Birds Eye View are thrilled to be in partnership with Dortmund|Cologne International Women’s Film Festival this year for our joint presentation of Lynne Ramsay’s masterpiece We Need to Talk about Kevin. We are very grateful to our German sisters for standing in solidarity with us during the year we’re unable to run our own full festival in 2012 due to recent and radical shifts in British film funds. Thank you IFFF!

Like the Frauenfilmfestival, London-based Birds Eye View celebrates and supports international women filmmakers with an annual film festival and a continuous programme of events and screenings in the UK. Founded as a positive response to the fact that women make up less than 10% film directors and less than 15% screenwriters, Birds Eye View is a joyous celebration of all the brilliance, passion and skill that women bring to film, demonstrating that until we have a balanced perspective on our screens, we are missing half the picture.

A brief history
Following three successful years of showcasing new short films by women, the first Birds Eye View Film Festival took place in March 2005 at London’s BFI Southbank, ICA and Curzon cinemas. It was and remains the UK’s first major festival of international women filmmakers. Birds Eye View has developed a global profile: our first event was seen by just 200 people; now over 18,000 join us at the Festival and on tour every year, and a further 650,000 via online and broadcast channels. Each year the festival receives substantial national and international press coverage, including Guardian, Times, Elle, Vogue, Variety and Screen International. We have welcomed filmmakers including Andrea Arnold, Kim Longinotto, Joanna Hogg, Sally El Hosaini, Lucy Walker, Susanne Bier, Mary Harron, Marjane Satrapi and Wanuri Kahiu, and our guest speakers have included Rosamund Pike, Sally Hawkins, Gurinder Chadha, Fiona Shaw and Zoe Wanamaker.

In addition to our festival, we have run three specialised training labs (BEV Labs) which have between them brought six commercial feature films into development, commissioned over 18 original live scores from female musicians to silent films as part of our Sound & Silents strand, and continued to put the spotlight on the lack of women filmmakers throughout the year with our programme for members.

UK film funding landscape shifts …
Birds Eye View has never been eligible for core funds in the UK. Each year we’ve had to raise our budget afresh, based on a contribution from public funds, and as much sponsorship and support from other foundations as we can find. Working on a shoestring budget, we are always dependent on a huge amount of voluntary input. Last year, after the sudden closure of the UK Film Council, and transference of remaining funds to the BFI, we found ourselves with a 90% drop in festival funds. The two funds from which we have received support for the last few years – the UK Film Council’s Diversity Grant in Aid, and the Film Festival’s Fund – had both simply ceased to exist, and the future strategy remains unclear as the results of our government’s recent Film Policy Review take effect. We have, therefore, been unable to run a full film festival in 2012, but we move on with positivity, accepting the changes in the British film and arts funding landscape and doing all we can to find support and financing from the commercial and private sectors. We will be back, in 2013, with a full film festival. And we won’t stop celebrating the creative vision of women in film until we find equality on our screens. Thank you for inviting us to Cologne – we can’t wait to share the celebration with you!

_Rachel Millward