Birds Eye View

Birds Eye View (BEV) is an organisation established in 2002 to celebrate and support women's work in film, most notably by way of an annual film festival in London that places women at the heart of the creative vision.

Birds Eye View was founded by Rachel Millward and Pinny Grylls in 2002, to celebrate and support women filmmakers.

Backed by key figures in the film industry, Birds Eye View describes its work as “a positive response to the fact that women make up only 7% of directors and 12% of writers in the film industry”. The organisation’s work includes an annual festival of films by women filmmakers, held in London, as well as a touring programme and year-round training and career development programmes for emerging women filmmakers in the UK. In addition to promoting work by women filmmakers, Birds Eye View aims to educate audiences about the importance of diversity in film, and to widen the audiences for women-made films and world cinema.

Founded as a short film event in 2002, Birds Eye View registered as a charity in 2004, launched the UK’s first major women’s film festival in 2005, and now operates year-round activity through its BEV Labs, First Weekenders Club, touring programme and online community, in addition to an annual festival in London. Prominent filmmakers and artists to have worked with Birds Eye View include Kim Longinotto, Lucy Walker, Wanuri Kahiu, Mary Harron, Bella Freud, Drew Barrymore, Susanne Bier, Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima, Tracey Emin, Xiao Jiang, Andrea Arnold, Gillian Wearing, Beeban Kidron and Marilyn Gaunt.

For each annual festival, Birds Eye View commissions and produces Sound & Silents, a live-music event whereby leading female musicians perform live, specially-written sets to classic silent films. Musicians to have participated in Sound & Silents include Imogen Heap, Natalie Clein, Bishi, Mira Calix, Patti Plinko, Gwyneth Herbert, The Elysian Quartet, Zoe Rahman, Broken Hearts DJs and JUICE.

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