Separado! is a terrific, off-kilter docu tracing Gruff Rhys’ family ties in Patagonia. Flatpack was one of the first places to show it in the UK, and we’ll be screening it again as part of a jammed evening of 7inch entertainment at this weekend’s Green Man Festival in Wales. Even better, we’ve just confirmed that co-directors Dyl ‘Goch’ Jones and Gruff Rhys will be coming along to talk about the movie. Show starts 7:30pm on Friday.

While I’m here – please excuse the lack of news in these parts. As always 7 Inch Cinema is rolling along through the year, and we’ll be back here in a few weeks with a submissions call for Flatpack no.5…

Synth Eastwood At Flatpack Festival from Synth Eastwood on Vimeo.

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.

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.

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:

Animated vegetables from 7inch cinema on Vimeo.

Many thanks to Andy, to all the filmmakers and to Greg McLeod for adding the sound.

A little slideshow from Saturday’s Odeon bus tour, led by Chris Upton. See also the Guardian’s writeup on Rediscovering Birmingham’s movie meccas, and there’ll be plenty more images will be going up on flickr over the next week.

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.

Tomorrow (remember that the clocks go forward one hour tonight) sees more films for children and the young at heart, including the rarely screened The 5000 Fingers of Dr.T, the only feature film written by Dr.Seuss. The hyper fantasy musical looks like the Wizard of Oz might have done if Salvador Dali had designed it. Later there are a multitute of music documentaries including a rare screening of Rudies Come Back on two-tone with footage of the Specials in ‘79 in Three Minute Heroes and The Family Jams, travels with Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart on their 2004 US tour.

On Sunday evening Belbury Youth Club comes to Vivid with a screening of spooky seventies drama Penda’s Fen and a night of psychedelia, folk, squelchy synths and clattery breakbeats from Belbury Poly, Moon Wiring Club and The Focus Group.