The Flatpack Festival, Birmingham's quirky annual film event, opens today in venues across the city...

Now in its fifth year, Flatpack has built a reputation for showcasing eccentric and unusual cinematic treats, alongside emerging talents in the medium. This year is no different with feature screenings including artist Gillian Wearing's first feature Self Made (trailer below), and Quentin Dupieux's new film Rubber, described as a "one-of-a-kind B-movie about a tyre with psychic powers on a killing spree".

The festival will be on all weekend, and will include numerous parties and VJ sets, and live performances, such as The Keystone Cut Ups by People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz, which combines early cinema clips with an original musical score (example shown below). And if vintage film is your thing, the Vintage Mobile Cinema, a 22-seater 1960s cine bus will be touring the city during the festival, showing a range of shorts, home movies, and archive clips.

There will also be a programme of short films and music videos by up-and-coming filmmakers. This will include a mini retrospective of films by animator Mirai Mizue, as well as works by David Wilson, Andreas Hykade, and Malcolm Sutherland, who's lovely short Umbra is shown below.

The Flatpack Festival is on until March 27. For more info, visit flatpackfestival.org.

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