Return of the Jackdaw
After a pause of eighteen years, Tim Ellis has instigated the return of Jackdaw with Crowbar, the seminal multi media group. The group were pioneers in the field of multi projection film montage as performance with live music in the eighties and early nineties. “Back then we had a group of up to eight musicians and three projectionist film makers, we were entirely analogue using 8mm film and actual musical instruments or sound devices. This time round three of us are using modern technology to create a new set of material. I can recollect many occasions on tour when one of the film makers would be editing in the back of the truck because the films used to break from repeated use at concerts. Now we use laptops and digital projectors so in theory its more stable, and brighter. Although we miss the texture, depth and colour of film we are spoilt by the immediacy of working in digital.”
Ellis is working with former JwC members collage artist, lyricist and actor Adam Sindall and lyricist, actor and community theatre activist Fergus Durrant. The group will be screening some of the new films and performing this month at:
Screening – Eat My Shorts – West Midlands Film Makers benefit for Haiti
13th March 8pm
Friction Arts – The Edge, 79 – 81 Cheapside – Digbeth Birmingham
Live performance warm up set
22nd March 8pm
KoKo’s Bar, 45 Warwick Street, Leamington Spa
Live Performance – Flatpack Festival by 7 Inch Cinema
27th March 9pm
Vivid, 140 Heath Mill Lane, Digbeth, Birmingham
Each year, Flatpack Festival celebrates the wild frontier of film culture. Presenting work in an eclectic array of unexpected spaces and places, the festival centres on the shared experience of watching great work that you might not otherwise get to see. Flatpack provides a platform for new filmmakers and moving image creativity together with a playful and original programme of cult classics re-imagined, silent cinema re-scored and archive material re-invented.
Flatpack is produced by 7 Inch Cinema, and supported by Arts Council England, UK Film Council and ScreenWM through the National Lottery, Birmingham City Council
and Business Link WM.
FLATPACK FESTIVAL
23-28 March 2010 // Birmingham, UK
www.flatpackfestival.org