnel-vision when you’re planning a festival. I find myself muttering lists of things to do as I trudge the slushy pavements of Birmingham, narrowly missing lamp-posts while mental spread-sheets blur my vision. Perhaps it’s a good thing then, that we’re off out of here for a couple of days next week. We’re taking part in a really tasty-looking event called Kino Climates in Rotterdam, a gathering of film venues and programmers from all over Europe. We get to sleep on a boat, and Paper Cinema are coming along with us to do their magic cut-out thing. On the way we’re doing a night at the Nova Cinema in Brussels, a place I’ve always wanted to visit. All very exciting, and if possible I will try and leave the mental spread-sheets at home.
PS: If you’re wondering what the heck is going on at Flatpack this year, fear not! Further details will follow very soon.
A bit of advance notice… one of our partners at this year’s event is Sheffield Doc/Fest, who will be hosting an intensive two-day pitch workshop at the Bond in Digbeth right at the beginning of Flatpack (23-24 March). If you have a documentary project which you’re touting about, this could be an excellent chance to develop it and explore different funding avenues alongside other filmmakers and with feedback from two UK commissioners. The course is led by marketplace specialist Christina Burnett (Wide Eye Pictures), costs £30, and is open to filmmakers based in the West Midlands.
To express an interest, email Doc/Fest Marketplace Producer Charlie Phillips via charlie@sidf.co.uk with a one-page proposal for a factual/documentary project (single, series or cross-platform doc) and brief information about yourself. Projects can be at any stage of development, for any platform, as long as it is a factual project. The deadline for applications is Friday 5th March. > http://sheffdocfest.com/view/pitchworkshops
