Films and females come together this week at the Bird’s Eye View (BEV) festival. The result is a sum greater than it’s parts, kicking off on the day recognised across the world as International Women’s Day, 8 March 2007. Host venues are the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), the National Film Theatre (NFT) and the Barbican, with smaller events happening at the Everyman Cinema and Cine Lumiere in London. The focus of the festival is as diverse and entertaining as Britney Spear’s hairstyles – including music videos, short films, features, documentaries, silent films with live music, bring-a-baby screenings, workshops or other feel-good and screen-related gatherings. The growth of the festival this year is enriched with the collaboration of Action-aid, and their cutting-edge films from female directors in developing countries.
Before the party starts though, some important and timely questions must be asked. Why is it that, in the century-old tradition of cinema, there has never been a woman director who has ever won the Oscar? Why have only 3, in fact, even been nominated? Why is it that women accounted for only 7% of directors in 2005? Why is it that in 2005 even less women directors are around, dropping from 11% in 2000? BEV founder Rachel Millward says that these ‘rubbish’ figures ‘really aren’t healthy’, and the conversations and screenings set to happen over the next week are ‘a positive response’ to these sorts of striking statistics.
The refreshing thing about this female take on screen-worthy stories is like shopping at the local farmer’s market compared to a visit to the High Street chain supermarket. Things exotic and things secretly local are tastefully brought to the table of ideas. Stories on screen this week include an Iranian transsexual taking up the veil, Cuban hip-hop, life-altering one-night stands in Ireland, stampedes for Saris in India and a reworking of a Zimbabwean folktale (as told by Tsitsi Dangarembga, the first black woman to be published in Zimbabwe).
Old school feminist statements, such as Carol Hanisch’s 1969 words ‘the personal is political’ seem to have clearly grasped the film world, albeit some 35 years later. On the BEV screen, the personal is political, powerful, popular and (gasp if you must) emotional. A perfect case in point is Hilary Brougher’s film Stephanie Daley a psychologically involving story about the shadow sides of pregnancy and denial. It stars that most chameleon-like of actresses, Tilda Swinton, and it is ‘brilliant and complex’ says Rachel. Other showcase films from the festival plumb all sorts of depths, such as the reality of Columbian charcoal mines, Armenian genocide, a young Korean immigrating to Canada, French lovers who have different lifestyles or reformed drug addicts getting life back together.
Not limiting themselves to the tightly strung corset of the ‘film only’ label though, the BEV girls have also lined up a remarkable set of UK shorts, VJ-ing, animation and music events. All in all, between the workshops, parties and screen line-up, it is set to be a celebratory week for the world of women. Is it possible that the personal is political and fun? ‘It’s about being pro-active and just getting on with it really,’ argues Rachel, ‘because more women need to be making films’.
Diversity seems to be the one consistent theme throughout the festival. However, the particular way in which women’s stories and languages are crafted was recently examined by an American film-maker Jennifer Fox, who has just filmed a documentary expose on women’s ‘languages’ and views on life, and love issues all around the world. There are, says Jennifer, some commons amongst the way that women talk and tell stories, and this is found all over the world. The difference between men’s talk and women’s talk looks like this: ’Men use language to exchange information and establish the status. Women use language to exchange secrets and establish intimacy’. Replace the word ‘language’ with ‘camera’ and welcome to the world from a bird’s eye view.
Although the screens are going to be filled with girl-world, don’t be fooled into thinking this is a no-man’s land. The male perspective is still important to the female lens, as Canadian film Away From Her by Sarah Polly illustrates. It is the delicate story of a man’s pain as he watches his spouse succumb to Alzheimer’s and her journey through the complexity of her emotions. Also, a Polish film, I Am, shows how a young boy escapes from a children’s home and learns to grow, even to become proud, at the sufferance of constant rejection.
Festival programmer Fiona Fletcher explains the program selections saying ‘We don’t show women’s films, we show good films which were made by women’. Insightful documentaries are well represented over the week also. Shut Up and Sing: Dixie Chicks shows what happens when country girls with guitars in the Bible belt say that they are ‘ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas’. The ensuing political attacks and death threats amidst the musicians’ constant work to live their lives, have children, and create music makes for a fascinating story. Meanwhile, another hard-lined documentary story of West German girl gangs hits the screen in the tale called Prinzessin by Birgit Grosskopf.
Funding, as with most arts festivals, is always ‘tricky’, says Rachel. Film funding agencies such as Skillset, UK Council, Arts Council, Wickens Media and the BBC have helped. Also this year is the first time that the BEV festival has been able to migrate more than just the stories, with directors coming in from all over the world. This has been due to the financial support from embassies such as the US, Canadian, Iranian, Brazilian and the German cultural Institute, Goethe.
Like any bird of flight, the BEV festival won’t be confined to small, confined spaces. They are taking the festival to the road later this year – adding their particular feminine touch to some interesting festivals lined up in Europe (The Creteil) and Turkey (Istanbul Women’s Film Festival). Their programming is a result of keeping in the ‘what’s hot’ loop of film festivals in Toronto, Berlin, Cannes and IDFA, as well as what’s in production at Britfilms and generally amongst industry contacts. Fiona says that, in their programming they want ‘things that people wouldn’t see elsewhere or that wouldn’t be shown, such as the films from Action-aid’.
The growth of the festival is quite astounding considering that just 2 years ago was the first time that the Bird’s Eye View festival showed documentaries to the London public. The birth of BEV grew organically from Rachel’s own production work. After an initial stint doing development work in South Africa, she then worked in television, and after making a short independent film, she started hunting for a place to screen it. In the end, she decided to team up alongside some other short films looking for a home and the buzz that resulted has grown to become the BEV as it is today.
From its original listing of 3 premiers, the event has now grown from to premier 13 new films in 2007, all of which has come about due to the forces of a ‘team effort’, says Rachel.
For a better view of the world from a bird’s perspective, get on board at www.birds-eye-view.co.uk.