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Seven gets a Bird’s Eye View from Rachel Millward, Festival Director

Written by Stephanie Sadler
Wednesday, 15 April 2009 00:00

The Bird’s Eye View Film Festival recently brought together discrete female filmmakers from Afghanistan, the pioneering producers of Nigeria’s Nollywood and humanist porn director Petra Joy (among many others) to celebrate the achievements of women in film. The five year anniversary brought tears and laughter, inspiration and encouragement to those rising against the surprisingly low statistics of women in the industry and their fans.

Festival Director Rachel Millward let Seven in on the highlights, including the Sex-on-Screen debate, the talent spilling quietly out of developing countries and a heartfelt documentary about women at the end of their lives who are still bursting with life.

SS: As there are so few female film directors (7%) and screenwriters (12%), what implication does this have on film-goers?
 
RM: If 88% of the stories film-goers experiences are from a male perspective, then we are inevitably missing out half the world’s perspective, a lot of the time. We live in a predominantly visual culture, so what we see on screen affects us deeply. If we aren’t used to seeing fully fleshed out female characters leading multi-dimensional lives not simply in response to the whims of a male lead, then we are – both women and men – bound to be absorbing a distorted view of femininity, and thus a distorted view of the world. At a subconscious level, we are constantly interacting with and accepting a world-view dominated by the male perspective.

SS: And the consequences of these low statistics on the industry?

RM: The implications for the industry, given the amazingly diverse and varied talent which Birds Eye View showcased this year, is that we are missing out on a potentially profitable and exciting talent pool. Women do go to the cinema – in droves! In fact, the average UK cinema goer is a 30-something female. So, if we started to involve more women in the film storytelling process, we would undoubtedly produce more content that chimed with our audience and created box office success. This will require investment, and that’s what we’re keen to do.

Also, female characters in films tend to be very one-dimensional, and there is a daft idea (despite the smash success of films like Sex in the City and Mamma Mia) that you need a male star to open a film. Male actors get plenty of work through middle age, but the limited role of women on screen means that most female actors drop off the scene around middle age and only reappear as the aging mother-in-law, for example. Who are the female equivalents to Sean Penn and Al Pacino?

SS: How effective has Birds Eye View been in improving this statistic?
 
RM: Birds Eye View has successfully highlighted the statistics and, through showcasing such excellent cinema, demonstrated that things really don’t need to be this way. Our festival has gained critical acclaim and respect not ‘just’ as a women’s event, but as an exciting selection of world-class film. So that has really put women’s creative talents back in the spotlight where they belong.
 
SS: What else do you do to help women become more involved in the industry?

RM: We’re now expanding our reach and impact outside the festival, in particular through BEV Labs – the first of which is LAST LAUGH: WOMEN CREATE COMEDY, in partnership with Warp X and supported by Skillset. This brought together 15 women already writing comedy professionally for TV/theatre/radio/stand-up, and took them through a residential programme focussing on writing for film. New writing partnerships were formed, and those 15 women pitched 23 ideas between them, four of which are now in development with Warp X. That’s clearly a really exciting move for Birds Eye View – to be contributing to the output of the British film industry and ensuring that there are more commercially-viable, high quality and funny films made by women.

SS: What were the most exciting highlights from the five year anniversary of the film festival?
 
RM: Ooh so many! Overall, it was our most successful festival to date, with total sales of around 90% throughout the week – fantastic proof that audiences are keen to see more of us.
 
The Vamp retrospective was a huge hit and total sell-out, with special commissions of some truly inspirational scores from female musicians to early silent vamp films. Bishi and her band performed a stunning soundtrack to Salome (starring 1920’s Russian lesbian icon, Alla Nazimova) and world-class cellist Natalie Clein was utterly breathtaking in her accompaniment to Greta Garbo in “The Temptress”.

The Time of Their Lives is a gorgeous documentary starring Hetty (103) and Alison (89) – both of whom came to take part in the Q&A at the ICA. That was an incredible event – a packed house wept and laughed together and came away hugely inspired by fresh perspectives and still-sparkling wit from these women ready to reach the end of their lives, but still campaigning, marching, writing, thinking – right up until the last moment.
 
As ever, it was wonderful to welcome some special guest stars – the amazing Sally Hawkins (Golden Globe winner for Happy Go Lucky) opened the festival followed by Gurinder Chadha, Sally Phillips, Janet Ellis, Zina Saro-Wiwa who presented awards; Hayley Atwell, Julia Davis and Lucy Porter popped along… all delightful and keen to support the cause.
 
SS: Who are your personal favourite women filmmakers and films made by women?
 
RM: Mary Harron is right up there for me. I thoroughly enjoyed hosting her Masterclass – such phenomenal vision and personal strength, combined with a rare realism and perspective. American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol and The Notorious Bettie Page are all strong, original films. She knows precisely what she wants to say each time, what message she is trying to convey about the wider world, and every aspect of her filmmaking falls into check with that vision. She is determined to keep making films until she’s in her 80s.
 
Andrea Arnold is a filmmaker I will always be watching – again, a true auteur with a real sense of what she is after both in terms of story and visual style. She brings hope into the most despairing situations, just by focussing the lens on the smallest occurrences of natural beauty. Lars Von Trier is a big influence for Andrea, but I’m relieved that she never herself falls into his relentless, cruel despair. In fact, I think she keeps the grit far more real by highlighting the lightness within it.

Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, starring Julie Christie, is a film we premiered in 2007. It’s utterly heartbreaking but demonstrated an incredible strength of direction from a 27-year-old actor.

I heart Juno, written by Diablo Cody. Lovely film. And Julie Delpy’s Two Days in Paris made me laugh a lot.
 
SS: Not only was this year’s festival spotlight on women, but on the diversity of cultures presented in their work with a specific look at women filmmakers from developing countries. What do you hope underlining these films will achieve in today’s political culture?
 
RM: I really enjoy digging out the films which women in developing countries are making themselves, rather than the films which Westerners are making about these women. It’s really important to make sure that we don’t only think about women in the dominant cultures and keep our eyes on the global situation. Making a film inevitably requires leadership, technical and business skills, and it’s vital that we are in touch with the talent and potential of women across the world, and do not lapse into the victim stereotypes that still prevail.
 
SS: The retrospective this year was on sexy, seductive screen icons. Juxtaposed with more serious human rights topics and exploration of different cultures, the festival presented women from all angles. What sort of response did this variety invite from the audience?
 
RM: A really positive one! I think the variety of Birds Eye View programming is absolutely key to our success. We manage to keep surprising, challenging, and entertaining audiences each year. We want people to engage with our content in a thoughtful and responsive way, but not through limiting women’s achievements to a ‘worthy’ sub-section of cinema.

Last year, our retrospective focussed on comedy as we realised the distinct lack of funny female stories and lead roles in cinema today. This year, we celebrated the beginnings of female sexuality in film – something which today, with our ‘pornification of culture’, has run riot! Our ‘Sex on Screen’ debate featuring ‘humanist’ porn director Petra Joy and film director Mike Figgis, chaired by Rowan Pelling addressed the question of the need for a female perspective of sex in cinema today.
 
As for the ‘issues’, we focus on celebrating the filmmaking talent. Really, we let the filmmakers determine the content of the contemporary programme. We select the best; we do not dictate the agenda. Thus, we are hopefully able to showcase a variety that truly reflects women’s current achievements in cinema. It’s up to the audience to compare, contrast, seek out the female perspective – if there is such a thing – and discover what concerns women are raising in their work today.