One of those things that we forgot to blog about in the run-up to the festival – a cross-section illustration of the Odeon Leicester Square, from Modern Wonder vol.3 no.58 (25 June 1938):
This was published the year after Odeon’s flagship cinema opened. Although some of the architects involved felt that the building itself was a bit of a let-down, this drawing gives you a fair idea of the interior’s wow factor. The illustrator was Leslie Ashwell Wood, later responsible for many of the cutaways of cruise-ships and space rockets in Eagle comics. Author Steve Holland has done an impressive amount of research into Ashwell Wood, and gathered some of it at his Bear Alley blog.
The world keeps on turning, and 7 Inch Cinema is ready to try and fill that Flatpack-shaped hole in your life…
Wednesday 21 April, 7pm at Maison Mayci in Moseley OFFSIDE
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been under arrest without charge in his home country since the start of March. From 15-21 April there are screenings of his work taking place around the world, including this showing of his 2006 comedy about a group of women attempting to sneak into a World Cup qualifier between Iran and Bahrain. Min. donation £3 – proceeds to Amnesty International. Food served on the night.
Wednesday 28 April, 6pm at Loughborough University 7 INCH CINEMA GOES TO WORK A programme of archive clips, documentaries and shorts exploring the workplace. Includes Philip Donnellan’s debut film JOE THE CHAINSMITH (1958) and a memorable German spoof on instructional films, FORKLIFT DRIVER KLAUS (2000). Free event.
30/31 May at Aston Hall in Birmingham YOUNG READERS BOOK BASH
As part of this annual kid-lit jamboree we’ll be screening an array of short films, including The Red Balloon.
2-4 July at mac, Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham
IT CAME FROM PEBBLE MILL
In association with Birmingham City University, a weekend devoted to the remarkable, risk-taking drama which emerged from BBC Pebble Mill in the 70s and early 80s under the watch of producer David Rose. More info soon.
20-22 August in mid-Wales GREEN MAN FESTIVAL
Our fourth outing at this fine folk-ish festival, which last year added sunshine to its many attractions. We’ve already got some good films in store.
And plenty of other stuff in the pipeline too. To stay posted on all this stuff sign up for the 7 Inch Cinema email list in the box at the top.
A whole year back animator Jim le Fevre brought his marvellous Phonotrope device along to Unpacked. He’s recently posted the talk he did that day up on his site. (We can’t embed it here, cos we’re not vimeo plus.)
In my experience the week following a festival tends to involve lots of sleeping, eating, clearing up, looking for things that have got lost, paying bills and gazing into space. There’s also a fair bit of googling for festival writeups. Although this is mainly narcissism, it’s also curiosity about what kind of festival experience people had while we were running around town shunting gear and barking into phones. Gathered here are some of the results of our self-googling…
Last Saturday animator Andy Wyatt kindly brought along the contents of his kitchen for the Animate Your Own Vegetable event at the Electric. After showing the audience the basic principles of stop-frame animation a group of eager young assistants made their own film, and here are the fruits (arf arf) of their labours:
© Flatpack Festival 2010