Photo by David Rowan

“Where’s Birmigham’s River?

Sunk.”

Flatpack have invited us back for another evening of ambulatory entertainment, this time built around Tom Pickard’s 1991 film Birmingham’s What I Think With. This one-hour documentary follows poet Roy Fisher around various hidden corners of Birmingham, dragging a front door from the Handsworth home where he grew up. In support you will find a selection of short films and talks inspired by Fisher’s brand of topographical poetry, with a particular focus on the city’s neglected waterways.

We shall be joined by some special guests including visual artist David Rowan who shall be presenting material from his ongoing project The Dark River.

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Part of Flatpack’s Birmingham On Film – a season of archive screenings and events exploring the changing face of the city. Expect everything from outdoor screenings, vampire motorcycles and Brumburgers to live music and rare archive TV. 16 Sept – 15 Oct. In association with the BFI as part of their Britain on Film initiative.

Saturday 15th October / 6pm-8:30pm / Centrala, Unit 4, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, Birmingham, B5 5RT / Tickets £5 or £3 concession, available on the door or from the link provided.

Join us at the Archway With Words book festival for a selection of new writings, readings and films by Michael Smith.

Michael Smith is the author of several novels (Giro Playboy, Unreal City, and Shorty Loves Wing Wong for Faber & Faber), but his work also explores how writing can enrich other media – he’s made an album of music & spoken word with Andrew Weatherall, written and presented critically acclaimed, poetic documentaries such as “Drivetime” and “Citizen Smith” for BBC4, as well as dozens of shorts for The Culture Show. More and more, he also directs his own films: experimental, literary pieces he likes to imagine as “video-poems.”

Michael will introduce and talk about some of his personal favourites, as well as giving us sneak previews of two new pieces – a film he’s been collaborating on with filmmaker Maxy Bianco, as well as reading from his new literary project, a piece about the mystery and romance of the seaside, and the first thing he’s written since becoming a dad.

This is the opening event for the Archway With Words literary festival and is followed at the same venue by a David Bowie night, so pffffff…

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Archway With Words Programme

Thursday 13th October / 7pm-8:30pm / Koli’s Nightclub (round the back and above the Achway Tavern), 1 Archway Rd, N15 3TD  / Tickets are £5 on the door or from the link provided.

video still from Olivia Sparrow’s ‘The Very Last Plea From My Heart’ which will feature in the programme

Flatpack have kindly invited us back for another afternoon of ambling entertainment. Given current events we thought it would be fitting to pay tribute to John Madin’s Central Library (RIP) by showing films about concrete, demolition, “urban renewal”, Modernist architecture and Birmingham’s uneasy relationship with its recent past. Among other things.

Films by artists including:

Olivia Sparrow  /  Martin McNally  /  Sian Macfarlane /  Owen Davey /  Emily Wright /  Roxie Collins /  Andy Howlett  /  Liberty Rowley & Mark James 

And we’re delighted to be joined by Peter Fletcher who will be presenting the findings of his investigations into the urban fabric of Birmingham:

“In 1998, Peter Fletcher visited the city of Euphoria and documented the sights and landmarks that he saw. Now eighteen years later he has returned, and found that the city has moved on, and many of the wonders he witnessed have disappeared, mostly to be replaced with newer, less interesting wonders. Euphoria Revisited is a walk through two iterations of the city we live in but only glimpse momentarily, through the haze of mediocre urban existence generated by bus windows and sandwich lunchtimes on park benches.”

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Pay what you like.

Stick around afterwards for a drink and maybe even a walk!

Saturday April 23rd / 11:45am – 1:30pm / The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, B1 1BN Birmingham, UK / Donation Entry

video still from Miles Umney’s ‘Ouse Project’ which will feature in the programme

Please join us at the MK Gallery for a FREE meandering evening of contemporary artist films and discussion on Milton Keynes, new towns, urban rivers, place, journeys, white paint spills and beyond…

Artists joining us and/or exhibiting work will be:

Rosalind Fowler  /  John Rogers  /  Michael Smith  /   Beatrice Jarvis  /  Aaron Head  /  Liberty Rowley & Mark James  /   Miles Umney  /  Owen Davey  and  Andy Howlett

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Book your free ticket here.

Curated by Simon Wright of MK Gallery, Andy Howlett and Owen Davey of VideoStrolls.

Thurs 25th Feb / 7pm / MK Gallery, 900 Midsummer Blvd, Milton Keynes MK9 3QA / Free entry

Tues Sep 22nd, 7pm, upstairs at The Wellington, Birmingham.

Join us in the homely environs of Birmingham’s finest real ale pub for a leisurely evening of films about place, journeying and exploration. Free entry to anyone who arrives on foot.

This new event is an evening of short films from the Video Strolls archive, hosted by Owen and Callum. It will be as boozy, casual and discursive as you might expect.

As well as the programmed shorts from our archive, we invite any of you attendees to bring your own films that relate to place or journeys (on a USB/DVD) – anything under 15 mins. Slide shows or presentations are fine too. Even work in progress; this is about sharing and caring, walking and talking.

Video Strolls goes to Flatpack Film Festival – 29th March, 4pm, Centrala, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley Street, Birmingham, B5 5RT.

Wander on down for an afternoon of ambulatory entertainment. Featuring films and installations that explore, at a leisurely pace, the curious relationship between psyche and place. 

Featuring the work of renowned Video Strollers such as Michael Smith, Rosalind Fowler, John Rogers, Nick Papadimitriou, and Four Feet Films AKA Liberty Rowley and Mark James. All of whom will hopefully be present to share their work and have a chat.

Upstairs will be installations by Birmingham based artists and wanderers Roxie Collins and Pete Ashton. Pete’s immersive installation will give you a real work-out – step onto the treadmill and retrace his steps across Birmingham as the images flash before your eyes. More info here: http://flatpackfestival.org.uk/event/cross-city-walks/

We’ll be rounding off the night with an experimental, interactive “live film” from Ben Waddington and Andy Howlett on the subject of typography and ghost signs on the streets of Birmingham. An ambitious follow up to their previous collaboration ‘Digbeth: A Hundred Thousand Welcomes’, this time Ben will speak directly to the audience, inviting them to respond to the images and help solve some of the enigmas presented to us in our everyday surroundings.

Free entry for everyone who arrives on foot.