Rip It Up Activity Across the Midlands

A round-up and deep dive into the events, programming and activities coming up in the Midlands hosted by Film Hub Midlands members as part of the BFI UK-Wide season Rip It Up 

Rip It Up UK-Wide Season 

BFI Rip It Up is a new BFI season that explores and celebrates the changing face of youth rebellion, culture and expression from joy all the way to heartbreak.

Presented by the BFI Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) using funds from the National Lottery, Rip It Up will take place at cinemas across the UK until October.

Rip It Up invites UK audiences - of all ages - to reflect on their own lived experiences, identities, and distinct cultural interests as young people growing up against an evolving social fabric.

Discover Rip It Up Activity Across the Midlands

Film Hub Midlands shared the opportunity to apply for funding to present seasons, events and screenings with its members and openly on its platforms to encourage new exhibitors to get involved.

Midlands exhibitors came up with some hedonistic, wild and rip-roaring ideas for seasons that share insights into the emotional rollercoaster of teenage life in the UK and explore how teens throughout the years have expressed themselves.

Support the community cinemas, venues, and festivals celebrating the changing face of youth rebellion by attending local screenings, sharing them with your friends and engaging with their social media.

We have included listings from our members who have received support from Film Hub Midlands in this blog; however, we would love to share as many screenings from across the Midlands and support independent cinemas hosting their own Rip It Up seasons. If you have listings to share, please send listing copy, a URL and image assets to the Marketing and Communications Coordinator, h.cook@broadway.org.uk 

Be ready to get involved with the next UK-Wide programme and become a member of Film Hub Midlands 

Find UK-WIDE events on the Rip It Up website

QUAD - Pop Life

Explore youth rebellion and music through a series of films and events at QUAD. 

There is something for everyone as we drop the needle on some of the best film depictions of music and youth. From Bowie glam, to those cheeky chaps from Liverpool to 90s Rave and Dance cultures. Come and have a sing-song at our Bandaoke night in August, or pop the lime in the coconut as we celebrate QUAD’s birthday with a Reggae Bossa Boogie night in September.

Broadway Cinema - Getting Messy

A season of adolescent angst on screen.

Messy doesn’t quite cover how much of a trainwreck growing up can feel like. From clashing with your parents as a teenager, and plucking off too much of your eyebrows, all the way to coming of age in your twenties and losing your third provisional license on a night out… This September, Broadway is hosting a season of films and events that ask what British youth culture looks like on screen, exploring an array of growing pains to make you reminisce – or shudder.

This partybag season contains more than just films – join us for Nobody Breaks My Heart, a mini-marathon of our favourite cult Channel 4 shows, and enjoy opportunities to get messy with a badge-making and collaging workshop. Oh, and you’re invited to the afters – Tommy on Top will be hosting a dyke bar takeover of the Mezz, and Behind the Screen are closing the season with a party in the Café Bar.

This season has been curated and coordinated by Broadway’s Ali Whitton, Emma Gray and Kate Wood – in collaboration with our regular programme partners Behind the Screen, Fortune & Glory Film Club, and Tommy on Top.

Tickets for all screenings are £5 for Under 25s.

Louth Cine Circle - Rip it Up, go your own way 

Midlands Arts Centre - Here I Am (Coming Soon)

HERE I AM is a Birmingham-rooted film season about the defiance, joy and vulnerability of growing up as a city kid in Britain. Guest curated by Birmingham-born actor and long-time MAC cinema attendee Enva Lewis, it brings together working-class, queer, British Asian and inner-city coming-of-age stories across four decades of British cinema. Through selected Q&As, Pay As You Choose pricing, paid youth-led reviews, DJ/bar activity and a collage/zine workshop, the season will test how MAC can make cinema feel more visible, social, affordable and welcoming to young Birmingham audiences.  

Expect screenings of My Beautiful Laundrette, Young Soul Rebels, Bend It Like Beckham, Ish and plenty more alongside filmmaker Q&As and after parties, with the full programme and dates announced in early September.  

Falasteen on Film - Badmaash Brum Film Club: UK Youth Culture Through A South Asian Lens (Coming Soon)

A new community cinema and film club, bringing together a mix of classic films that explore the dualities of being Brit(ish) Asian and navigating multitudes, with culture and community through a rich mix of events.

You have a programme of day rave, desi picnic, call out for new desi / south Asian films and zine workshops plus more to look forward to!

Film Gage - We Are the Rebellion (Coming Soon)

We Are the Rebellion is a celebration and showcase of the West Midlands' strong tradition of local activism, reflecting on film and archive, sharing Midlands and global majority lived experiences, identities, and cultural interests within the UK, with curated films that capture that journey with enhanced screenings.

Flatpack Festival (Past) - Modulations: Cinema for the Ear

Screenings held at The Mockingbird Cinema and afterparty at Pan-Pan

The BFI FAN UK-wide season Rip It Up kicked off at this year's Flatpack Festival with docs exploring the evolution of electronic music and celebrating 90s rave culture through film.

Blinded By the Lights

Capturing the essence of club culture is no mean feat, but this selection of shorts was full of exceptions. They don't just show you the club; they pull you into the middle of it.

Whether it’s a deep dive into the sweat-soaked rise and fall of 90s rave, a spotlight on the world of Daytimers, or an artistic trip into the heart of euphoria, these films were the ideal warm-up before Flatpack's closing festival party over at Pan Pan.

Modulations: Cinema for the Ear

Before the superstar DJ era and the glow of a thousand iPhones, there was the underground.

Iara Lee’s kinetic documentary is a high-octane travelogue through the evolution of electronic music, tracing the jagged line from the avant-garde experiments of Karlheinz Stockhausen to the warehouse raves of Detroit and the synthesizers of Kraftwerk.

Modulations isn't just a history lesson; it’s a rhythmic, visual collage that treats the screen like a mixing desk. Featuring a heavy-hitting cast of sonic pioneers - including Robert Moog, Giorgio Moroder, Juan Atkins, and Sasha - the film captures a moment when technology and creativity collided to rewire our DNA.

Watch the post-event video from Flatpack Festival below

Want to be a part of the next major programme? Become a member and check out how to get involved in film exhibition with Film Hub Midlands

Find UK-WIDE events on the Rip It Up website 

Screening as part of Rip It Up, a UK-wide film season supported by National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.