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Sandwell Arts Festival - Flatpack Film takeover West Bromwich Town Hall on Saturday 13th August

13/08/2016
As part of this year’s Sandwell Arts Festival, I was commissioned by Flatpack Projects to document events at West Bromwich Town Hall which was transformed for the day, into a multiplex with a difference…
As part of this year’s Sandwell Arts Festival, I was commissioned by Flatpack Projects to document events at West Bromwich Town Hall which was transformed for the day, into a multiplex with a difference…

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A range of screenings and activities took over spaces throughout the building, ranging from kids’ cartoons to 1902 footage of West Bromwich to ‘Jambo Cinema’, a unique South Asian home viewing experience complete with chai and samosas.

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Programme Schedule

11.00-12:00: Dream Weavers
Imaginary worlds and fantastical places were on show through this colourful programme of animated shorts for all ages.

11.00-4.00: Comic Pictures in the High St
1902 film shot on West Brom High Street, featuring a horde of boisterous kids in flat caps.

12.00-4.00: Jambo Cinema
Unique Bollywood living room experience, with film, food and conversation. Curated by Dawinder Bansal, and partly informed by her own upbringing in a Wolverhampton video shop.

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12:15-1:30: Multistory triple-bill
Three film commissions from the Sandwell-based cultural powerhouse:
Teddy Gray’s Sweet Factory (dir: Martin Parr, 20 mins)
High Street Stories (dir: Daniel Meadows, 23 mins)
Bee Movies (dir: Chris Keenan, 30 mins)

1.45-3.15pm: Black Country Cinema

This filmmaking collective are currently developing their first feature. The collective presented a selection of their own short-form work alongside films that have influenced them.

3:30-4:45pm: Our Spake

Two recent documentaries exploring the particular dialects of Cradley Heath and Oldbury.

The Multistory resource room ran throughout the day, where visitors could delve into some of their past projects and talk to them about future plans.

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The Takeover climaxed in the main hall at 6:30pm, with a special screening of Buster Keaton’s The General with live piano from Paul Shalcross.

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The Black Country Pop-up Film Tour runs throughout August, and is part of Creative Black Country’s Imagine That! summer season.