Female filmmakers festival reveals line-up

The Birds Eye View Film Festival (April 8-13), celebrating women’s work in film, has revealed details of its 2014 programme including works by British director Destiny Ekaragha and Laura Checkoway to films by Lena Dunham and Kelly Reichardt.

The festival will also celebrate inspiring female filmmakers and actors of recent times including the late pioneering animator Joy Batchelor, Broadway legend Elaine Stritch and award-winning British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha.

The festival will comprise 19 features including 10 UK premieres such as German director Katrin Gebbe’s debut Nothing Bad Can Happen and the London premiere of Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky’s Watermark, the follow-up to their 2006 documentary hit Manufactured Landscapes.

The programme also includes an American Indie strand featuring Kelly Reichardt’s thriller Night Moves starring Jesse Eisenberg and Dakota Fanning; Chiemi Karasawa’s documentary Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me; and the UK Premiere of Lucky, Laura Checkoway’s story following a homeless mother’s survival on the streets of New York City over five years.

As previously announced, Nana Ekvtimishvili’s and Simon Groß’s award-winning Georgian feature In Bloom will receive its UK premiere for the festival’s opening night.

The festival’s closing night will feature the UK premiere of Lola Bessis and Ruben Amar’s French-American family drama Swim Little Fish Swim. Both events will take place at BFI Southbank.

Birds Eye View Film Festival artistic director Kate Gerova said: “Our 2014 programme is a real statement of intent from a new global generation of female filmmakers aiming to inspire audiences with new stories and perspectives. We believe audiences are eager for different, edgy and exciting cinema - and these filmmakers offer that in spades.”

Documentaries feature heavily in this year’s programme from Anna Eborn’s account of a marginalized Native American community in Pine Ridge (UK premiere) to Narimane Mari’s prize-winning trance-film Bloody Beans, which follows a group of children during Algeria’s War of Independence. Also featured is Mia Engberg’s intricately edited Belville Baby, shot on everything from mobile phones to super-16 footage.

Special screenings include Gurinder Chadha’s Bhaji On The Beach, as previously announced, to celebrate its 20th anniversary which includes a Q&A with Gurinder and special guests, plus Claudia Weill’s 1978 film Girlfriends, recently ‘re-discovered’ by Lena Dunham. 

Dunham, star of HBO drama Girls, will have her short Best Friends screened in the Fashion Loves Film strand of the festival. The short was made for the Rachel Antonoff Fall line 2013.

On April 12, Bright & British will be a day of screenings and industry events including ‘Welcome to the Audience’ which sees three British filmmakers discuss the different stages of their journey; and ‘Small Talk’ in which producer-director Amy Hardie  and Melissa Silverstein delve deep into the modern film mind.

 A number of short films will also screen including Georgina Oakley’s Frayed and Tamara Drewe writer Moira Buffini’s Father. The day will culminate in a special screening of Bhaji On The Beach. 

International shorts, a celebration of Women in Jazz and a Children’s Cinema Club also feature as part of the line-up.

The festival will also include a Training & Craft programme.  Filmonomics will feature a number of events including The Black Art of Being Confident led by independent creative producer Mia Bays (Shifty, Ill Manors, Lilting).

There will also be a special event and panel Q&A: Joy Batchelor – A Life in Animation to celebrate the centenary of the British pioneer animator whose credits include BAFTA nominated feature animation Animal Farm.  The event, curated by Batchelor’s daughter Vivien Halas, will include rarely-seen clips alongside an in-depth overview of her career followed by a panel discussion with animation programmer and author Clare Kitson, BFI Curator Jez Stewart and Vivien Halas.

Additional events also include An Afternoon Tea with Critics, Actors & Directors at Kettner’s Champagne Bar in Soho, tickets for which are free and will run throughout the festival.

Events and screenings will take place at BFI Southbank, Barbican, Curzon Soho, ICA, Electric Cinema, Hackney Picturehouse and Clapham Picturehouse.

The 2014 Birds Eye View Film Festival is supported by a BFI Film Festival Fund Award.