Flatpack Festival 2021
midlandsmovies • April 30, 2021
Flatpack Festival 21-31 May 2021
Flatpack kicks off a four-month season of events on 21 May with a full-to-bursting programme of the very best filmmaking from around the globe.
In 2020, Flatpack adapted their physical festival programme at speed in order to give us Flatpack Festival: the Home Entertainment Edition. Continuing to roll with the punches, 2021 will see the delivery of a 4-month season of events in Birmingham cinemas and auditoriums. The season kicks off on the 21 May, when Flatpack will return to home screens for festival no.15 with a thought-provoking assortment of screenings and special events, tailored for a virtual environment.
Although Flatpack boasts an international programme, presenting work by artists and filmmakers from all over the world, Birmingham and the wider Midlands region plays an important role in the makeup of the festival. Below are some of the highlights featuring artists, filmmakers, and guests connected to the region.
SHORT FILMMAKING
The BAFTA-qualifying short film competition programme continues to be one of, if not the most distinct in the UK. Boasting over 30 UK premieres, and exploring a variety of subjects.
Highlights also include:
Xhosa Cole - Stationary Peaceful Protest - Having won the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award in 2018, Birmingham born-and-bred Xhosa Cole has delved into filmmaking with his audiovisual response to attending a BLM protest last year.
Matt Watkins - MOTHWASP UNLIVE - Also appearing in the Optical Sound Shorts programme is Birmingham-based artist Matt Watkins’ (aka BEAT 13) latest hypnotic short film, MOTHWASP UNLIVE
Taian Lu - Diverse - Birmingham City University student, Taian Lu’s abstract animation Diverse explores masculinity and androgynous psychology
Screendance Shorts: OOO & The Protocol - Midlander Lauren Midwinter’s extraordinarily choreographed OOO plays in the Screendance competition programme, as to does Birmingham-based Avatâra Ayuso’s The Protocol.
Special events include:
Birmingham Collage Collective - The ever growing Birmingham Collage Collective which includes artist Mark Murphy (who will be in conversation with collage artist Seán Hillen during the festival) will be delivering a zoom masterclass in the art form.
Screendance Competition -Joining forces with the Birmingham International Dance Festival, and independent curator and Birmingham-based filmmaker Sima Gonsai, Flatpack present two programmes of short films (several of which are UK premieres) that span both Flatpack 2021 and BIDF (which starts a few days later).
Starship Impossible with The Brothers McLeod - West-Midlands based BAFTA winning animators The Brothers McLeod will be presenting the series in its entirety for the first time during the festival and will also be giving a talk about their experience making it, as well as working with global media company Misfit.
Trash Film Club - Verotika - Birmingham’s irregular Trash Film night features hosts David and Luke, with special guest Greg Sestero (who played Mark in The Room), talking the audience through the very best bits of one of the very worst films ever made: 2019’s Verotika.
Shorts and Hops with Digbrew - Teaming up with independent brewery DigBrew, Flatpack have curated a selection of classic short films paired with some of DigBrew’s finest beverages. Enjoy a pint of the very special Waka / Jawaka (named after Frank Zappa’s fourth album) while feasting your eyes on the mind-melting work of Zappa’s collaborator Bruce Bickford.
TIME MACHINE
Delving into archives through screenings and discussions:
Mind The Gaps - Black Country award-winning artist and filmmaker Billy Dosanjh chats to Nirmal Puwar (who grew up in Coventry), Reader in Sociology, at Goldsmiths, University of London about film and TV archives and drawing out the untold stories which can fall through the gaps.
Let Us Play - General Public (Elizabeth Rowe and Chris Poolman) have been delving into the secret history of Birmingham's adventure playground movement, and during this event present a chance to see never-screened archive footage of the city at play.
Adventures with Archives: Hidden Treasures
During the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns young and emerging creatives have been working with Shropshire-based MediaActive Projects' Adventures with Archives programme, exploring new approaches to archive film exhibition. Their process has involved curating and repurposing archive footage for contemporary audiences by creating new soundtracks, new narratives, new experiences. Further information: https://www.mediaactive.org/adventures-with-archives.html
2 Visions 2 Legacies
Premiere of a new short film combining archives, animation and newly recorded interviews, part of a heritage project around the Jewellery Quarter's two iconic cemeteries at Key Hill and Warstone Lane. Followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker Scott Johnston and the project co-curators.
Paradise Lost + Q&A
The world premiere of long-anticipated Paradise Lost - Andy Howlett’s documentary about architect John Madin’s controversial brutalist building, Birmingham Central Library.
BEYOND THE FESTIVAL
Beyond May, Flatpack will be busy with various summer outdoor community film screenings, their Wonderland project exploring the history of cinema-going in the city, interactive family project Colour Box at Home where audiences receive packs and zines, and an Autumn Weekender (24-25 September) full of actual live cinema events.
Filmed in the Disco Cup Café Nottingham, we take a look at Declan Smith’s disarmingly amusing bite-sized short, Check Date.
They say a cup of tea can solve everything. In Charles Strider’s debut short, A Glass House, it might not solve everything, but it can at least be the starting point for a conversation. This is a beautiful piece of work, shot on film in a 4:3 ratio, at a gorgeous location in King’s Norton, with a tight, naturalistic script that delves into difficulties around talking about our mental health.
The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme provides an excellent opportunity to catch some lesser-known cinematic delights, and acts as a showcase of the variety available from a film industry most often lauded for its horror and thriller output.
LCB Depot in Leicester are looking to hold a film and photography exhibition at their venue alongside the Phoenix Cinema in Leicester's Cultural Quarter in 2025.