Flatpack Festival

About

Flatpack 2021 will be quite the different kettle of fish. For four whole months, we’ll be bringing films and events to a screen near you - online, outdoors, and (all fingers crossed) in actual cinemas, and we couldn’t be more excited. Here’s a little on what you can expect from our summer menu...
 

FLATPACK FESTIVAL

From 21-31 May, we’ll be taking to the web with a full-to-bursting programme of the very best filmmaking from around the globe. From trashy Sundance marmite films (Mother Schmuckers), to documentary portraits of artists (Tomorrow is Saturday), to the long-awaited Birmingham Central library doc Paradise Lost, plus music docs, beguiling animation and oh so much more...

Our BAFTA-award qualifying short film competition features UK premieres from far and wide, and this year we're giving out no less than six cash prizes at our awards do. We'll also be digging into archives, hosting workshops, compering interactive special events, and throwing in some family films too. All this in the comfort of your own home with the flexibility to watch whenever and however you like.

COLOUR BOX @ HOME

This summer, we’re officially launching our Colour Box @ Home project - working with artists and designers, we’ll deliver a pack of activities, games and surprises direct to your door - including a limited edition Colour Box zine! More to come on this in the spring…

FLATPACK OUTDOORS

We’ll be lighting up green spaces in communities all around Birmingham as part of our new venture Flatpack Outdoors, putting our twist on the cinema under the stars experience - think music, food and a few extra treats thrown in for good measure.

TIME MACHINE

A series of screenings and discussions will delve into the archives for buried treasure. From the secret history of Birmingham's adventure playgrounds to Indonesian folk horror, Time Machine continues to shed new light on the past.

AUTUMN WEEKENDER

Wrapping up the festivities, we'll be venturing back into cinemas and auditoriums with a weekend of live scores, AV performances, film screenings, and perhaps most importantly a healthy sprinkling of IRL festival buzz. The full lineup will be announced later in the summer, but think of this as The Festival: Part Deux, or the wrap party, and maybe we'll even be able to dance by then…

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Flatpack is a festival which takes over venues across Birmingham every spring. It draws people from far and wide with a mixture of films, performances, contraptions and surprises, and has been described as “magnificently eclectic” (Time Out), “joyously inventive” (the Guardian) and “the UK’s most creatively curated film festival” (the Independent).

But Flatpack is not just a festival – it’s also a state of mind. Actually, that’s overstating it, but it’s not confined to one time or place. The annual event was spawned from the year-round antics of 7 Inch Cinema, originally a mixed-media filmnight at the Rainbow pub in Digbeth. This grew to embrace inflatable cinema-tents, archive detective-work and DVD compilations, and ten years on we continue to produce our own projects and provide guest programming for others throughout the year. Recent collaborators have included Home of Metal, Green Man Festival, First Light, Birmingham International Dance Festival and the Independent Cinema Office.

The kind of work we put on depends upon the project, but recurring themes include animation, music, artists’ film, archive discoveries, offbeat shorts for kids and live cinema. We are firm believers in creating a sense of occasion, exploring the fertile territory where film bumps up against other artforms, and showing people things they might not otherwise have seen.