The wonderful Flatpack festival has sort of started, sort of. Although the proper launch of actual screenings you go to is not until the 11th, there’s a sort of “retail outreach programme” going on right now that should bring film and the festival to more people. Five pieces of filmic artwork have been installed in shop windows around the City Centre, and they’ll be showing now for the duration of the fest (that’s until the 16th of March).
The works are in Urban Outfitters (lovely Vaudeville work by Chris & Kier), Up and Running (Temple Street, a clever animation I couldn’t see well for the throng of viewers), Nostalgia and Comics, the big yellow second hand clothes shop in Digbeth (it’s called Cow, who knew?) and personal favourite the film(s) by Rill Marchant in ‘a too’ on Ethel St.
Nepotistically, Rill’s ‘Dead Air’ is my favourite — but not just because our telly is one of those in the shop window — it makes great use of the intallation by having separate looping films that will cross and mesh to produce a different narative with each watch. It’s also got a noir-ish vibe and a maneki neko in it, two things that will always impress me.
Flatpack are doing something great here, taking art, and film to people where they are — instead of being satified with the same-old Nathan Barleys attending. As a self facilitating media node, I can say it’s well weapon.
