Apr 24, 2009 | 2 Comments | ByRachel Millward
A number of screenings this year at the East End Film Festival come from women filmmakers from both the UK and around the world. Many are first features and range in subject from exploring the domestic violence often suffered by women to school discos to criminal worlds that have previously been inaccessible to women. Here’s the EEFF’s run down of women filmmakers to catch over the next week:
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Apr 24, 2009 | No Comments | ByRachel Millward
Sally Hawkins, Rachel Millward and Gurinder Chadha at the Opening Night Gala
The 2009 Birds Eye View film festival has been resting peacefully for over a month now. And what a hugely successful festival it was. Festival Director Rachel Millward sums it up.
This was Birds Eye View’s (and therefore my…) fifth festival. It was the first since we won the UK Film Council’s film festivals funding, but also our first since the credit crunch took away sponsors we’d nurtured in the finance sector, so the twelve month run-up was a rollercoaster to say the least!
But the fantastically gratifying fact is that audiences flocked to all events, nearly 11,000 of you altogether. Our box office stats show an average of around 90% capacity - the majority of events through festival week selling out. The average audience rating across all films and events was 4.5 out of 5. And, demonstrating fresh outreach, 83% of the audience were new to Birds Eye View this year, 98% said they would come again. Read the full story
Apr 24, 2009 | 1 Comment | ByWendy Roby
As we wave a sad goodbye to our very favourite music website, The Lipster, founded by the fabulous Jude Rogers, we asked co-editor Wendy Roby to tell us how it has been for her.
The LIPSTER: good at music, rubbish at photoshop
Rebecca Nicholson (my co-Editor) and I closed down our music website The Lipster this week. With a shrug and a sigh, we’ve set the alarm, swizzed the sign round to ‘Closed’ and skipped off down the high street, the final pennies from the till jangling in our pockets. [Becca: You made money out of it? Me: Shhh, of course not, everyone knows there is no money in music journalism. I am merely painting pictures with words]. Anyhoo, though this may sound like a sad old tale, it isn’t. Because doing a music website with a brilliant friend is one of the best and goodest things you can ever do. Read the full story
