Flatpack Festival teases what’s to come a launch party
Show Me The Animation were invited to Flatpack Film Festival’s launch party, in Hackney’s edgy picturehouse attic.
We were accompanied by writers, producers, animators, marketers and Flatpack organisers, in a party tributing everything film based, most of which was dominated by animated shorts. Highlights included David O’Reilly’s The Horse Raised by Spheres and Aardman’s 90’s classic Rex the Runt – The City Shrinkers. Flatpack organiser, Sam Groves, gave several introductions on what can be expected at this years festival (based in Birmingham).
Sellotape Cinema hosted the entertainment for the evening and their charming home-made projectors combined with felt-tip artwork made for a hands-on evening. Stephen Snell told me “This is a little piece of Flatpack, for our money, one of the most interesting film festivals in the country… performance, puppetry, installation all combine here. We’ve got filmmakers and musicians”. It was certainly an inspiring and creative event and if the launch party was anything to go by, the full-scale festival will have Birmingham rocking. Frances Morgan provided the soundtrack to the evening, with a very current sounding playlist.
A highlight of the evening was the international premier of the superbly animated ‘Teeth’, directed by Tom Brown and Daniel Gray. A gruesome tale of teeth obsession that had the majority of the audience on the edge of their seats, running their tongues uncomfortably across their own incisors. It was a powerful piece and although difficult to empathise with, demonstrated some of the most outstanding cartoon animation of the night. The compact audience was also treated to a showing of 180’s oscar winning Tango by renowned director Zbigniew Rybczynski. Tango is a completely unique piece of animation that showcases the industry’s classic stop-start techniques.
The Flatpack Film Festival will be running from the 19th – 29th of March and will showcase a wide spectrum of animated short-films. The festival is in Birmingham, hosted in venues across the city.
