Bird's Eye View

Consultation survey: BEV needs to hear from you

Aug 10, 2011 | No Comments | ByBen

BEV Founder-Director Rachel Millward

When I founded BEV in 2002, I never expected to see a decade of such phenomenal growth. Our first event was seen by just 200 people, and now over 18,000 join us at the Festival and on tour every year, with a further 650,000 via online and broadcast channels.

But we don’t want to rest on our laurels. We need to keep on our toes and stay relevant, and we need you to help us do that.

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A ten-day torrent: BEV director Rachel Millward looks back on the 2011 Festival

Apr 5, 2011 | No Comments | ByBen

BEV Founder-Director Rachel Millward

And so another year’s work flies by in a ten-day torrent of events, screenings, speeches, conversations with filmmakers, parties, jury meetings, live music, awards and celebration. It is my very great pleasure to announce that the seventh Birds Eye View Film Festival was a staggering success!

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Elizabeth Karlsen: how are British female writers really doing?

Mar 24, 2011 | No Comments | ByBen

Celia Imrie leads the cast of Saint Joan

One of the many highlights of this year’s Festival programme was She Writes: a celebratory performed reading of one of Grace Banks and Kate Bingham’s screenplay Saint Joan, co-presented with The Script Factory and BAFTA, and written and developed during last year’s She Writes lab. The performance was introduced by a keynote speech from Birds Eye View Chair and celebrated producer (including, most recently, of Made in Dagenham) Elizabeth Karlsen, examining the current prognosis of British female screenwriters, and asking whether the challenges they face today might not be even greater than those in the earliest days of the industry. Click below to read Elizabeth Karlsen’s full speech. Read the full story

Party Time! BEV meets Temper Temper’s Wendy Bevan

Mar 9, 2011 | No Comments | ByBen

Wendy Bevan

BEV wouldn’t be BEV without our legendary Festival Party! And this year we’ll be throwing in some twisted treats in celebration of BEV’s Bloody Women with a fab line-up including Wendy Bevan‘s Temper Temper, hotly tipped songsmiths Paper Aeroplanes and the deliciously outrageous Madam Laycock and her Dabeno Pleasures – all rounded off with Groove Armada colaborator Crazy Girl and the gorgeous mixture of DJ’ing and decadence that is the Bees Knees. Headliners Temper Temper take their influences from the mysterious underworld of 1930′s Berlin Cabaret and play a dark concoction of forgotten jazz standards and original material. BEV caught up with Wendy Bevan for a sneak peak of what Saturday night has in store…

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Who are these Bloody Women?

Mar 3, 2011 | No Comments | ByBen

Switch

For BEV 2011 we’ve embarked on a mission to slash some stereotypes and uncover women’s contribution to all things horror, from gothic psychodrama to vampire chic. And – because we can never resist a pun – we’ve called it Bloody Women from Gothic to Horror. Since Bloody Women was announced, it’s become the most talked-about part of our programme, leaving some abuzz with excitement and others questioning our sanity. Read the full story

Every 4 seconds someone buys – what?

Mar 2, 2011 | No Comments | ByBen

Guilty Pleasures

If you’re anything like us, you’re thinking a car, or a house, or even a cinema ticket… Well guess again. Every 4 seconds someone buys a Mills & Boon novel. Yes, really. Read the full story