Birds Eye View (BEV) is a fantastic film festival celebrating the finest female film making talent from around the world and this year sees the 5th BEV festival arrive with a bang crash wow! Right smack in the heart of our adorable London town, ready to give you the cinematic ride of your life! RR's dream girl Gemma Whelan caught up with the Festival Director Rachel Millward to find out a little more about this lovely and relevant festival.

The fest is jammy packed with wonderful filmic masterpieces made by women, in fact you will be truly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of entertainment BEV is offering that your proverbial table will be groaning under the weight of cinematic joys, fabulous parties, workshops, talks and master classes.

Inspired by the statistic that only 7% of filmmakers are women, Rachel co-founded BEV as a touring short film event in 2002 and has since nurtured the company into the hugely successful arts charity it is today. 

Gemma: Why did you feel it was important to create a festival dedicated solely to women in film making?
Rachel: I was aware that there are few female film making role models on the public radar, and with such great talents as Andrea Arnold (Red Road), Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham) and Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), to name a few I was moved to create a platform to show off these incredibly skilled and sensitive directors. And here is a case in point - collecting and showing these films in such a concentrated fashion allows us to see a different sensibility coming through the films, you get a real overview for the other side of cinema-the female perspective if you like.

Gemma: Why do you think that only 7% of feature film makers are women?
Rachel: Well it certainly isn't due to lack of talent, however film making is an all consuming process and I think women find it challenging to balance family life with a career. To nurture a film from idea to fruition takes a huge amount of energy, you have to be ruthless and ballsy and be ok with being pushy and demanding-this approach to work from a man is often more acceptable in these environments, but is considered unattractive in a woman, film sets are usually male dominated and a woman has to be prepared to hold her nerve in a very demanding situation and this isn't always expected behaviour. Women tend to be seen in the no less important roles of producer/casting director etc...

Gemma: What has the reaction to the festival been like in past festivals?
Rachel: When we launched BEV back in 2002 it was the first time the issue had been raised, so the impact the Festival had was disproportionate to it's size. We had a lot of press coverage, the reaction was extremely positive and the amount of support and enthusiasm we are met with wherever we go is phenomenal.



Gemma: How do you decide on the final programme for the festival?
Rachel: It is a really long process, we began the selection process for this festival in October last year, choosing films, scouting at festivals, watching 100's of submissions, and negotiating with distributors, it's a complicated process and the final programme tends not to emerge until the late stages when suddenly it all falls into place.

Gemma: Any hot tips or personal favourites in the festival?
Rachel: There is so much to do and see at this year's festival, after all it's 9 days packed with over 70 events, so it's tough to choose, I am very excited about the Mary Harron Masterclass (ICA Cinema 1 Sat 7 Mar 1.30-3.30pm / £10) and we will also be screening her three films: American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol, and The Notorious Bettie Paige, we are delighted to welcome Mary as our special guest this year, it really is a rare treat.

There is an exceptional documentary by Nanette Burstein (Oscar Nominated) called American Teen, it is a beautifully crafted, sensitive portrayal of teenagers in an American high school, it's screening on the 7th March and Nanette will be joining us afterwards via video link for a Q&A.



Also in our Documentary programme is the brilliant The Age of Stupid (Franny Armstrong) Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? It's a real testament to the power of film's ability to raise awareness and even take direct action.

Then we have our sexier than ever Retrospective, a look back at the screen sirens of classic cinema, we'll be bringing you the best vamps vixens and femmes fatales, and many of the films will be accompanied by live music from the likes of award winning cellist Natalie Clein (playing for The Temptress on 10th March) and multi instrumentalist and award winning Bishi, who will be playing for the wonderful Salome on 7th March.

It is without reservation I can say that every film in our programme is a must-see, anything you can see in the festival will be hugely worthwhile, the quality of the work is exceptional.

Gemma: A final word?
Rachel: I encourage everyone to come and check it out, and men are very very welcome, this is not a feminist movement, just a celebration of exceptional talent and great film making.

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March 5th - 13th 2009
The Birds Eye View Film Festival takes place at various venues across London. Check out RR's highlights on the Film pages, and see the full program at the Festival website:
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Get ready for 9 days jam-packed with over 70 events, with breathtaking films from all corners of the globe including two-time Oscar® nominee Frozen River, UK premiere of Cannes Critics Week winner, Sundance's best-loved docs, and the hottest Screen Seductresses of all time. Plus one-off live music events, hot debate, an introduction to Nollywood, fashion films, training workshops, parties and much, much more.