Photo credit: Tahreen Kutub
Flatpack is back! The festival returned to Birmingham with a bang last night for our eagerly awaited sixth festival with silent cinema extravaganza Another Fine Mess.
Crowds gathered after hours at Birmingham Cathedral to enjoy a feast of comedy classics from the early days of film, all of which were selected, presented, and scored live by acclaimed composer and pianist Mr Neil Brand.
The show began with Hal Yates’ slapstick comedy A Pair of Tights (1929), which showcases the underrated talents of Anita Garvin and Marion Byron, and features a cameo appearance from the patron saint of this year’s festival, Erdington born Charlie Hall.
Next up was Cecil Hepworth’s gripping short The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper (1909), starring a courageous canine that saves a toddler in such an ingenious way that it provoked loud laughter from the audience.
There were also a few unexpected treats in store, including the amusingly bizarre The Fatal Sneeze (1907), a trippy French version of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, known as Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs (1902), and an extract from Georges Melies’ beautifully hand painted and wildly imaginative Voyage à travers l’impossible (The Impossible Voyage) (1904) that held the audience enthralled.
The night ended with a lively screening of Laurel and Hardy’s You’re Darn Tootin’ (1928), where Brand gave the audience the opportunity to provide audio effects by tearing paper to simulate the sound of trousers ripping during the famous climax.
The audience reaction was overwhelmingly positive, and Brand was a splendid host whose knowledge of and affection for these films showed in abundance.
Birmingham Cathedral also proved to be the ideal setting, both for its acoustics and for its striking architecture.
The fun then continued late into the night with our opening night knees-up at the Jekyll and Hyde, where we sipped cocktails and enjoyed live music from Sugarfoot until the small hours.
The evening also marked the start of Film Bug, our festival within a festival. Dreamt up in collaboration with Colmore Business District, Film Bug has taken over the district for the next two days to present a whole host of free screenings and events at a variety of local venues.
Mercury Prize nominated jazz pianist Kit Downes will also be playing at the Birmingham and Midland Institute in a multimedia performance with animator Lesley Barnes. More info here.
Other venues include The Old Joint Stock, Café Costes, Urban Coffee, The Old Royal, Jekyll and Hyde, and BIAD.
Thanks to all who came along last night and to everyone who made the event such a success!
The first 3 people who email LIAF at info@liaf.org.uk stating their preferred session can nab the tickets.
We all have film experiences that have made deep and lasting impressions. Cinema can act as a window into society and lets us enter realms often more colourful and dramatic than our own. It shapes our beliefs and understanding of ourselves and everything around us, transforming and enriching our lives with its ability to educate, entertain, and emotionally move us.
With this in mind, we asked a number of well-known faces to each nominate a film that has marked them for life to be screened as part of Misspent Youth.
Artist Cornelia Parker selected two films that deal with the concept of reality in different ways, Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus and John Smith’s short The Girl Chewing Gum. Of the latter Parker commented “It is his [Smith’s] voiceover imbuing each frame with a subtext, that keeps me hooked; his unwitting real life subjects become part of a drama that unfolds in real time.”
Comedian and writer Adil Ray chose Mel Brook’s classic comedy Western Blazing Saddles as a film that was most significant to him during his formative years. Ray, who will return to television screens soon with BBC sitcom Citizen Khan, said of Blazing Saddles : “A satirical look at Hollywood Westerns with a big dose of racial humour thrown in. I was about 8 years old when I watched this first time around. I didn’t get all the jokes but must have rewound the “beans” scene about fifty times.”
Joe Dunthorne (author of Submarine and Wild Abandon) decided upon David Lynch’s black and white biopic The Elephant Man, stating “I was young when I first saw it. Too young to know it was black and white through choice, rather than necessity. As far as I knew, I had finally enjoyed my first old film, and I was very proud. It was also the first time that a film had made me cry.”
For Bournville-born up and coming actress Felicity Jones (Like Crazy), Shakespeare’s most famous tale of tragic star-crossed lovers was bought to life for her at the age of twelve by Baz Luhrmann’s contemporary version of Romeo + Juliet. Jones states: “I couldn’t believe how something so vibrant and electrifying and compelling could exist… a film that made Shakespeare completely relevant and intoxicating for a whole generation.”
The event will hopefully encourage everyone to share memories of the movies that have made a strong impact on them, so let us know the films of your own Misspent Youth.
Flatpack are currently recruiting Student Ambassadors to represent the festival at universities across the Midlands and beyond.
Ambassadors will help publicise Flatpack on their campus by flyering on location, promoting the festival to film socs and other relevant networks, and by informally getting the festival known on campus by word of mouth.
No experience is necessary and it’s a great opportunity to get involved with marketing at a grassroots level. Ambassadors will also receive a festival pass for their efforts.
To register your interest just email holly@7inch.org.uk
Colour Box returns on Saturday for the second of our family matinee screenings with a new English language version of popular Norwegian classic Pinchliffe Grand Prix.
Released in 1975 and based on characters by writer Kjell Aukrust, this beautifully realised stop motion animation adaptation by Ivo Caprino features inventor Theodore Rimspoke and his two friends Sonny (a magpie) and Lambert (a hedgehog). The trio live at the top of a hill where they make ingenious and outlandish devices, until one day they find out that an international motor race will be happening in their village.
To find out more check out the 7inch website, and you can book tickets via mac.
Coming up in the Colour Box programme we also have a fun afternoon of workshop sessions with Steven Roberts, the BAFTA-winning creator of CBeebies animation series Dipdap. It’s sure to be a highlight of the Flatpack Festival so come along on Saturday 17 March to see how how it’s done and for a chance to get creative too.
© Flatpack Festival 2010