Jo Brand, Meera Syal, Sally Phillips... speak about the Birds Eye View Comedy Film Retrospective

So, we went and chatted to some of the comic genii who are appearing at the festival next week, and asked them to explain why it's a Good Thing to focus on women in comedy film... watch this quick little vid (3 min) to get their take on it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVbsdNQ4TB8

BEV on bite

See festival director Rachel Millward chat BEV on C4's "Bite" - produced by an old BEV team gal, Rachna Suri. We're the second item on this... watch out for Ami's burning record! Crazy rockin' lady ;-)

http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/B/bite/index.jsp

Rxx

Why is Hollywood Going for Bloke?

Why is Hollywood going for bloke?

Movies seem increasingly preoccupied with men and their problems, leaving female actors on the sidelines, writes Tim Robey

For the full article click here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/02/16/bfmacho116.xml

In today's Independent: Funny girls: Heroines of slapstick... BEV's comedy retro...

Can women be clowns? In many film historians' accounts of the silent movie era, the answer is an emphatic "No!" Serious slapstick was the province of male performers like Charlie Chaplin, Harry Langdon and Buster Keaton. Women were there to play ingenues, vamps or character parts. The film historian Walter Kerr claimed that: "No comedienne ever became a truly important film clown." The stars were supposed to be beautiful and glamorous – the object of the gaze. Clowning Glories and Screwball Women, a season of comedy films screening during the festival Birds Eye View, a celebration of women in film, seeks to challenge this hoary old chauvinistic thinking.

Check this out: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/features/funny-girls-heroines-of-slapstick-778472.html

It's worth a read! For more info on our comedy retrospectives please see http://birds-eye-view.co.uk/2008/comedy.htm

Rach x

That Happy Festival Springtime comes around again...

4 weeks to the fest and a chance to survey the view. What's new? Well, it's the first time BEV's shown a retrospective, and we've got 2. Both side-splittingly funny & with added extras like real live comediennes (Jo Brand, Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson)) & amazing live music. It's also the first time we've created an innovation strand, and now there's women in gaming, groundbreaking interactive mobile phone projects, the sparkling new genre of fashion films with Bella Freud, cutting edge music videos with Miranda Sawyer and fine artists making opera, Late at Tate Britain. *Plus, going deeper into East London than we've dared to tread before, BEV teams up with Girlcore & the Laundrettas for a special Whitechapel Late Night with all girl-band line up inc Peggy Sue and the Pirates (just back from tour with Kate Nash).

But I've not mentioned any movies yet! I guess that's the beauty of a festival. This is a chance to see some of the year's very best women-made cinema, but it's also a chance to get together for giggles, to meet filmmakers with a piece of cake, and to be inspired by some phenomenal women from all over the world...

With 70+ events this year (yikes!) it's worth taking some time to have a thorough look through this site - especially the festival page www.birds-eye-view.co.uk/festival.htm

There's so much fantastic film, and the programme's so diverse that i'll bet the office pet you'll find something you'll love.

Keep an eye on this blog over the next few weeks too. We'll bring you some inside gossip, an interview or two, tell you about our personal festival favourites... and we're keen to hear what you have to say, too.

More soon,
Rach xx