Bird's Eye View

BEV Celebrate the Oscars in Style with a Secret Screening

Gillian Anderson will be announcing the winning film

So the Oscar’s nominations have been announced and we are keeping everything crossed for Kathryn Bigelow, who is up for Best Director. BEV will be rolling out the red carpet on March 7th too, to spend Oscars night at our Secret Screening of the best woman directed film of the year as voted for by Marie Claire readers. None other than the luminous Gillian Anderson will present the award bringing some real life Academy Award glamour to the event.

Kathryn Bigelow’s is the most talked about nomination that has come out this year and rightly so! There have only ever been three other women nominated in this category: Lina Wertmüller with Seven Beauties in 1977 Jane Campion for The Piano in 1994, and Sofia Coppola in 2004 with Lost in Translation. Amazing films, and yet no woman has ever won. Will there be a different story to tell this year?

Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow doesn’t make stereotypically feminine films. Women cannot be pigeonholed into a particular genre like ‘chick-flick’, and she epitomizes this. Who would watch Point Break and think this was made by a woman? BEV is all about the quality and diversity of films made by women, something you will see across all programmes at the festival. 2009/10 has been a particularly brilliant year for women directors. We’ve seen our friend Andrea Arnold smash the screen with her recent hit Fish Tank; Lone Scherfig brought us An Education; and Jane Campion returned to directing after taking some time off to be a Mum with Bright Star. With such ripe films from so many talented women, if it is going to happen at the Oscar’s surely it is this year.

The Hurt Locker

This is a crucial time for women in the industry. If  Kathryn Bigelow does win, this will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the industry. We want role models who are like us. By seeing the success of amazing directors like Bigelow, following in her footsteps is now tangible. Not only is this critical but The Hurt Locker is also a brilliant work. If you missed this on general release, we will be screening this as part of the festival on 4th March – it has to be seen on the big screen!

We are also very excited to announce that Juanita Wilson’s Short Film, The Door, a moving drama about the Chenobyl disaster that is screening in our opening night programme of shorts is Oscar nominated! Watch this space for an interview with Juanita coming very soon.

So the nominations are up, and team BEV is gunning for the first ever woman to win.  Find out more about our alternative Oscar’s event on the 7th to see who you will chose here. The bets are on!