Bird's Eye View

Women Filmmakers Explore Many Worlds at the East End Film Festival, London

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:

The End dir Nicola Collins

The festival opened last night with UK premiere of an extended cut of The End, a debut feature of two women filmmakers. Directed by Nicola Collins and produced by Teena Collins, the twin sisters enter unflinchingly into a very masculine underworld as they turn their camera onto their father and his friends for a series of interviews that expose the harsh and violent lives of East End gangsters. [Judging by the enthusiastic tweetings this morning, it was a fantastic film and a brilliant night. Super-gutted we missed it. Congrats to all!]

Sarita Siegel will be at the festival to present a sneak preview of her film Fire Burn Babylon, the story of Rastafarians evacuated to inner city East London following a volcanic eruption and who are now reinventing themselves as rappers and small time hustlers. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Sarita Siegel and a few key cast members. Justine Gordon Smith’s Park is a revealing portrait of a local park and the assortment of characters that spend their time there and will be accompanied by a Q&A by the filmmakers.

Iska's Journey, dir. Csaba Bollók

The exploitation of one girl forms the story told by Hungarian director Csaba Bollók in Iska’s Journey, in which Iska and her sister flee savage conditions for a troubled journey. Bollok will be on hand to answer any questions following the screening of her film. Turkish Director Didem Erayda follows two women prompted by domestic violence for a road-trip and a journey of self discovery that explorations relationships, alienation and violence in her debut feature and UK premiere Lodos (Mon 27 April, Rio Cinema). The Shaft (Mon 27 April, Rich Mix) is a first feature from Chinese director Zhang Chi in which she presents the frustrations of those inhabiting a small mining town through three interlocking stories. A school disco takes on momentous importance in the lives of three Russian teenagers in Valeriya Gai Germanika’s Everybody Dies But Me,

Everybody Dies But Me dir. Germanika

her first feature at 24 years of age and winner of Prix Regards Jeune at Cannes. Winner of the European Film Academy’s Prix Arte, Rene reveals the painful complexities between the Czech director Helena Trestíková and her ‘subject of a study’ – a repeat offender who yo-yos between prison and freedom.

From Iran comes Two Legged Horse (Sun 26 April, Rich Mix), a stunning, original but deeply troubling piece of cinema that looks at injustices society inflicts on the individual, from director Samira Makhmalbaf, daughter of Iranian veteran filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Also from Iran is the story of a farmer who ventures to Tehran to find the money for a new hearing aid for one of his daughters in Majid Majidi’s Song of Sparrows. From Pakistan is the award winning first feature from Mehreen Jabbar, Ramchand Pakistani, telling the story of a father and son who accidentally cross the border into India during war and end up in prison for five years.

Check out the full festival programme here and enjoy!