Unseasonably sunny climes welcomed the third Flatpack Festival back to Birmingham following a year’s sabbatical. Bigger and better things had been promised after a year out. The programme was sprawling – over 70 films in 5 days. Venues ranged from library theatres to refurbished warehouses that clustered predominantly around Digbeth and the Custard Factory.
An intriguing slice of Edwardian cinema kicked off proceedings at the Town Hall, with brummie Waller Jeff’s Curzonora. Jeffs was an early cinema impresario who screened films in the old Curzon Hall between 1901 and 1912. Fortunately, Paul Murphy who compèred the evening gave us some insight into the tale of the man himself, a visionary with big plans who fell into obscurity. Films he had shown at the time were aired, such as Meliès’ Trip To The Moon and a poignant film of workers clocking off at the city’s Kynoch armaments factory, who, as Murphy informed us, were soon to be conscripted and dispatched to the front line to join a lost generation. A live score from local band The Destroyers completed a fascinating night of early cinema and added to the growing buzz around town.
One aspect of this festival that became more apparent than previous ones was the integration that has been fostered with local institutions. In the weeks leading up to the festival, a cinematic installation trail had been set up by Flatpack and BIAD (Birmingham Institute of Art & Design) around the city centre. Strange objects, oddball interpretations and short vignettes sat in shop windows and stopped shoppers in their tracks.
The next three days passed with what seemed like an endless stream of delicious homemade cakes (available at every venue, more-or-less) and bottles of Amstel. The varied nature of the programme was underlined as the weekend bore Knitting Pretty, a psychedelic Yugoslavian cartoon about a professor and his cronies knitting eight-sleeved jumpers for a group of octopuses, and The Juche Idea, which explored the cinematic theory of North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il.
It wasn’t all oddities though, as the festival played host to some highly prized new releases. The Floodgate Kino screened Lorenzo Fonda’s Megunica, a documentary following a graffiti-artist through his travels around South America, which has already created a stir on the festival circuit. Similarly, Romain Gavras’ fly on the wall documentary A Cross The Universe was screened, on the road with Justice, as they wreaked havoc travelling across the States setting fire to girls hair and toting firearms, all with an inordinate amount of Gallic posturing.
As I walked back through Digbeth, Saturday night was a hive of activity as waves of Flatpackers, cyber kids bound for Gods Kitchen, overeager paddies and kids off to see 2Many DJs swelled Digbeth High Street, as the beat of pounding techno permeated the air.
The distant drone of the St Patrick’s Day parade began the final day, but there was still plenty going on. Ikon Eastside hosted Privilege; a dystopian satire filmed in Birmingham (no jokes, please), which was a fascinating snapshot of the city with Paul Jones as a disillusioned pop star caught up in a shadowy conspiracy between business, government and the church, directed by Peter Watkins and shot by regular Cronenberg collaborator Peter Suschitzky. Other films included amateur film making from Alpha Film; a south Birmingham social club in the ’50s and Cyrk: Point and Slashes, exploring the intersection between experimental film and sound art.
I can’t admit to being a fan of prepubescent Swedish vampire as a genre but such has the hype Let The Right One In has garnered, I couldn’t wait to see it. This astonishing film brought a close to an excellent Flatpack festival. Adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his own novel, Tomas Alfredson directs both a tender coming-of-age tale and a bona fide horror movie. Wonderfully shot and directed it is a definite must see.
It is testament to Ian and Pip, organisers of Flatpack, that a regular criticism has been about the programme. Such is its wealth, it is difficult to catch everything you want, but this has also given rise to the chance of finding small independent films or vignettes you wouldn’t have otherwise discovered. I for one enjoyed a fantastic weekend of cinematic treats whilst discovering a whole lot more about my hometown.
