Birds Eye View Film Festival
Birds Eye View returns to the ICA with another programme of features, documentaries and shorts from women all over the world. This year includes the UK premiere of Expired starring Samantha Morton, Cannes Jury Prize winner Persepolis, London Film Festival Critics' Choice Unrelated and the Berlinale Special Mention Hotel Very Welcome. The festival also includes dinner with the Pakistani president, bad-girl Japanese courtesans, Bella Freud's guide to the world of fashion and film, a showcase of the best new music videos, and a new strand for this year, Innovation, exploring interactive mobile phone art and video games. In the ICA bar there's an open-screen short film challenge, live film editing and a closing night party. Plus we have training sessions and panel discussions where film gurus talk about cinematography, screenwriting, special effects and survival for women film-makers in a male-dominated industry.
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Jennifer Fox Confesses All
10 March 2008
Documentary masterclass with the writer director of the epic, and rather amazing, Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman.
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The Mourning Forest
10 March 2008
Touching, melancholy tale of the friendship between a retirement home worker and an old man living there.
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Women in Games
10 March 2008
Panel discussion debating the gender stereotyping at play in the world of gaming and the role played by women in this heavily male-dominated arena.
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The Unpolished
10 March 2008
The honest, uncompromising story of Stevie, a 14-year-old girl coping with the whims of her hippy parents.
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View from a Grain of Sand + Q&A
10 March 2008
A compelling journey through the last 30 years of Afghanistan's history as lived by three Afghan women.
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Dinner with the President: A Nation's Journey
10 March 2008
What do Pakistanis really think of President Musharraf? UK premiere for this insightful and timely documentary.
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Billy the Kid + Q&A
9 March 2008
Wonderful documentary about a 15-year-old in smalltown Maine who is, in his own words, "different in the mind".
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Making Films and Making Babies
9 March 2008
Panel discussion: is the pram in the hall always going to get in the way of your film-making potential?
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International Shorts 2
9 March 2008
The best in observational doc making, psychological drama and comedy.
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Her Name is Sabine
9 March 2008
Documentary portrait of a young autistic woman, by her older sister. UK premiere.
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Three Times Divorced
9 March 2008
The harrowing story of a Gaza-born Palestinian woman divorced by her Israeli Arab husband and left without a home, her children or even the legal right to stay in Israel.
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Unrelated + Q&A
11 March 2008
An unhappily married woman heads to a friend's Tuscan villa and comes face-to-face with the realities of her life.
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Operation Filmmaker
11 March 2008 - 12 March 2008
A young Iraqi film student meets up with a Hollywood actor-director, but the expected heart-warming cultural exchange fails to materialise...
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Expired + Q&A
13 March 2008 - 14 March 2008
Samantha Morton stars as a sweet-tempered meter maid who falls in love with a troubled fellow parking officer. UK premiere.
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Franny Armstrong and The Age of Stupid
13 March 2008
Filmmaker Armstrong talks about her climate change epic The Age of Stupid, featuring Pete Postlethwaite, and shows clips.
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Hotel Very Welcome + Q&A
14 March 2008
The Birds Eye View festival closing film is a brilliant docu-style portrait of five Westerners travelling across well-trodden paths of Asia.
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Closing Night Party + Awards
14 March 2008
Look back over a week of cinematic excellence and great achievements by women film-makers across the world, and celebrate!
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XXY + Q&A
12 March 2008
The tale of a young hermaphrodite coping with her condition, and with how those around her react.
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Moving from Shorts to Features
11 March 2008
A panel of industry professionals discuss strategies to manage the transition.
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Persepolis
11 March 2008
One of the best and most distinctive animated films for grown-ups in recent years.
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Stages
11 March 2008 - 12 March 2008
Self-absorbed parents are unable to cope with an introverted teenage son in this affecting, careful drama. UK premiere.
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Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go
12 March 2008
Kim Longinotto's new documentary visits a boarding school for disturbed children where violent behaviour is met with compassion and patience.
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Fashion films
9 March 2008
Screenings of new fashion-film collaborations, plus a panel discussion with Bella Freud, Toyin and more.
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The Blood of Yingzhou District + Journey of a Red Fridge
8 March 2008 - 13 March 2008
A pair of startling new documentaries focused on the ferocious resolve of two young men.
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Building Bricks: A Directing Masterclass with Sarah Gavron
7 March 2008
The Brick Lane director shares her experiences in this one-off workshop. Book quick!
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Shooting People Short Film Challenge
8 March 2008
An open-screen event for emerging auteurs, from the indie film-makers' network.
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Making Multi-platform Films
8 March 2008
A 01zero-one masterclass on taking advantage of the digital age and bring your films to a worldwide audience.
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Lakshmi and Me + Q&A
7 March 2008
The UK premiere for this delicate and brave documentary focusing on two women, employer and servant, in Mumbai.
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The Last Mistress
7 March 2008
A success at Cannes last year, this gripping period piece from Catherine Breillat stars the devilishly seductive Asia Argento.
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Antônia
7 March 2008
Four Brazilian teens find their escape from poverty through music, but the daily trials of chauvinism and violence get in their way.
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4 Elements
7 March 2008
A gorgeous, poetic film looking at people's relationships with the earth, from Siberian firefighters to Alaskan fishermen, German miners to Russian cosmonauts.
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Ecology + Q&A
8 March 2008
A look at the unsettling side of family holidays, located somewhere between meditation and dream.
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UK Shorts Docs
8 March 2008
Small in size, but not in impact, these are little windows into other worlds, sneaky peaks into the theatre of real life.
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Picking Apples, Drinking Tea + In the Meantime + Q&A
9 March 2008
UK premiere for this tale of an Iranian-American woman's adventures back in Iran.
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Sleepwalking Land
8 March 2008
Heart-wrenching tale of grief and belonging from Mozambique. UK premiere.
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Shooting on HD
9 March 2008
Zillah Bowes leads an NFTS masterclass looking at the pros and cons of High-Definition film-making.
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Screenwriting for Video Games
9 March 2008
A masterclass with Katie Ellwood, Sony writer and producer.
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Overheated Symphony: Live Edit
9 March 2008
Make your own short film on a mobile phone, and then - maybe - see it screened at the ICA.
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Actresses
8 March 2008 - 9 March 2008
An actress struggles professionally and yearns for a lover and a child, and meets the smouldering young Louis Garrel...
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Pitch Perfect
8 March 2008
A Stellar Network workshop on how to sell your idea to the people who can make it become reality.
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Music Videos with Miranda Sawyer
8 March 2008
A riveting round-up of recent music videos from women at the cutting-edge of the industry.
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The Devil Came on Horseback
8 March 2008
Powerful, award-winning documentary about the mass murdering in Darfur, explored through the experiences of photographer and former US marine Brian Stiedle.
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Sakuran
8 March 2008
UK premiere of a warm-hearted and original film described as the anti-Memoirs of a Geisha.
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Tea & Cake with the Filmmakers
7 March 2008
You might want to network, you might fancy a nice squidgy vanilla slice... Either which way, this is the place for you.