A man revisits his childhood beach to surf with his son. Humiliated by locals, he becomes entangled in an escalating conflict that pushes him to his limits.

Ghassan Salhab’s debut feature Phantom Beirut (Ashbah Beyrouth) is steeped in ghosts - both literal and metaphorical. Set in the late 1980s - whilst Lebanon’s Civil War limps to a close - it follows Khalil, a man who faked his own death ten years earlier. Now returning to Beirut under a new identity he’s forced to confront the people, and past, he abandoned. Blurring the lines between fictio...

We’re delighted to welcome James Lawrence Slattery and Sean Burns to Flatpack for an evening of clips and conversation to mark Routledge’s publication of Taking Back Desire: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Queerness and Neoliberalism on Screen. Drawing on Slattery’s PhD thesis, the book examines a range of film, television and video art texts including Paris Is Burning, Pose, Sharp Objects, 120 BP...

BFI NETWORK and Film Hub Midlands are back for Midlands Short Film Club - another chance to celebrate the exciting things happening right here in the Midlands - proving you don’t need Hollywood to make a great film. The team will be previewing films created through BFI NETWORK Short Film Funding over the last two years, as well as being joined by a panel of filmmakers to talk about the importan...

Some films stick with you. The first time you saw The Exorcist at a sleepover. The moment Jaws made you swear off stepping foot in the ocean again. For a whole generation, IT (1990) was that film, the one that burrowed deep into their subconscious, and never really left. Time to relive the nightmare on the big screen. Over two nights, we’re bringing Stephen King’s IT: Part 1 and 2 to the Moc...

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their Mississippi hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Two parents enter a race against time when they receive a distressing late-night phone call from their daughter after she caused a tragic car accident.

The Extraordinary Miss Flower brings to life the remarkable story of Geraldine Flower and the discovery of a suitcase full of passionate, heartfelt letters of love sent to her in the 60s and 70s that inspired acclaimed Icelandic singer/songwriter Emilíana Torrini to return to the studio and record an entire album of new songs.

Following a top-prize win at Sundance, Wendell Harris’ 1989 masterpiece has gone woefully underseen - until now. Harris gives a Shakespearean performance relaying the (somehow) true life story of Doug Street, the con-artist who in his time impersonated a lawyer, a student at Yale, an American football player, and even a surgeon. With some truly unbelievable turns (thirty-six hysterectomies),...

Some films stick with you. The first time you saw The Exorcist at a sleepover. The moment Jaws made you swear off stepping foot in the ocean again. For a whole generation, IT (1990) was that film, the one that burrowed deep into their subconscious, and never really left. Time to relive the nightmare on the big screen. Over two nights, we’re bringing Stephen King’s IT: Part 1 and 2 to the Moc...

Ready for a wild ride through the windswept moors of 1790s Britain? Buckle up for Tornado, a pulse-pounding, genre-smashing revenge thriller like no other. Meet Tornado (Kōki), a fierce, determined young woman traveling with her father’s puppet Samurai show. When they run into a ruthless gang led by the menacing Sugarman (Tim Roth) and his ambitious son Little Sugar (Jack Lowden), things take a...

What do you do if you’re a Hungarian teenager living just after the fall of the Iron Curtain? Start forging train tickets and travel all across Europe, of course. Based on real accounts, Pelikan Blue follows three friends (who met while committing bank fraud), as they develop the techniques and tactics needed to build their forgery empire, meet girls, and get into trouble. Packing a lot into...

A Free Mystery Movie Every Friday Night*, no clues, but it will probabley be a banger. Come join the club. If you can buy a beer or some sweets that would really help us out. *Most Fridays, just a 95p booking fee per ticket

A mysterious portal pulls four misfits into the Overworld, a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they'll have to master the terrain while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected crafter named Steve.

What is it about Solihull that produces such odd music? At some point between the emergence of Genesis P Orridge and grindcore pioneers Napalm Death, there was a brief explosion of punk which included schoolfriends and labelmates Swell Maps and Cult Figures. Having just reunited on a Birmingham stage for the first time in nearly 50 years, we thought we’d get the co-founder of each band together fo...

Where movement meets cinema, and dance transcends the stage, screendance has seen its popularity soar over the last few years, and this programme of shorts make it easy to see why. From the hauntingly beautiful The Dying Tree, where an office worker's encounter with a chimpanzee leads to a fateful choice, to Marlene Millar’’s brilliant Refuge - a vibrant tapestry of dance and vocal expression e...

Step into the raw, unfiltered world of The Flats, a gripping documentary that peels back the layers of Belfast's New Lodge estate, revealing the lingering shadows of the Troubles. Director Alessandra Celesia crafts a haunting narrative, blending personal stories with the collective scars of a community. At the heart of the film is Joe McNally, an aging republican haunted by his past. Through...

Animate Projects have consistently been at the vanguard of the most interesting animation around the world, and the third Animate OPEN is no exception. The films explore subjects that range from intimate, personal stories to wider geopolitical events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, and the climate crisis. They consider places we call home and our need to connect with ...

You’re stranded on an island with nothing but a screen, a DVD player (remember them?) and 5 DVDs. There’s one caveat though - the DVDs have to be documentary films. This is the proposition we’ll be giving a panel of documentary filmmakers including Dorothy Allen-Pickard (her short We Did Not Consent is in competition in the ‘Stay in Control’ programme). Expect clips and lively conversation. ...

Billy 5000 has one goal: to earn $5,000 by any means necessary. When his efforts are hampered by the arrival of a donut-shaped alien, Billy must decide whether hustle mentality is really the life he wants. We’ve been fans of Julian Glander’s playful 3D-animated shorts for some time (see Bloop’s Birthday or Tennis Ball on its Day Off), and have been eagerly awaiting the release of his first feat...