This is part three of my Flatpack Film Festival preview guide covering Sunday. Previous parts covered Friday and Saturday. Once again, these aren’t necessarily recommendations as I don’t really know what I’m letting myself in for in a lot of cases. But the programme is absurdly packed so you might find this useful.
I’m going to have to rush through this else I’m going to miss the Friday daytime stuff so here goes.
22 Green Street is the same as on Friday, which is handy for those who work 9-5, with the Harrachov Exchange and Jinpow exhibits on display. Entrance is free and it’s open from 12-5pm.
Then up at the Island Bar I’m drawn to Scart Trio because it sounds odd. “Non linear film making that IS non-linear. Their outcomes are unclear with unrehearsed stories emerging from the ether. Artists and Harry Palmer and Olly Shapley use flawed analogue AV processing to engage ‘the hand of chance’ and together perform a diagnostic synthesis of two films played simultaneously.” 5.30, free entry.
The rest of the day gives us a quite absurd number of films. Seriously, this festival could run all week. In fact I’m kinda annoyed it’s all crammed into just three days as I’d love to see most of these.
The Channel 3 anthology of shorts submitted to the festival continues at the Electric (1pm, £6) with a load of animation followed by a Q&A.
Bike Shorts (MAC, 1.30pm, £3.50) will probably slip off my schedule which is a shame as I like bikes. The highlight here is Ridley Scott’s 1958 film Boy and Bicycle starring his brother Tony and Bike Kill also looks fun, about the “notorious” Black Label Bike Club. It’s on YouTube but that’s not quite the same. Or is it?
Faust: Nobody Knew If It Ever Happened (Odeon, 2pm, £5.40) is concert footage from a legendary performance at the Camden Garage in which the Krautrockers took to the stage with welding equipment. Also features naked hairy men, which is always a good thing.
Norman McLaren (MAC, 3.30, £4.50) is described as “the closest thing Flatpack has to a patron” which makes this collection of shorts intriguing if you want to try and understand where the festival is coming from. Very hard to summarise from the blurb but I think this should be tagged “must see”.
If you like Danielson Famile you’ll already be down to see Danielson: A Family Movie (Electric, 3.30, £6) but I’m not too bothered myself.
Instead I’ll probably be at the Odeon for Paprika (4pm, £5.40), a batshit mad looking Japanese animation from Satoshi Kon that looks to take a trad sci-fi premise and run with it until it explodes. Just how I like my Anime!
On the other extreme is Penda’s Fen (MAC, 6pm, £4.50), a 1973 Play for Today film written by David Rudkin (who’ll be doing a Q&A afterwards), directed by Alan Clarke and set in the countryside south of Birmingham.
If you’re thinking it’s been a while since we’ve had any very old films accompanied live by contemporary musicians with a dash of experimental cinema to boot, and it must have been hours, Bodies of Water (Electric, 6.30, £8) by collective Photon Hex should fit the bill. Their instruments include laptops, electronics, double bass, trombone, guitar, tabletop guitar, percussion and amplified objects and I’m intrigued by the news that one of them is an ex-member of Napalm Death. I think this is a must see.
The big budget festival film looks to be Science of Sleep (Odeon, 6.30, £5.40) by Michel Gondry, he of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and countless neat music videos. At any other time this would be the really odd banana in the bunch but here it seems positively mainstream. Not that that’s a criticism. Judging by the trailer I really want to see this.
Then there’s the Flatpack Closing Party at the Market Tavern, Digbeth, from 7pm.
And then it’s all over.
This looks like it should be pretty fantastic… hopefully see you there!