Created in Birmingham

Robots Creative do digital video production and post production. I first came across them when I saw they’d signed up to Jobplot – I remember thinking “huh, nice logo” or something equally profound.

Anyway, for reasons that completely escape me now, I followed a link to a video on co-founder Mat Cooper’s Vimeo account the other day. Recorded back in December when it was all snowy, they’d recorded a test where they’d strapped a 7D camera to a remote control helicopter and flown it around a marina. That’s apparently the sort of thing they do. Top marks on the music choice too.

The Departure Lounge showcases ‘films and film makers taking off’, concentrating on debut and first features by UK directors, screen writers and producers.

The first event of 2011 brings an offering by Birmingham based writer/ director John Bradburn, whose film, WRISTS will be screened in mac‘s cinema, at 6pm on 27 January. The film’s producers Andy Paton and George Fleming, will also be in attendance, joining John Bradburn in a Q & A session after the screening.

The no budget, experimental feature blurs the lines between narrative cinema and video art…

One day the rural calm of Julie’s new life is shattered, when she rescues Clark from a motorcycle accident. Slowly she becomes obsessed with him, and allows herself to be drawn into his dark world.

Ikon are hosting a Vietnamese Film Festival, When Love Doesn’t Come Back, on 22 & 23 January. The festival also coincides with the first UK screening of Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê’s animation South China Sea Pishkun, at the CBSO Centre.

Inspired by events of 30 April 1975 at the end of America’s war in Vietnam, the film is based on the desperate escape by the South Vietnamese and Americans in the face of the advancing Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army.

The weekend will host screenings of classics such as Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and Rescue Dawn plus little-seen arthouse titles The Scent of Green Papaya and When the Tenth Month Comes.

Entrance to the festival is free, with screenings being held in Ikon Gallery’s Events Room and CBSO Centre. For a full rundown of the programme, take a look at Ikon’s website.

Merry Christmas from one and all at Created in Birmingham!

To be honest, I’d be surprised if anyone is reading this (and to be even more honest, I wrote this a few days back anyway) but, in case it’s timely, here are a few things on TV that you might be interested in today:

• Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Cinderella, BBC2 at 3pm
• Best of European Opera 2010 (ft Birmingham Opera Company’s Othello), BBC4 at 7pm

Screen WM have done a round-up of the festive stuff they’ve been involved in, including The Brothers McLeod’s The Moon Bird (Christmas Day, 12.40am on Channel 4 – oh, bit late for that, sorry), the new series of Upstairs Downstairs (Boxing Day, 9pm on BBC 1), Toast (30 December, 9pm on BBC 1) and, later on in January, the return of Hustle.

If you’ve got some vouchers burning a hole in your pocket then Soulboy and Nativity are out on DVD.

On the radio side of things, Robin Valk’s Handsworth Evolution will be played on 30 December on BBC WM.

The last KINO 10 event of 2010 takes place on 21 December at the Bull’s Head, Moseley, with a touch of festive flavour.

Expect an eclectic mix of old and new short films, some music videos, various animations and a few Christmas treats.

The evening starts at 7.30pm, with films from 8pm. Entry is £3.

The Electric Cinema are holding another poster sale today from 12 noon – 2pm.

With a selection of quad size posters available, there’s something for all film enthusiasts, ranging from mainstream to more limited releases, with some classic re-release posters available for the memorabilia collectors.

Plus you needn’t feel guilty splashing out on posters, since 50% of the proceeds will be donated to film director Mark Cousins. The money raised will be spent on musical instruments for the Iraqi Children who featured in his documentary The First Movie.

The final Filmrats of 2010 is tomorrow evening from 8pm at The Victoria. Join them for an evening of short films and live music at just £2 in.

This scrapbook, cut & stick style poster was also designed by illustrator Hayley Warham, which is rather cool.

The Disability Film Festival Day takes place on 3 December, at various venues arcoss the country, including  The Public, mac and Light House.

The festival will be packed full of international shorts, a selection of films from Oska Bright, themed discussions and archived films, in the UK’s first celebration of disability and film.

The Public and mac will also be screening the BBC’s feature length film ‘Raspberry Ripple’, while Light House will be hosting a directors workshop in association with Film Nation.

Entry to all events is free. For more information on events and screenings, take a look at the full rundown over at the list of venues.

Wolverhampton based director Mark Jeavons will be premiering his latest feature film, ‘Whatever Happened to Pete Blaggit,’ at the Light House on 16 November at 7pm.

The film, starring local talent Rob Leetham alongside ex-Coronation Street star Adam Rickitt, is a surreal comedy about an angry wedding videographer disillusioned with life. Just when Pete thinks that his life can’t get any worse everything is turned upside down when he is abducted by aliens.

A Q&A session with the director will follow the screening, to attend email info@lighthouse.co.uk or call 01902 716055

Take a look at the trailer on Youtube.

On 20 November mac and The New Black, supported by Punch, will be hosting a screening of A Slice of Fela, based on the life and music of legendary Afrobeat musician and social political icon Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

The screening is part of the 50th anniversary of Nigerian independence, and will feature excerpts from various documentaries and recorded concerts.

A Q&A panel will follow the screening, with Rikki Stein, Fela’s long-time manager, artist Lemi Ghariokwu, who designed Fela’s album sleeves, former editor of Black Music and Jazz Chris May and personal friend of Fela, JK, will share their memories of the man and his music.

The celebrations start at 4.30pm, with a DJ in Bridges Café Bar from 6pm after the screening.

To book your tickets, call mac on 0121 446 3232 or via the website.

After exhibiting his photography at Hereford Photography Festival in 2004, Wang Qingsong has been invited back for the first UK screening of his video work. TROVE will be presenting his two films, 123456 Cuts and Ironman.

123456 Cuts and Ironman show remarkable restraint in terms of cast and scale of production. They demonstrate the more personal, more bodily, effects of excess: the bloody deconstruction of living flesh into meat and pulp.

The preview is on tonight (12 November) at 6-8pm, and is open 13 November at 6-8pm at TROVE Newhall Square, 144 Newhall Street.

International Project Space have launched a new programme of moving-image exhibitions beginning on 10 November and running through until 17 December. Curated by a selection of three invited curators, each has proposed a programme that draws on aspects of their current research.

ITWAN: curated by Jay Sanders
10 – 20 November (Opening reception 10 November)

a film document of an evening performance event at New York’s Sculpture Center collectively titled Inchoative Listening & Centerless Portrayal, featuring artists and musicians including Yuji Agematsu, Mother Earth, Tom Kovachevich, Tom Thayer and Circuit Des Yeux.

CRIPPLED SYMMETRY: curated by Christoph Gallois
24 November – 4 December (Opening reception 24 November)

Crippled Symmetry, borrows its title from a text by composer Morton Feldman in which he draws parallels between the form of his own musical approach and the dissymmetry found in woven carpets from the Middle East in which complex arrangements of space unfold.

EXODUS: curated by David Bussel
8 – 17 December (Opening reception 8 December)

Exodus brings together works by several artists and collectives who ‘investigate the meanings of and relations between (artistic) labour, thought and praxis.’

The Spotted Dog in Digbeth will be screening ‘Dawn’ by local filmmaker Lizzy Piffany on Thursday 4 November at 8pm.

Lizzy says;

Dawn is my Dorothy journey: the story of my adventure through danger and disappointment to realise my own magic, and find my way forwards to a new understanding of “home”.

Watch the trailer for ‘Dawn’ here.

This is taking place tonight, at Sound Bar from 6pm. The Halloween Monster Movie Challenge gave filmmakers the task of producing a 3-10 minute horror film on a tight budget, with the condition that they must include some form of monster.

They’ve got Darrell Buxton (cult horror film historian) and Owen Tooth (Midlands based award winning filmmaker) in to judge, and will be screening entries from around the country, around with a bit of live music and fancy dress.

The Union Black Film Festival is the UK’s first region specific film festival, celebrating Black British cinema based in central Birmingham, and is taking place from Thursday 14 – Sunday 17 October.

The festival will bring panel discussions, debates, events and film screenings. From commercial hits, to classics, here’s what’s on offer;

14 October – Burning an Illusion (1981), 9pm at The Custard Factory

15 October – Pressure (1975), 9pm at The Custard Factory

16 October – Precious (2009), 11am at Odeon Cinema, New St.

17 October – The Princess and the Frog (2009), 1.30pm at mac, which will include mask making and story telling as part of the festival’s family morning.

Aside from the family morning, other educational events include;

14 October – Mirror Mirror; Reflections of Black Women in the Media, 7pm at The Custard Factory. The evening will welcome a panel of leading black women within British media to discuss whether current images of scantily clad black women to victims of gang violence are having a negative impact on the self image and self-esteem of young black girls. A short documentary by a group of Birmingham based teen girls will follow the debate, focusing on this topic.

15 October – Glorious Technicolour, 7pm at The Custard Factory. This event will examine the reasons why black people still remain under-represented both in front of and behind the camera in Britain’s media industry. For all the regions film makers this also provides an opportunity to ask those already established how best to get their work funded and/or commissioned.