Film Forum’s first meet up of 2010 will be on Tuesday 19th January @ The Victoria Pub on John Bright Street in Birmingham from 7pm.

The idea of these monthly meet ups is to get people from all aspects of filmmaking in the West Midlands together to chat and start building networks of friends and contacts.

The entire evening is very informal so therefore it is really up to you if you approach it as a casual drink or an opportunity to network and get projects off the ground.

Here’s the address: The Victoria Pub, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham, B1 1BN

Here’s The Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=261804082304

Look forward to meeting you all.

Film Forum’s next meet up will be on Tuesday 10th November at the Victoria Pub on John Bright Street in Birmingham from 7pm.

The idea of these monthly meet ups is to get people from all aspects of filmmaking in the West Midlands together to chat and start building networks of friends and contacts. The entire evening is very informal so therefore it is really up to you if you approach it as a casual drink or an opportunity to network and get projects off the ground.

So, come along and say hello, tell us what you are up to and hopefully we’ll all benefit from some interaction.

Here’s the address: The Victoria Pub, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham, B1 1BN

Here’s the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151732432083&index=1

See you there.

On Wednesday nights from 8pm, The Jekyll & Hyde pub will be screening classic black and white films in their gin parlour.

4th November: Brief Encounter (1945) A classic romantic drama set in 1945 during WWII in and around the fictional Milford Railway Station. Meeting a doctor, a married woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.

11th November: A Streetcar named Desire (1951) Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following WWII, this is the story of Blanche Debois, a fragile woman on a desperate prowl for some place in the world to call her own.

18th November: On the Waterfront (1954) Classic story of mob informers based in and around the docks of New York and New Jersey.

25th November: North by Northwest (1959) A New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a gang of spies. He gets involved in a series of misadventures and is pursued across the States by both the spies and the government.

2nd December: The Third Man (1949) An American pulp writer arrives in post WWII Vienna to discover the friend who invited him has died in mysterious circumstances.

9th December: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) A lawyer in a racially divided Alabama town agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman.

All screenings are free and include free popcorn! The Jekyll and Hyde is located on Steelhouse Lane, spitting distance from Snow Hill Station.

Hello there,

Film Forum’s next meet up will be on Tuesday 13th October at the Victoria Pub on John Bright Street in Birmingham from 6pm.

For those that haven’t been to a meet up yet, here’s what happens! We meet up each month to get people from all aspects of filmmaking in the Midlands together to chat and start building networks of friends and contacts.

It’s very informal and is really up to you if you approach it as a casual drink or an opportunity to make new contacts and get projects off the ground. Contacts made through the social evenings have helped film projects to flourish and the variety of creative types attending has been very encouraging.

So, come on down, say hello, tell us what you are up to and hopefully we’ll all benefit from some interaction.

Here’s the address: The Victoria Pub, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham, B1 1BN

Here’s the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142120700881&index=1

I hope to see you there.

Whilst we didn’t manage to make the their opening night, it seemed to have a great atmosphere and turn out. We’ll definitely be making this next one as it looks like a great chance to take in local talents and have a nice time.

A provisional line up has been posted, but there’s always room for more Filmmakers, Singer/Songwriters, Bands, Poets, Comedians and Performance Artists. They accept all films and music videos and will play all submissions granted that the subject matter is not offensive.

Send your short films in DVD format to Filmrats, Flat 3, 889 Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, B29 6ND and email any stills, posters, trailers and provide a brief synopsis and production credits.

Email: filmrats@hotmail.co.uk

They’re also social media’d up to the eyeballs:

Myspace Page: www.myspace.com/filmrats

YouTube Page: http://www.youtube.com/Filmrats

Twitter: http://twitter.com/filmrats

So get submitting and get some exposure.

It’s criminal we haven’t already plugged this screening/social event in Derby.  Five Lamps Films next film night is on Tuesday 26th May at The Old Bell, Derby at 8pm. 

If you’ve got a film, trailer, music video to show then send them to Five Lamps Films and they’ll plug ‘n’ play ‘em at their film night. All films are welcome, amature, professional, student!

Send films to: Five Lamp Films, Flat 3, 37 Duffield Road, Derby, DE1 3NQ

Here’s the Facebook Event Page.

You can also befriend and poke them at Facebook although they (slightly annoyingly) don’t have an actual group you can join.

www.fivelampsfilms.com

Thanks to everyone that turned up at the Victoria in Birmingham last night to meet fellow filmmakers and have a good old chit chat. It was good to meet some new faces and especially nice to see some returning forum members in what we think was probably the best meeting yet. The venue helped we felt, as the Vic’s cartoon-strewn walls really got the creative juices flowing.

We had writer Brendan O’Neill and actor/producer Kriss Dosanjh talking about their planned feature ‘Paper Aeroplane’ to be filmed in Birmingham in August, Film Dash organiser Chris Unitt updating us on the next Dash’s progress, and many others including producer James Rock, photographer Dave Brassington, and aspiring actress Chara Jackson.

For those that couldn’t make it, we hope to see you at the next meeting in April.

In the meantime, why not follow us on the media’s new toy Twitter. You can follow us at @filmforumwm for news, updates, meeting times and general chatter and nonsense.

Also, if you want to follow the people behind the forum, Rill is @filmfake, Ian is @IanDice, Louis, imaginatively enough, is @LouisHudson.

Tweet you later!