2025 Wrapped

As we approach the final days of 2025 we'll leave you with a quote from the very first film we screened this year - “Life can only be understood backwards, but we have to live it forwards.” - Memoir of a Snail

And in the spirit of understanding backwards, we're taking a moment to reflect on our year. Huge thanks to all those who were a part of it - big or small, we couldn't do it without you.

Flatpack goes monthly

In January we launched a series of monthly screenings at Mockingbird Cinema. Over the year we've screened all manner of films and welcomed some fabulous guests - including actor/director Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (with giant beaver in tow), acclaimed Swedish band Death and Vanilla and most recently an all star line-up featuring Steve Oram, Toyah Willcox and Julian Rhind-Tutt.

Flatpack Festival

The 19th Flatpack Festival saw us:

Kick off the festival with In Movements - a newly commissioned immersive audiovisual experience from visual artist Guri Bosh and experimental electronic jazz trio un.procedure. They came together to deliver a performance where architecture, cinema, and sound merged into shifting layers of light and motion. A gorgeous evening.

Save a surrealist short film from obscurity, digitising Desmond Morris’ Time Flower and screening it to a sold out audience for the first time in decades - complete with a new live score. Desmond was interviewed by the Guardian about the film coming to the festival.

Welcome the one and only Noddy Holder to the festival for a 50th anniversary screening of Slade in Flame.

Solve a murder mystery at our festival screening of Clue, complete with intro from the daughter of Birmingham-based Cluedo inventors Marcia Davies (resulting in a deposit of Cluedo-related objects into the collection at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery).

Unveil The Dark Mirror - a co-commission with the brilliant Hippfest in Bo’ness, Scotland. Artist Moira Salt used archive footage to create a dreamy, visual poem scored by musicians and composers Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman.

Short & Suite

We delivered our biggest Short & Suite programme yet thanks to support from Warner Brothers' Crew HQ, screening work by 16-25 year old filmmakers, offering networking and training opportunities.

Al Fresco Cinema

In summer we broke our outdoor cinema record, with 12,000+ film fans joining us in parks, gardens, castles and courtyards across the Midlands.

The Electric

We've been doing a lot of feasibility work behind the scenes, exploring the best option for cinema on Station Street. More on this in the new year.

Shropshire Independent Cinema

Delivered a BFI-funded place-based project across Shropshire with four regional cinemas, resulting in audience growth and lots of press coverage. Particularly around a new scheme celebrating Shropshire's farming community with screenings and ticket offers.

The Shining

We hung out with Jack "Here's Johnny!" Nicholson at Botanical Gardens (photo wizardry by Katja Ogrin).

Colour Box Festival

Over Halloween weekend we delivered the first ever Colour Box Festival, a magical weekend of witches and wolves, spells and songs.

Flatpack HQ will be closed for a short while over the Christmas break. Have a good one - we'll see you in 2026.

Pics courtesy Katja Ogrin, Greg Milner and Rachel Baker. Colour Box showreel by Rida Suleri-Johnson.