Cult short film, The Westerner, gets a rare public screening at The Edge courtesy of Friction Arts on 29 March 2014.
Shot in Digbeth and screened on Central TV in 2000, the film features familiar faces from the city’s punk scene as a country and western singer finds himself with an unexpected booking …
Also on the bill will be excerpts from a live performance by post-punk act The Au Pairs, filmed at the Markthalle Hamburg, Germany, in February 1983.
Listings:
Saturday 29 March 2014
Punk Heritage Brum 2014
A special screening event documenting and celebrating Birmingham punk culture with unseen footage, unearthed from the attics of some of Brum music’s most notable characters!
Also on the bill are excerpts from the brand new live DVD of Birmingham new wave favourites The Au Pairs (best known for their 1980 independent chart hit It’s Obvious), as well as line-dancing local punk classic The Westerner.
Plus special guests, live music and bumflaps.
Free entry to anyone in bondage trousers.
* This event is part of Flatpack Film Festival (20-30 March 2014).
The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Deritend, Birmingham B12 0QH
8pm ‘til late
Tickets: £3 on the door (free to anyone wearing bondage trousers)
Web: www.frictionarts.com
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The Westerner
Filmed around Digbeth by composer and filmmaker Mark Lynall, the 10min short finds a country and western singer unwittingly booked by to play a punk venue. First aired on Central TV in 2000 and starring Michael Van Wilk (aka Wolf from TV series Gladiator), the cult short was recently screened at the Kontrast Film Festival in Germany, to great acclaim. Lynall received the BBC Drama Award for Best New Director in 2000 and moved to the US in 2003 where he has continued to direct and score music for independent film productions and commercials.
Web: www.facebook.com/punkwestern
Web: www.marklynall.com
The Au Pairs
Formed in 1978 in Birmingham, the post-punk quartet were firm favourites of Radio 1 legend, John Peel. They released two albums, Playing With A Different Sex and Sense And Sensuality, before splitting in 1983. The band appear in seminal New Wave movie Urgh! A Music War, along with fellow Brummies UB40 and Steel Pulse, plus Gary Numan, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Police. Renewed interest in the band was sparked by the 2006 compilation album Stepping Out Of Line: The Anthology. Reviewing the 2CD collection, The Guardian praised their “significant feminist, social-commenting agit-funk” and concluded their “… heady, insightful femme punk funk … is ripe for rediscovery.”
Au Pairs Live at Markthalle Hamburg features Jane Munro (bass), Lesley Woods (vocals, guitar), Paul Foad (guitar, backing vocals) and Peter Hammond (drums, percussion) joined by Chris Lee (trumpet) and Keith Knowles (synthesizer), and was recorded in Germany in February 1983.
Web: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Au_Pairs_(band)
Web: The Au Pairs on the Birmingham Music Archive
Flatpack Film Festival
Flatpack started like in June 2003 as a ramshackle monthly film night. It has since grown into an annual celebration of film that takes over venues all over Birmingham every March. The eighth festival runs from 20-30 March 2014.
Web: www.flatpackfestival.org.uk
Friction Arts
Friction Arts make arts projects with communities. Recent projects include Echoes, an installation of multi-media rooms exploring the history of industrial and domestic Birmingham, inspired by interviews with residents.
Web: www.frictionarts.com
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