Bird's Eye View

Birds head to Belfast…

Birds head to Belfast Queens Film Theatre

This May, for the first time ever, the Birds were invited to sunny Northern Ireland to host a guest season of events at the Queen’s Film Theatre (QFT) in Belfast.

The season took place from the 15th - 17th May and included highlights from our 2009 festival programme, a special panel discussion, ‘Women Make Movies’ with a specific focus on the film industry in Northern Ireland plus three cinema classics from our Femmes Fatales season.

Have a read of the following blog by Birds Eye View’s Development Manager, Tamsyn who hosted the event to find out all the goings on plus some top tips from Belfast based female filmmakers.

We launched the season with a panel discussion chaired by radio and television presenter Marie-Louise Muir. Marie-Louise has a wealth of experience across radio, television and the arts and is the main presenter for Arts Extra on BBC Radio Ulster.

Carol Moore

The panelists included Belfast based directors, Carol Moore and Lisa Barros D’sa; London based director Jocelyn Cammack who was over in Belfast to take part in a Q&A discussion after the screening of her feature documentary The Time Of Their Lives and Christine Morrow, the Short Film Coordinator for Northern Ireland Screen.

Marie-Louise kicked off the discussion by asking each panelist to talk through their own personal journey into filmmaking. Carol Moore’s career started off in theatre. She launched the legendary Charabanc all female theatre company with four other Northern Irish actresses in the 1980s.

Lisa Barros D' Sa

Charabanc toured extensively and Carol remained as an actress and Artistic Director until its closure in 1995. It was after Charabanc that she started making films. Her first short film Gort na gCnámh won four awards in 1998 including Best First Time Director at the Celtic Film Festival and Foyle Film Festival. Her advice to new filmmakers is to start small, focus on your own surroundings, make films about your family and work up from there.

Lisa Barros D’Sa  started her career in London after completing an MA in Screenwriting but returned to Northern Ireland, starting out as a script reader and editor in feature film development. It was through writing and developing her own scripts that led her progression to directing.

Jocelyn Cammack

Jocelyn Cammack started out as a scientist working for many years as a researcher before moving to film. She studied at the Northern Film School and has had an extensive career as a filmmaker. Jocelyn was over in Belfast to take part in a Q&A discussion following the screening of her film The Time Of Their Lives produced for BBC Storyville.

Each member of the panel stressed that there is no one route into filmmaking and that the journey is incredibly tough. There is little funding available and Lisa mentioned the frustration of having to support yourself financially whilst pursuing your dream - something she found almost impossible when living in London. When asked by an audience member if she felt that there was more support for filmmakers in Northern Ireland rather than London she remarked that that was the case for her situation as it is possible to apply to schemes in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland plus the living costs in Northern Ireland are far more manageable than London.

All Panelists 15 May 2009

Marie-Louise brought Christine Morrow in to talk about the funding available for new directors in Northern Ireland. Christine mentioned the Deviate scheme and other initiatives that are running to support first time filmmakers both through Northern Ireland screen and the UK Film Council. Although there is limited funding available, Northern Ireland screen are committed to support filmmakers with passion and vision.

Marie-Louise wanted to talk about the output of films from Northern Ireland and the development of the industry in the region. Both Lisa and Carol have just completed films set in Northern Ireland that are not focused on the past troubles and asked if their work was part of a wider shift away from representing Northern Ireland as a place of religious and political conflict?  Carol has just completed her first feature Pumpgirls (for the carol moore films site click here) and Lisa’s debut feature Cherrybomb, co-directed with creative partner Glenn Leyburn and featuring Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint (in a role that will make you totally rethink the way you look at Ron Weasly from now on) has recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

Marie Louise Muir and Jocelyn Cammack

Lisa responded that her film centres on teenagers and for them, the troubles of Northern Ireland are a part of history. She wanted to reflect a new generation of youth whose lives have been unaffected by the troubles and depict the Belfast for young people today. Similarly Carol’s film is very much a ‘Northern Irish’ film, but one that addresses other issues. Other opportunities are developing in Northern Ireland with more big budget productions using it as a location including a pilot HBO production A GAME OF THRONES which will be filmed later on this year. Read more at Northern Ireland Screen News.

Does this herald a new era for Northern Irish film? This was something that all panelists were keen to see happen and one that could potentionally provide more opportunities for new filmmakers.

The rest of the discussion included practical advice on the available support and training available for directors in Northern Ireland. Jocelyn pointed out that handling rejection and lack of funding was a major part of learning to be a director. Questions for the floor showed that there were opportunities to develop more training initiatives in Northern Ireland aimed at professionals. Queen’s University already runs both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in filmmaking but it looks like more opportunities could be developed.

What was clear from the discussion was that there are women out there who are keen to get to the forefront of the developing film industry in Northern Ireland. This is an exciting time with new possibilities and one that Birds Eye View hope to have close links with in the future.

Highlights from the season

On Saturday 16th May London based filmmaker Jocelyn Cammack took part in a Q&A discussion after the screening of her film The Time Of Their Lives presented as part of the Birds Eye View season at the QFT.

This extraordinary documentary follows three residents of the Mary Fielding Guild, a residential home for the ‘active elderly’ based in North London. Take a look at the official website for more information and a glimpse of the trailer.

The three main protagonists, Hetty, Rose and Alison have a combined age of almost 300, and are among the Guild’s oldest residents. Yet they are still powerfully engaged in their individual brands of activism – from journalism to anti-war demonstrations – whilst quietly negotiating the final years of their lives. The film follows their daily life at the Guild, from crosswords, tea in the garden to making speeches at anti-war demonstrations or attending number 10 Downing Street to hand over a petition. This is a stunning and moving film that offers a positive perspective of the elderly.

Jocelyn Cammack

In the Q&A discussion Jocelyn spoke of how she came to know the residents and her time at the Mary Fielding Guild. She spent over a year there shooting the documentary and still regularly visits to catch up with the residents. You can see a previous interview with Jocelyn on the Birds Eye View blog and an interview about the season on the BBC Ulster’s Arts Extra programme.

Here are a few quotes from audience feedback at the screening and Q&A of Time Of Their Lives:

“The film was excellent; maybe I will be as lucky in the future!!”

“Interesting, inspiring film. Thought- provoking. Really enjoyed it.”

“Inspiring, moving, unique”

“Very interesting! Good lessons on life.”

“Bloomin’ great!”

“A fascinating insightful, compassionate and moving documentary. Inspiring and hope filling. I’m glad you followed your intuition Jocelyn.”

Other screenings in the season included Anna Novion’s delightful coming of age drama Grown Ups a French/Swedish co production starring legendary actor Jean-Pierre Darousin , Anna Boden’s interesting take on the American dream in Sugar and three films from our retrospective Femme Fatales season, Double Indemnity starring Barbara Stanwyick and two Rita Hayworth classics, Gilda and The Lady From Shanghai.

For more information about Birds Eye View’s year round activity and programme please contact:

tour@birds-eye-view.co.uk