Ian Francis, Director of Flatpack Film Festival in Birmingham, says the opening week of the festival has ‘been amazing with constant running from one event to another’.
Flatpack Film Festival is an annual Birmingham based festival which showcases short films, animations and documentaries in various locations across the city such as Mockingbird Cinema, Pan Pan and the Botanical Gardens.
One event held on May 10th at Mockingbird Cinema was a showing of The Magic City, Birmingham according to the Ra with an accompanying Q&A and a subsequent jazz performance at Pan Pan.
The Magic City is a documentary by Guillaume Maupin and Pablo Guarise which discusses the early years of the jazz musician Herman Poole Blount when growing up in Birmingham Alabama.
“In some ways it’s just a bit of a coincidence,” Ian said. “You’ve got Birmingham Alabama and Birmingham, West Midlands. In the film they describe it as a city of a thousand churches and we’re the city of a thousand trades.
“You could say our Birmingham is magic in some ways. It’s got a lot of hidden magic, it’s not obvious on the surface but if you dig deep there’s some really good stuff.”
The film festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary since beginning in 2006 as an extension of 7 Inch Cinema, which was held at The Rainbow pub in Digbeth.
The team this year comprises six people and a collection of freelancers and volunteers.
In 2024 the festival presented 310 events in Birmingham and 84% of people left feeling inspired, according to Flatpack’s latest annual report.
“It’s been amazing with constant running from one event to another,” said Francis. “But there’s been really good crowds. The weather’s been kind to us.”
“We’ve had a bus tour, some intense Q&As. We’ve had a showing of Handsworth Songs this afternoon, which was made in Birmingham in ’86 and the Q&A was a reflection on how some things have changed since then.”