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.
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…
A writeup of the Odeon bus tour from the Guardian, and an overview of Takashi Ito’s work by the same writer;
MarBelle reported from ‘the heart of the Black Country’ for Directors Notes;
Dazed Digital were there on Friday and Saturday;
Jotta jotted a nice summary of Unpacked, Synth Eastwood and Eastside;
Little White Lies were there on Friday;
Digbeth is Good had some Flatpack fun;
We think Shots liked it too, but unfortunately most of their review is hiding behind a pay-wall;
Film4 liked the shorts but weren’t feeling the jazz;
Über Brum was on the prowl at Synth Eastwood, Plasticine Party and Belbury Youth Club;
Birmingham Jazz were there on opening night;
Khen came down for Until The Light Takes Us and Down Terrace;
and Andy Maiden had a day out at the library.
Finally, a few of our favourite tweets:
“Sunrise was simply delightful, a lovely thing to remember for years to come. I left feeling all warm and charmed inside.” @tombelte
“Took me a while, but I’ve managed to convince my wife that @flatpack Festival is *not* an Ikea Expo…” @saeedmsadiq
“Cinematic dreams in Brum: trannies teetered downstairs, film projectors whirred, magic fingers mysteriously traced words on a page” @thederminator
“Recovering from 5 days of visual over stimulation @flatpack, amazing weekend, can’t wait for next year.” @gabba
There’s plenty of other festival coverage in the press section.
**Additions**
The Guardian have followed up with a more general piece about Digbeth;
Electric Sheep saw a lot of shorts;
the bright light! mogwai blog discovered Birmingham’s love of soul;
Phantom Circuit interviewed Moon Wiring Club;
Chris from Brumcast interviewed Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai);
Phantom Circuit also did a Ghost Box special;
Synth Eastwood posted a recording of their Friday night A/V set;
and Clare Heart has given her own comprehensive run-down.
Modulate set on Sound Cloud;
Two writeups from the Warwick Boar, and an interview.
Some good stories are trickling in as we clear out venues and get buried in invoices. The couple who met while Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan wailed in the background. The metal fan from Telford who went to Until The Light Takes Us and ended up returning to the festival every day. The gentleman at the same screening, reading Folk Tales of the North York Moors (see above). The Flatpacker who locked her keys in the car and had to smash her own window so she could pick up Stuart Braithwaite from the airport. And the woman with two bags of heavy shopping who mistook Julien Maire’s Digit performance for an information desk. She asked where the computers were. Julien paused for a moment and then swiped his finger across the paper in front of him, leaving a line of text in its wake. The woman’s bags plunged to the floor.
Just a heads-up to let you know that Beautiful Losers is coming out on DVD in the UK next week. A portrait of the group of artists who emerged from one New York shopfront gallery – including Mike Mills, Margaret Kilgallen, Shepard Fairey, Harmony Korine and Barry McGee – Aaron Rose’s film was a popular draw at the last Flatpack. Judging from the uk website they’re pushing the skate angle pretty heavily, and it’s also showing at the ICA until Monday.
A couple of other updates from FP3:
> Let The Right One In is also out on DVD;
> David O’Reilly has gone and made a U2 video;
> and the Moon Dreams programme will be making a slight return at the Green Man festival this weekend, alongside British Sea Power, Outer Sight and the unruly Sugarfoot ladies.
Ps:: A couple of additional updates
> David O’Reilly has posted a version of his Flatpack talk online;
> Both Helen and Shifty are now out on DVD;
> and turntable whiz Jim Le Fevre has a new website. And a new baby. Congratulations Jim!
Sifting through all the images and data and audience reaction from the festival is a mammoth job in itself, and it can be hard to translate into anything digestible. Thanks to the joys of Wordle I’ve just fed all the comments from the 200 or so feedback cards we collected, and this is what came out the other end:
Feel the love! If you scrutinise carefully you can find the more critical stuff, particularly in relation to the coldness of the warehouse on the first night before we fixed the heating, but on the whole it’s all embarassingly positive.
Perhaps the biggest complaint (ie, about ten cards) was lack of local advertising/publicity. Talking to other festival folk this seems to be a familiar issue. In fact we got some really good local press/TV coverage, scattered the brochures everywhere and the installation trail was great for raising awareness, but making a real visual impact on a limited marketing budget in a big sprawling place like Birmingham is hard work. Anyway, this will be a priority for next year.
By the way, belated congratulations to the five winners of our comment-card competition… Peter and Julie Stainton (Southwater, West Sussex), Charlotte Eastop (London), Jasmine Hayward (Perry Barr), Sarah Coulston (Gainsborough) and Michael Fitzgerald (Earlsdon) have all won themselves an annual subscription to Electric Sheep.
