Longbridge Light Festival

For one night the centre of Longbridge will be lit up with a range of artworks and activities, from a sci-fi bike ride to a lantern parade through Austin Park. We'll be setting up a Flatpack Film Cafe in Bournville College for the evening, taking our cue from the festival's 'Back To The Future' theme... Prepare for lift-off, as we gather a rocketful of family-friendly animated shorts and head off into space. Intergalactic highlights include a weird, multi-coloured assortment of aliens in Andy Martin’s The Planets, and Hannah and the Moon (dir: Kate Charter), about a lonely girl who finds a friend in the sky. 40 mins total. Suitable for all ages. Next we travel into the nineteenth century, back to the future of cinema. Before film was invented, showmen used glass slides to create spectacular moving patterns, globe-trotting panoramas and shaggy-dog stories. This introduction to the magical world of the lantern is brought to you by locally-based lanternists Peter Spencer & Son. 40 mins total. Suitable for all ages. Since the dawn of film, photographers and animators have been experimenting with lights and long exposures. A century on, light painting and shooting with long exposures are still hugely popular techniques, as this programme of shorts testifies. Featuring work by Japanese duo Tochka and British artist Sarah Wickens. 50 mins total. Suitable for ages 7+.

All events are free entry, and tea and cake will be served throughout. www.longbridgelightfestival.co.uk