Film festival to offer sneak peak of Grand Hotel
THE Grand Hotel is to launch the 2017 Flatpack Festival, the city’s annual celebration of quirky film, workshops and installations.
Details of the opening night have been released as one of the teaser highlights of the 11th Flatpack, which will run from April 4 to 9.
It will be the public’s first chance for 15 years to see inside Colmore Row’s most imposing edifice since The Grand Hotel closed in 2002.
The Grade II*-listed French Renaissance-style property was originally built in 1879 by Issac Horton, with the family-run company Hortons’ Estate still owning it today.
The ‘opening ’ will be a fleeting opportunity, because The Grand is not expected to take guests again until at least 2018, following an estimated £45 million plan to turn it into a world class five star hotel.
Flatpack will use the Grosvenor Suite to screen works by Spanish silent filmmaker Segundo de Chomón, with acclaimed multiinstrumentalist Stephen Horne playing along from 7.30pm-10pm on Tuesday, April 4.
The elaborately decorated room was once the centre of civil life in Birmingham, playing host to royalty, politicians and stars of the stage and screen.
Famous people to have used the hotel in the past range from Charlie Chaplin to Winston Churchill, The Rolling Stones and Sir Ian McKellen.
Flatpack director Ian Francis said: “Flatpack is not just a festival – it’s also a state of mind.
“Actually, that’s overstating it, but it’s not confined to one time or place.
“The kind of work we put on depends upon the project, but recurring themes include animation, music, artists’ film, archive discoveries, offbeat shorts for kids and live cinema.
“We are firm believers in creating a sense of occasion, exploring the fertile territory where film bumps up against other artforms, and showing people things they might not otherwise have seen.”
For more details go to flatpackfestival.org.uk/