Time Flower

We’re excited to present a newly digitised screening of Time Flower, Desmond Morris’ 1950 experimental film.

While studying zoology at the University of Birmingham in the late 40s, Desmond Morris immersed himself in the city’s surrealist scene. He developed his artistic practice from painting to sculptural intervention – including the anonymous deposit of an elephant skull outside a shop on New Street. The summer after he graduated he made a short film called Time Flower, starring himself and his then-fiancée Ramona Baulch. It screened a few times, won a couple of awards, and then disappeared without trace. Morris went on to renown as a broadcaster and author of The Human Zoo.

75 years after it was made, we are delighted to be sharing Time Flower with an audience for the first time in many decades. Newly digitised from Morris’ own 16mm print, the film will be showing twice – with its original Prokofiev accompaniment and a new live score composed by Kinna Whitehead. The event will include an interview with Morris filmed by Andy Howlett in Kildare last year, and a guest talk by Silvano Levy, expert on British surrealism and author of a number of books on Morris and his work.

Fancy supporting Flatpack? You can now 'adopt' this screening:

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