2024 Wrapped
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.”
We’re taking a leaf out of Ferris Bueller’s book and pausing to take stock of the last 12 months.
FLATPACK FESTIVAL
The 18th Flatpack Festival was a joyous feast of cinematic treats that (in the words of our audience) “expanded the mind” and “refreshed the soul”.
Highlights included:
Texan composer and sonic adventurer Graham Reynolds stealing hearts and blowing minds with his first solo EP. You didn’t hear this from us, but Graham might just be in town next spring for Flatpack 2025, and we are beyond excited.
Japanese AV-performance duo Usanginingen - both their magical performance and the impromptu birthday singalong that preceded it.
“On May 18th, we performed live at Flatpack Festival in Birmingham, England. As it happens, it was also my son’s 6th birthday that day. When we were about to go on stage, Sam asked the audience to sing “Happy Birthday,” and they all joined in. My son, a little shy, bowed as he came on stage, but he looked genuinely happy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who was there.”
Kyiv-based experimental band Protreba Group’s new live score programme led us through 40 years of Ukrainian animation.
Poetry and film came together with four brilliant spoken word artists performing creative responses to short animations and archive material. We also teamed up with Crate Poetry to record a conversation between the artists about the process of writing in response to film, which you can watch here.
Visual artist Marco Broeders and sound artist Julian Edwardes delivered a transformative ‘spa’ experience that stimulates the brain by projecting patterns and colours directly into your eyeballs.
We could go on… If you want to relive more of the festival check out our full round up here.
We’ve now got our sights firmly set on Flatpack Festival 2025. Our Open Call is open and we’re accepting short film submissions. But if you can’t wait until May you’re in luck - we’re kicking off monthly Flatpack screenings as soon as next month! January never looked better.
LET’S TAKE THIS OUTSIDE
Projector and screen in tow, we travelled across the Midlands and beyond delivering film events for local audiences. Our summer was spent lighting up parks, gardens and castles for 10,000 film fans, offering everything from cult comedy horror to family favourites.
COLOUR BOX
The first weekend of the month is all about Colour Box - a series of events delighting young imaginations and bringing the magic of cinema to life. Huge thanks to our partner MAC and to our lovely audience for coming along each month. Here’s to lots more family fun in 2025, kicking off with Moana 2 in January.
THE RANDHAWA STORY
In 2024 we unveiled a new documentary about the Randhawa family. During the 70s Naranjhan Singh Randhawa managed the Waldorf Cinema in Sparkbrook, welcoming many South Asian stars and offering a vital space for the local community. He brought his teenage sons Raj and Jodi into the family business, until the arrival of VHS killed off the Waldorf in the early 80s along with many other local picturehouses. The film, made by local filmmakers Sima Gonsai and Joseph Potts, premiered at the mandir during Flatpack 2024, alongside a programme of live music and dance.
THE ELECTRIC
We couldn’t reflect on this year without mentioning the Electric Cinema, which closed at the beginning of the year. We’ve been working with a range of partners on a feasibility study for the Electric to ensure the best possible outcome for Birmingham and its independent film scene.
BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY CINEMA
The community cinema scene in Birmingham has blossomed in recent years, with film events popping up all over the place organised by passionate, creative individuals and collectives. We’ve loved working with The People’s Projector in Druids Heath this year, and shining a light on a few other Brummie community cinemas via short interviews - see Whatever Pays the Rent and Falasteen on Film, with more to come in the new year.
SPOTLIGHT
This year the BFI launched a UK-wide initiative based on our ‘Spotlight’ approach to boosting film culture in a specific region or city. Our current ‘Spotlight on Staffordshire’ project is our fourth, all part of the work we do as co-lead of Film Hub Midlands.
Want more Flatpack memories? Check out our 23-24 Annual Report.
Huge thanks to everyone who came along for the ride this year.
Pics courtesy Katja Ogrin, Sharonjit Sutton