Girls on film
The annual Birds Eye View Film Festival will be celebrating female filmmakers for the sixth year running this week. Despite the recession reducing the number of women entering the industry, it’s been a good phase for their recognition in the film business; think Sam Taylor Wood’s well-received Nowhere Boy, Kathryn Bigelow The Hurt Locker, which won six BAFTA’s and is up for nine Oscars, and now Drew Barrymore who has traded in her leading lady status for directorial debut Whip It. (The latter screens at the festival on Friday 12th March, and promises a prelude roller derby spectacular on the South Bank to get you in the mood.)
Bird’s Eye is not just about feature films though; they’ve scheduled in documentary, animation and short screenings too. They’ve even planned a retrospective of iconic blondes on screen. Everything from Hitchcock, to the original Chicago will be screened alongside a live score sung by Patti Plinko for a night to remember (see myspace.com/pattiplinkoandherboy for a taster).
Some of Twin’s highlights on the programme include:
* Birds Eye View Film Festival has teamed up with the superb Warp Films (who are behind Shane Meadows and Chris Cunningham films) to offer the workshop Animation Lab. It sets up female scriptwriters with female animators to undergo training and mentoring together to develop fresh new works, the best of which could be added to the Warp Films Development slate.
* From their Blonde Crazy retrospective, director Jean Luc Goddard’s Le Mepris is screening on the 5th and 6th March. Not that you need any excuse to watch Bridgette Bardot at her best, but the film’s cinematography is some of the most beautiful in film history.
* The Oscar nominated After the Wedding is screening on 7th March and the festival welcomes its Danish director Susanne Bier for a Q&A the day before.
* As African cinema is booming (and Nigeria alone can already boast the second biggest film industry in the world) catching one of its best exports is a must. Killer Necklace, directed by Judy Kibinge, is a multi-layered story about a man who desperately wants to obtain what his girlfriend most desires. There’s a Q&A with the director too, both back-to-back on 11th March.
* For animation lovers: The oldest surviving animation feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, made in 1926, is being screened on 6th March. It’s a classic fairytale inspired by Arabian Nights with a live score from experimental composer Mira Calix.
* Why Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker went pretty much straight to DVD in the UK is beyond us. For your chance to see her gripping portrayal of a US bomb-disposal unit in Baghdad on the big screen, you can catch it at the festival on 4th March.
* For an inspirational pep talk from female filmmakers, there’s a screening of the Shooting Women documentary by director, producer and cinematographer Alexis Krasilovsky. You can watch French feminist director Agnes Varda, British cinematographer Sue Gibson, and fellow cinematographer Ellen Kuras (who’s worked on films such as Be Kind Rewind and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) shed light on their experiences in the industry and offer insider advice.
Bird’s Eye Film Festival runs from 4th-12th March. www.birds-eye-view.co.uk.
