“The Citizen Kane of boxing shrimp movies”
On Thursday 16th May at 8pm, Stirchley Happenings will be joining forces with the I.W.W. union, who run a regular film night at Stirchley Working Men’s Club, to present a free screening of Crust; a major midlands feature film about a boxing shrimp that not many people know outside of Japan (where it has apparently spawned a new sub-genre of fighting crustacean films).
Why wasn’t it a success? There’s was twist in the tale, as explained by the I.W.W. “Crust was funded as a tax dodge by fishy geezer Guy Hands, who thought he’d cracked a legal loophole existing to promote the UK film industry, which he exploited to avoided shelling out in bills, netting him a tidy return. Unfortunately for him he was caught and made to throw back his takings. Regardless, Crust still didn’t get a proper release, although it has been quietly making waves on the net ever since.”
The reviews for Crust are unanimous in their praise: ‘made me cry real tears’ The Times; ‘all the makings of a cult hit’ Evening Standard; and most telling of all, ‘the Citizen Kane of boxing shrimp movies’ Film Threat.
Crust was directed by local film-maker Mark Locke who has gone on to direct videos for the likes of Dinosaur Jr. and most recently, Birmingham’s own Misty’s Big Adventure. We’ll be showing his short film Eat In as a precurser to the feature.
We hope to see you there, and should mention that although the films don’t have a rating, we’d suggest that it’s a 15.
‘Take Me High’ at TASCOS, Sunday 24th March, 8:00pm
The last night of local festival Art Soak will climax with one of Birmingham’s finest moments on film: Cliff Richard’s last ever feature: ‘Take Me High’.
Cliff stars as Tim Matthews, a young city-slicker who dreams of being posted to one of the metropolitan capitals of the world, but ends up being sent to Birmingham. Initially devastated, Cliff starts to change his mind the instant his Mini hits the warm tarmac of the Aston Expressway, and he finds love amongst canals, concrete and junk food.
The film will be preceded by ‘There is a Better Lifestyle’, a 1980s promotional film encouraging the upper-middle classes to leave London and experience the best Brum has to offer: lawn tennis, clarinet lessons and an enthusiastic Simon Rattle.
We’ll be screening both films in the upstairs room at TASCOS at 8:00pm. Come along from 7:00pm to catch some poetry from Write Down, Speak Up and partake in some savoury snacks too!
(Make sure you don’t miss ‘Hinterland’ by Tom Cahill-Jones on Saturday 23rd March – more detail about this in the post below. Check out the rest of the Art Soak programme here.)
Hinterland
Hinterland.
Location: The verge next to the junction of Hunts Road and Hazelwell Lane, Stirchley, B30 2PP.
Time: 1pm – 6pm
Date: Saturday 23 March 2013
Venture down to the end of Hazelwell Lane this Saturday and you will find an installation created by Tom Cahill-Jones of Stirchley Happenings. Constructed from scrap materials reclaimed from local streets over the past two years, a hide has been created that provides a vantage point from which to consider the nature of the proposed supermarket redevelopment site. A once bustling part of Stirchley – which included residents, the Co-operative Education Centre, Bate’s Toolmakers and Eccles Caravans – the area now lies unloved and seemingly in stasis, awaiting a new future as a 600-space carpark. Only TASCOS Social Club and one lone householder, provide flickering evidence of a time now passed.
The hide itself will be positioned on the site of Number 65 of a row of prefabs which used to run along the River Rea. Inside the structure will be an old map of the area, information on the latest planning developments and a short audio presentation relaying people’s memories of activities which used to take place before the dereliction took hold, alongside thoughts about the current situation. There will also be the opportunity for people to contribute their own comments, for inclusion in an expanded audio component, to be presented later this year.
Hinterland is an ongoing project, which will be moved round different sites within Stirchley over the coming months. We would be interested to hear from anyone who has ideas regarding possible future locations. Saturday’s edition has been kindly supported by Arts Forum Selly Oak and is featured as part of the Art Soak 2013 Festival.
To find out more about Art Soak you can visit the Arts Forum Selly Oak website – click here - and follow them on Twitter @artsforumsellyo.
You can also follow Tom on Twitter @TTTTTTTTTTTTTCJ.
Stirchley Happenings tweet as well @ StirchleyHaps.
Special thanks to Sabra, Sandra, Ian, Martin and Joe.
‘The Ghost of Piramida’
 On Thursday 7th March, Stirchley Happenings presents the (as far as we know) only Birmingham screenings of the new Andreas Koefoed/Efterklang documentary ‘The Ghost of Piramida’; documenting the Danish trio’s visit to the abandoned Russian mining town where their latest record’s inception began back in the summer of 2011. We’ll be returning to the room above Birmingham Bike Foundry after our series of short films on Valentines day, and the screenings are FREE. In order to book a ticket, you need to go to the website below, click ‘Attend a Screening’, and scroll down to 7th March to find the event. Tickets are limited: all tickets to the first screening went in less than 24 hours after being mentioned on Twitter, so we just have seats for the 8.15pm screening left. The Ghost of Piramida premiered in November 2012 in Amsterdam at the world’s biggest documentary film festival IDFA, and here the film was selected as one of the top three music films of the year. Since then, the film has been screened at several other film festivals and in art house cinemas around Europe. To have a look at the trailer and pretty website, go to http://www.theghostofpiramida.com/ Directed by Andreas Koefoed |
Stirchley Quickies, Thursday 14th February, 6:30pm
This Valentine’s day we’ll be presenting a series of short films on matters of the heart, exclusively curated by short film experts Kino 10 as part of Place Prospectors’ ‘Love Stirchley More’ festival. The event will be upstairs at Birmingham Bike Foundry, 1539 Pershore Road from 6:30-7:30pm, entry is free and all are welcome: whether you’re loved-up, love-sick or somewhere in between. There’ll be free Jammie Dodgers and Love Hearts waiting for you at the door because we love you, (we really do).
Die Hard at Balti Cottage, Thursday 3rd January, 7:30pm
Fresh from welcoming in the new year, we’ll be taking our Travelling Bug House back to Balti Cottage for our latest balti n’ blockbuster combo, and our second Christmas film of the season, the fantastic, funny, wonderfully paced and action packed ‘Die Hard’.
Bruce Willis stars as the all-American good cop/slack husband antihero John McClane, who finds himself unwittingly caught up in a bizarre hostage situation involving a odd-voiced Johnny foreigner criminal mastermind (Alan Rickman as German born, English educated Hans Gruber); when all he wants to do is make things up with his missus and go home for a spot of roast turkey and some brussels sprouts.
Tickets are priced at £15, and that includes a poppadoms, a main course, rice or naan, and tea afterwards. You must pre-book your meal from a set menu beforehand, so make sure to ask the Cottage about the selection. Food will be served at 7:30pm sharp and then the film will begin once everyone has got their grub.
Places for our curry/film nights go really quickly, so it might be worth calling ahead to see if the Cottage have any tickets left before you head down there to pick one up on 0121 459 6867.
‘Scrooge’ at Stirchley Community Church, Sunday 16th December, 4pm
In the year of Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday, we’ll be returning for our 3rd filmic Christmas at Stirchley Community Church with ‘Scrooge’ (1951), an adaptation of the classic yuletide tale, ‘A Christmas Carol’.
Alastair Sim plays the eponymous miser/hero in the most tight-fisted, touching and memorable portrayal of uncle Ebenezer in the history of cinema.
We’ll also be screening the wonderfully funny Laurel and Hardy short, ‘Big Business’, about a couple of ambitious door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen.
Doors open at around 3.30pm for a 4pm start at Stirchley Community Church, Hazelwell Street, B30 2JZ.
Tickets are priced at £4/£3 concessions and available from:
-Stirchley Community Church during cafe opening hours: on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10am-2pm (from Tuesday 27th November);
-Stirchley Community Market at Stirchley United Working Men’s Club on Tuesday December 4th from 4-8pm;
-and then on the door.
Programme as follows:
Big Business, dir. James W. Horne, Leo McCarey, 1929, 19′
Scrooge, dir. Brian Desmond-Hurst, 1951, 86′
Our Travelling Bug House film screenings are made possible by a generous grant from the Midland Co-op’s Community Dividend Fund.
