12 Days of Flatpack (2021)
2021 has been a year of two festivals and a lot of firsts, including our first ever autumn edition, and our first ever office dog!
We launched some really exciting projects - from CineCov - turning the city of Coventry into a cinema for its year as City of Culture - to Wonderland, a new project exploring over 100 years of cinema stories in Birmingham as part of Birmingham 2022 Festival. It’s been another tough old year, but hosting in-person events when we’ve been able and connecting with our audiences in new ways when we haven’t has lifted our spirits no end.
Thanks so much to everyone who has supported us these past 12 months.
Read on for a few of our 2021 highlights…
1. Online festival in May
From 21-31 May we hosted a virtual extravaganza, connecting with filmmakers and audiences across the globe for 11 days of cinematic joy. (Take a stroll down memory lane and re-live our online festival here.)
2. First ever autumn edition
One festival just wasn’t enough for us this year. We were pretty desperate to get back into cinemas and other venues, so we delivered our first ever autumn edition - and we had a wonderful time - exciting, emotional, and just a bit knackering… (Check out the autumn edition in pictures.)
3. Open Call
As part of our autumn edition we launched an open call for film events, and got to work with some incredible artists, curators and producers as a result. Read about the three open call events and the people behind them.
4. CineCov
We’ve been working with some amazing organisations and community groups this year for the first half of CineCov, which kicked off with a host of great outdoor screenings over summer and continues into next year. A couple of our highlights include…
5. Bride of Frankenstein
…discovering the beautiful London Road Cemetery. Its Anglican Chapel set the scene for a Halloween screening of Bride of Frankenstein, and we’ll be back there this weekend for a festive screening of It’s A Wonderful Life.
6. The ICHI Anime Show
We were also chuffed to be able to bring ICHI to Coventry - the Bristol-based Japanese singer-songwriter, instrument-maker and performance artist delivered an incredible show.
7. Colour Box at Home
We got to work with some really talented artists making activity packs to accompany our Colour Box at Home programmes. And we had some lovely feedback…
"The craft box is amazing - my kids delighted in all the activities"
“so funny, we were laughing out loud!”
“We enjoyed this SO much! My son laughed and danced and knew which films he liked and really liked.”
8. Colour Box at MAC
And speaking of Colour Box - Colour Box at Midlands Arts Centre has returned! And what better way to kick off than a double-helping of loveable Christmas grump The Grinch? We also made some rather lovely Grinchmas decorations…
9. Wonderland
The bulk of Wonderland activity will be taking place next year - with an exhibition at the newly reopened Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and a programme of events exploring the rich history of cinema-going in Birmingham. It’ll be presented as part of the Birmingham 2022 festival, and right now we’re after stories, memories, photos or memorabilia to do with Birmingham cinemas - what’s your cinema story?
10. A Night in Georges Park
We had a really wonderful time watching The Lion King in Georges Park in Lozells using our new outdoor cinema kit. Hopefully the first of many pop-up community screenings in Birmingham!
11. Build Your Own Film Night
We worked with some brilliant young film programmers who took over Kinokulture from 23 - 27 August for the second Beacon Film Festival - a brilliant programme of new releases, short films, classic cinema and family friendly screenings.
12. Office dog
And finally, what you’ve all been waiting for, here’s a pic of our new office dog Freddie.