Having mentioned it yesterday, it’s the last Filmrats of the year on Wednesday 25 November. From the blurb what has been emailed to me:

the event is a multimedia evening of short films and live music, a hybrid of different creative artistry coming together to showcase their talents, enjoy music, film and to socialise. The night is being held once a month on a Wednesday evening at the Bristol Pear, in the heart of Selly Oak. If you love music and film this really is the best place to go to in Birmingham.

Filmrats is always looking for more Singer/Songwriters, Bands, Poets, Comedians, Performance Artists and Short Films. If you want to showcase your talent then please get in contact. Entry is £1.50, so go along and remember to send in those short films on DVD format to:

Filmrats, Flat 3, 889 Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6ND

Email any questions, etc to filmrats@hotmail.co.uk.

You can also grab them via MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

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As far as film goes there’s a fair amount to mention – from the regional agency types to those putting films on in pubs around the city. I’m bound to miss things out here so do fill in any gaps in the comments.

Screen WM are the regional screen agency (film is just part of their remit). Film Birmingham can help with permits, locations and crews. The Producers Forum is there to support the region’s producers. All three are good sources of news, events and training/job opportunities.

There’s also RTS Midlands for your televisual needs – events, awards and all sorts. Screen Media Lab are attached to Birmingham City University and they do all sorts of things too.

Film Forum WM is a monthly meet-up for anyone interested in film. Held at The Victoria.

Birmingham International Film Society show classic and new world cinema treats at the Library Theatre.

It’s increasingly hard to pinpoint what 7 Inch Cinema do – essentially they show interesting films, often in interesting places. They also run the Flatpack Festival. They’re very good.

The Jekyll & Hyde are doing midweek cinema screenings under the name Juniper Cinema. The Spotted Dog in Digbeth runs a Filum Night on Mondays. Filmrats is a monthly short film/live music evening at the Bristol Pear in Selly Oak. There’s Moving Pictures at The Victoria on Sundays too.

There’s also the script-based stuff, which needn’t necessarily be film-related as such. However, it’s worth mentioning Script Online and the recent piece that Prof Roger Shannon wrote on Tindal Street Press’s output being developed for film.

Like I said, I’m sure I’ve left out some film nights/events/organisations/sources of info. Feel free to pop links in the comments.

(Pic is Perry Barr Odeon by brianontheweb)

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To parrot the official blurb:

Screen WM’s Festival of Film gives you the chance to enjoy free screenings of sensational films that have been inspired by, produced or filmed in the West Midlands

It runs from 16-29 November at venues around the region. Here’s the main list of films, and here’s what’s playing when and where in Birmingham:

• Tormented – 16 Nov, AMC Broadway Plaza
• Almost Adult – 20 Nov, The Drum
• Faintheart – 21 Nov, AMC Broadway Plaza
• The Children – 23 Nov, Electric Cinema
• Road to Guantanemo – 25 Nov, Electric Cinema
• Confetti – 28 Nov, AMC Broadway Plaza
• Nativity – 29 Nov, AMC Broadway Plaza

The other films showing around the region are Special People, Clubbed, The Mandrake Root, 1 Day and Straightheads.

Snap up tickets here.

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Flash wakes up to a phone call from Angel announcing that he’s being released from prison and wants the £500k he’d left with Flash for safekeeping. Short of the full amount and pushed for time, Flash is forced to strike a deal with Evil who more than lives up to his name. 1 Day follows Flash’s race against the clock as he’s pursued by a rival gang, the police, his three irate babymothers and his granny

And here’s the trailer (warning, contains gratuitous, kinda-cool overhead shot of Spaghetti Junction):

As the Light House blog says:

1 Day, which is due for national release on 6th November has caused quite some controversy with the Birmingham Post reporting that it has been criticised for “encouraging impressionable youngsters to join violent criminal gangs” and “glamorising gun crime“  and BBC have reported that at least 2 of the big Birmingham cinemas, Cineworld and Odeon  are not going to be screening it

I’ve no idea whether that controversy is real or just marketing hype. Previous CiB contributor Danny Smith has written about his concerns – he’s coming from a position of some experience and really isn’t the timorous type. Meanwhile Screen WM are carrying an interview with director Penny Woolcock and the Guardian have profiled lead actor Dylan Duffus from Handsworth.

The film’s out nationwide next week and you’ll be able to see it at Star City, AMC Broadway and a few other places.

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Culture Jam, now in its third year, is a cultural event that takes place in November in Birmingham. Not only will there be a photogrpahy exhibiton and a number of live bands, there is also going to be a screening of short films from Lithuania and England. We are looking for short films that focus on the cultural revolution that has taken place in Birmingham and the West Midlands since the war. If you have a short film which you would like to sumit, then please send it to:

Sam Groves
129 Northfield Rd
Kings Norton
Birmingham
B30 1EA

Here’s the Culture Jam website, but for more information specifically about this call for films, email sam.groves@hotmail.co.uk. If you do, can you ask him to turn the music off on the website – I’m sure it’s very nice, but auto-playing music on websites is really irritating.

The short films will be shown as part of an exhibition at Moor Street Station Wine Bar on 14 November, from 3-7pm. That’ll be followed by a gig at the Volt Warehouse in Digbeth, featuring Rasa Basom, Black Diamond Bay and DJ Maxwell. Tickets for the gig here.

Thanks to Dom Breadmore for spotting this – it passed me by on Arts Jobs.

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There’ll be cartoons from around the world, a pair of comedy classics with live piano accompaniment and the premiere of The Magic Box.

The Magic Box has been created by children at workshops held across the West Midlands – it’s a kind of animated Consequences.

One for the kids then, but I’m willing to bet there’ll be plenty for the grown-ups too. Grab tix from the Electric’s website.

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The first one is from Chinese New Year and was filmed around Hurst Street and the Arcadian Centre:

? from Old Dead Eye on Vimeo.

There’s also this one from last year’s Christmas Frankfurt Market which is probably the best advert for the next one (opening again 12 November) that you’re likely to see:

Geist der Weihnachtsvergangenheit from Old Dead Eye on Vimeo.

You’ll need to follow the links to get the best from these videos – HD is disabled on embedding – but I heartily recommend you do.

Old Dead Eye is Paul Demontez. Other than that I’ve no info but I’d be interested to know more.

Big thanks to Hank Kingsley who posted a link to the first vid on the FB spam board.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2009. | 2 comments |

John Akomfrah: Handsworth Riots – Twenty Summers On © Pogus Caesar / OOM Gallery Archive 1985

- The launch of ‘Handsworth Songs’ at the Birmingham Film & TV Festival in October 1986

- Q&A with Dennis Hopper at the Triangle in 1985 or 1986

Please contact Harriet intern@vivid.org.uk or 0121 766 1304.

You can read more about Handsworth Songs in a previous post by Pete.

© Kate Spragg for Created in Birmingham, 2009. | One comment |

Now in its 23rd year, SXSW Music has grown from a tiny music festival in Texas to an essential event on the music industry calendar. It’s four hyperactive days of making connections for musicians, recording companies and every other business touching on music, from concert bookers to copyright lawyers, publishers to social media types. Creative Republic thought this would be an ideal opportunity to find out what the Birmingham team’s experiences were and what they’ve learned.

As the dust settles on the old way of doing things for the music industry, has SXSW shone some light on a new model?

They have lined up Kerry Thomas and Dave O’Coy from Fused and Lisa Meyer and Jenny Moore from Capsule, amongst others who are ready to be quizzed. Leading the quizzing will be Andrew Dubber and John Mostyn.

So you might want to ask them a question or two as well. Timings for the event are:

• 6.30pm Arrival; cash bar available
• 7-8pm Panel discussion and questions
• 8-9pm Networking and event close.

There is no charge for attending but they do ask for you to sign the Creative Republic Charter, and to RSVP. A map and directions for the venue can be found at www.creativerepublic.org.uk.

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The quality of the student work produced went beyond my expectations, which shows when students are given the opportunity to show work outside of University buildings and away from cosy degree shows things can get very exciting for both artist and art lover. I know when I was on a Fine Art degree course I thrived on finding unusal sites to exhibit my work and my practice was all the better for it.

I think it is easy to underestimate how much it means to students when they get asked to participate is such projects and how much they can get out of it. I commend Ian and Pip at Flatpack, and the Universities for taking the time to put this together as I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Following on with my latest obsession with maps, I have put together the installation trail as a Google map with photographs and links to videos I took of the artists introducing the work on the launch night:

View Larger Map

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Geist der Weihnachtsvergangenheit from Old Dead Eye on Vimeo.

© Kate Spragg for Created in Birmingham, 2009. | 2 comments |

Ashley Blake goes on set of forthcoming Northern Soul film ‘Souled Out’ during its filming in Stoke-On-Trent, and explores other recent feature films shot in the region such as up-market chiller-horror ‘The Children’, ‘Nativity’, the semi-improvised Christmas comedy starring Martin Freeman and also Ashley Blake! as well as ‘Faintheart’, the world’s first user generated feature film which will be screened in 150 cinemas for free next week. All four films have been co-financed by regional screening agency, Screen WM through its Media Production Fund. (Thanks to Screen WM).

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For those who have never been to Creative Networks I can wholly recommend it. They always choose really inspirational speakers like  Nick Broomfield (Biggie and Tupac, Kurt & Courtney) and of course Pete Ashton and Stef Lewandowski (founders of this here blog).

At each event their is an opportunity to pitch your business, project idea or to just introduce yourself to the audience. Your details then go on to a rather handsome newsletter and the website. If you would like to pitch at the next CN event please contact Dave Taylor on 07989 498 550 or email creative.networks@tic.ac.uk.

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I was really pleased to hear that the musicians will be in the studio (in Birmingham) next week to record the soundtrack and Kala Phool are trying to put together a national tour for later in the year.

Kala Phool are after a film maker to make a kind of video ‘calling card’ for this. However, the bad news is there’s no budget available for the work. I must say I don’t tend to like posting these sorts of requests but I’m making an exception in this case.

If you’re still interested:

• Filming will happen on Fri/Sat 16-17 January at studios in Aston near The Drum
• They need some short interviews with the people involved and some footage of the band in the studio
• There’s plenty of footage from the live shows already
• They’re looking for something like the video of The Bays and Heritage Orchestra at the Liverpool Phil
• The finished piece will be needed by the end of January

If you can help then email Indy Hunjan at indy@kalaphool.com or call her on 07977 449052.

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INSPIRATIONS (Sat 07 Feb 2009) invites five UK based individuals who have played a major role in the critical, artistic and curatorial development of moving image, to select one moving image work that has made a significant impact on their own practice.

VIVID is delighted to announce 2009 selectors David Curtis, Catherine Elwes, Malcolm Le Grice, Sarah Wood and John Smith. The selections will be screened at VIVID on Sat 07 Feb 2009 and is accompanied by a 500 word text by each of the selectors explaining their choice.

FIGURING LANDSCAPES (Wed 25 – Sat 28 Feb 2009) is a remarkable collection of moving image works that has grown from the background of the political and cultural history that links Australia and the UK and the close relationship that continues between them.

More infom on the VIVID website’s homepage (scroll down).

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Flatpack 2009 will launch at Town Hall on 11 March with ‘Curzonora’, a show featuring ‘musical whirlwind’ The Destroyers and celebrating Mr Jeffs’ legacy and that of 1900s film-shows in general. Here’s the poster:

The Mr Jeffs referred to is film showman, and patron saint of Flatpack 3, Waller Jeffs who, from 1901 to 1912:

introduced hundreds of thousands of Brummies to the delights of cinema through his annual seasons at the Curzon Hall, Suffolk Street, with light opera, military bands, live sound effects and intriguing novelty acts

Nicky from DiG has been keeping a better eye on the Flatpack website and blog than I have and reports:

The festival, taking place 11-15 March, is set to make the most of Digbeth and Eastside ‘in venues ranging from Floodgate Kino, a warehouse in Birmingham’s Eastside district which will be transformed into a picturehouse for the weekend, to art project spaces IKON Eastside, Eastside Projects, The Edge and the Electric…’ It also looks like they’ll be bringing the poor, neglected Curzon Station to life.

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Faintheart, the user-generated film that Screen WM had a hand in bringing through, will be shown free of charge in 150 cinemas and on MySpace on 27 Jan 09 with a DVD release a week later.

The locations for the screenings will be decided by visitors going to the Faintheat MySpace page and putting their postcode into the map widget (you may have seen bands using something similar to gauge support before going on tour).

As I write this, Birmingham and Wolverhampton are tied in third behind Bournemouth and London as the most popular locations. Have a look at this trailer and decide if you want to see the film for free round these parts.

FAINTHEART official trailer from superhero on Vimeo.

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Tonight they’ve got Wanted and Hancock. I’ve no idea what they’ll be showing in future weeks but if you fancy popping down then give em a call on 0121 427 3678.

Grammar pedants may wish to avert their eyes now:

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 9 comments |

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but an RSS feed for the news/events page would be nice (there’s just an RSS for the schedule at the mo).

(Via BiNS)

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | One comment |

You can sign up to get this (and I’d recommend you do) at http://www.7inch.org.uk/.

Still flushed from the finale of our Worcestershire tour, another 7inch season draws to a close this Sunday…

Sunday 30 November, from 7pm
At the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath
7INCH no.35 :: HOUSEWIVES’ CHOICE
A compendium of docs, shorts and outright propaganda from the BFI archive to round off our autumn programme, exploring the lot of the British housewife between the 20s and 50s. Ever wondered how to clean a mink stole, or make the perfect rabbit pie? Also includes music to scrub the floor to, courtesy of the ladies from Sugarfoot Stomp, and other miscellaneous shorts.
£4 on the door.
> http://www.7inch.org.uk/event/housewives-choice/
> http://www.myspace.com/thesugarfootstomp

IN OTHER NEWS

FLATPACK SUBMISSIONS
The closing date for film submissions is next Friday, 5 December.
More info at:
> http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/submissions
And even if you haven’t made a short, you can still submit. We’re open to programming ideas for shorts/clips/promos, providing you’re prepared to stand up and tell people why you chose it. Same deadline. Info at:
> http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/openseason

WORCESTERSHIRE ON FILM
On Saturday 500 people came along to our archive screenings in Pershore and Worcester. Relive the magic at:
> http://www.7inch.org.uk/project/worcestershire-on-film/tour-diary

AND SOME OTHER THINGS GOING ON
With Flatpack 3 fast approaching we vowed to kick the listings habit, but couldn’t help notice this flurry of pre-festive activity in the Midlands area:

From today at the Ikon in Brindley Place
DARCY LANGE: WORK STUDIES IN SCHOOLS
Lange was a New Zealand artist who spent some time in the 70s filming three Birmingham schools in Lea Bank, Edgbaston and Ladywood, and then using these videos to spark discussion.
> http://www.ikon-gallery.co.uk

Thursday 27 November at Bar Academy in Birmingham
JEFFREY LEWIS
With support from KateGoes and others.
> http://www.thejeffreylewissite.com/

Til 27 November at the Electric in Birmingham
SPECIAL PEOPLE (dir: Justin Edgar)
Sutton Coldfield auteur’s second feature, based on the short we screened at Flatpack a couple of years ago. Also at the Electric next week: Of Time and the City; Hunger; and Heavy Metal in
Baghdad. And Waltz with Bashir is currently on at Cineworld.
> http://www.theelectric.co.uk

Til 28 November at Mailbox, level 3, in Birmingham
HEARD BUT NOT SEEN
Last days of an exhibition by Sandra Hall and Mitra Memarzia, exploring faith and spirituality.
> http://www.heardandnotseen.com

From 5 December at New Art Gallery in Walsall
OUTSIDERS
New show put together by the Lazarides Gallery, including street art type stuff by Blu, Zevs, Conor Harrington, Lucy McLachlan etc.
> http://www.artatwalsall.org.uk

Friday 5 December at Eastside Projects in Digbeth
HENRIK SCHRAT & SHEZAD DAWOOD
Opening for double solo show.
> http://www.eastsideprojects.org/

Friday 5 December at the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath
CURATES EGG
Spiffy lineup for the year’s final C.E., with Damo Suzuki in cahoots with Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), Charles Hayward, Pram and Courtesy Group. With visuals from Filmficciones. £10 tickets from Swordfish, Jibbering, Polar Bear.
> http://www.myspace.com/thecuratesegg

Saturday 6 December, 11am at Birmingham Town Hall
TWEEDELEEDEDEEDEE, SIR RU BARB & THE GREEN WOLF
Family show by Paul Murphy and Frank Moon, featuring the Destroyers.
> http://www.thsh.co.uk

Sat 6 December at Bath Place in Leamington
THE SHAPES
Short-lived but fondly-remembered Leam punk band return to the scene of their crimes for a reunion gig.
> http://www.myspace.com/brianhelicopter

Sat 6 December at the Edge in Cheapside, Digbeth
OUTER SIGHT
Latest psychedelic psynema pshindig, featuring theremins and German robots.
> http://tinyurl.com/6bwadj

12-14 / 19-21 December at Warwick Arts Centre near Coventry
TREVOR GOOSE AND HIS DARK NIGHT OF LIGHTS
Alt-panto from Talking Birds.
> http://www.talkingbirds.co.uk/

Friday 19 December at Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath
SUGARFOOT STOMP XMAS SPECIAL
> http://www.myspace.com/thesugarfootstomp

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The weekend of festivities will include screenings of films produced by UK and International Deaf filmmakers; Young Deaffest, which showcases work produced by young Deaf filmmakers; and a conference on Opportunities for Deaf Filmmakers, with panel discussions on how to pitch for funding for a short or feature film, a new Deaf TV channel and content for new online and mobile platforms

The programme looks quite impressively stuffed.  Tickets are free, save for the Saturday night’s gala event (£12.50 and available from www.theticketsellers.co.uk).

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science fiction treats culled from the Outer Spaceways. Our Prime Directive will be, as ever, Lost Movies, Cult Obscurities and Films You Probably Shouldn’t Be Watching!

and

SubAtomic Sounds by TWIGGY AND THE K-MESONS and MICRONORMOUS, and 99.9% probability (and rising…) of an improvised Theremin set!

To get upfront info and money-saving invites ask them nicely be sending a text 07887 956297 or an email to outersight@live.com

Here’s the flyer:

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With all that said, they have news of a free screening of ‘Festival’ at the Library Theatre on 19 Nov at 7pm.  Our own Roger Shannon produced the film and will be introducing it.  Here’s the flyer:

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The focus of this blog is to expose opportunities and bring people together from different disciplines of filmmaking, with the aim that these lovely people will mingle, learn and thrive of each others support to help strengthen the Midlands’ position within the media industry.

The first post only went up yesterday, so give them a little time to pretty it up, but this is one to subscribe to if you’re in any way interested in film in the West Mids.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 2 comments |

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | 4 comments |

There’s a Facebook group and here’s the info about the next event:

After a chat with some filmys at the 48hr film challenge were going for a relaxed post Sunday lunch vibe for Novembers meet. It’s a good chance to get together and have a natter with other filmy types.

When: Sunday 2nd November from 5 – 7pm (although feel free to stay longer)
Where: The Wellington (http://www.thewellingtonrealale.co.uk/) in the city centre.

37 Bennetts Hill
Birmingham
B2 5SN
(Just up from the Briar Rose Weatherspoons)

Give me an email if you need any help with directions.
Email: rill_marchant@hotmail.com

The pub serves real ale and will let you bring food in and even give you a plate and condiments to eat it with, not to mention the fact it has a resident cat called Welly.

Ill send out a description of how to recognise me closer to the time (white carination and so on).

Hope to see you all soon!

Rill

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I was more than chuffed with how it all went.  Three times as many teams entered than I had cautiously hoped for and the quality of the films was astounding.

I’ve rounded up links to all the films on the Film Dash website and I really do recommend checking them out, they’re all under 5 minutes so it won’t take that long.

The judging panel (which didn’t include myself, thankfully) picked a winner and that is the excellent ‘Dunkirk’ by Team TTV:

Dunkirk from Pete Ashton on Vimeo.

There’s a very good chance I’ll be organising something again next year.  Details to be confirmed/dreamt up later, but it was too fun not to do again.  If you want to get on the Film Dash mailing list just email ‘SUBSCRIBE’ to filmdash@gmail.com.

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After a failed career as Britain’s second-favourite celebrity fitness coach, Max Fitness turns to German morning television for a final shot at cellulite-busting stardom.

Available on VHS, audio cassette and minidisc!

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | One comment |

The website for 2007’s festival is still up including this description of what it’s all about:

The festival remains fiendishly difficult to summarise, but intrepid punters can expect to find shorts, animation, music documentaries, independent features, live soundtracks, discussion events, web oddities, installations, parties and plenty more besides – with a general focus on people using limited resources in imaginative ways

Details are still a little way off with venues just being booked up now.  Stay tuned though.

This bit of info came from 7 Inch’s latest newsletter/listings for October which is well worth a look.

Oh heck, and I’ve just noticed it also mentions this:

Tuesday 11 November at Warwick Arts Centre
NOSFERATU
More Murnau, this time with the Matthew Eaton/Grandmaster Gareth score performed at Supersonic in July. (Sunrise next please!)

I saw half of this at Supersonic and can’t recommend it enough.  Nor can Cat Bray for that matter.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | One comment |

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PS – seriously, a free little website can be set up in no time at all.  I set up the blog for the Birmingham Social Media Cafe in 5 minutes (well, an hour once I’d fiddled with the formatting) and can do something similar for you if you bribe me with a coffee or two.  Or visit Pete Ashton in Rootys between 4-6pm on a Thursday.

© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2008. | One comment |