Birds Eye View Film Festival

As Kathryn Bigelow flies home with a Bafta for ‘The Hurt Locker’, the Birds Eye View festival continues the celebration of female directors in film

With Kathryn Bigelow in with a chance of becoming the first woman to win an Oscar for directing, it’s worth noting that some of the year’s best films directed by women were also some of the year’s best films full stop. Think ‘Fish Tank’, ‘An Education’, ‘Nowhere Boy’, ‘35 Shots of Rum’, ‘Bright Star’.

Fittingly, the programmers at Birds Eye View, whose festival ‘celebrating, championing and showcasing women filmmakers’ runs from March 4-12, have recognised this by asking the public to vote for their favourite female-directed film of the year. The winning feature will be screened at the ICA on Oscar night (March 7) followed by an Oscar warm-up party in the bar.

The festival’s lively programme also takes in award-winners and favourites from the festival circuit, such as Mia Hansen-Løve’s Cannes-garlanded ‘The Father of My Children’ and Kim Longinotto’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winner ‘Rough Aunties’. The first is a portrait of a troubled Parisian film producer; the second is a powerful yet unsentimental documentary about a group of fearless women who look after abused children in South Africa.

The inclusion of Jessica Hausner’s Venice hit ‘Lourdes’ is especially welcome. Hausner’s film follows a young woman (Sylvie Testud) in a wheelchair who joins a pilgrimage to the holy site to relieve the monotony and isolation of her life, even if she doesn’t believe in the miracles those around her are desperate to experience. An element of mystery drives this story forwards, but it’s Hausner’s wry observations that are more intriguing: the ungracious behaviour of the pious, the complex motivations of carers and the depiction of Lourdes as an attraction every bit as crass and commercial as Disneyland.

Birds Eye View has an admirable commitment to lesser known global filmmakers. ‘Entre Nos’ is partly based on an episode in the childhood of Colombian co-writer/director Paola Mendoza, who also plays Mariana, an immigrant living on the breadline with her two kids in New York. It’s heartbreaking to watch Mariana trying to remain upbeat to shield her little ones from the gravity of their predicament and even more heartbreaking to see that resolve slowly disintegrate.

Although it’s ultimately uplifting, ‘Entre Nos’ isn’t a barrel of laughs. So for pure popcorn pleasure, look no further than the closing-night presentation of ‘Whip It!’. Drew Barrymore’s directing debut stars Ellen ‘Juno’ Page as a teenager in suburban Texas who rebels against the beauty pageants into which her mother (a wonderfully brittle Marcia Gay Harden) enters her by joining a roller-derby team. Her teammates – and adversaries – have handles like Maggie Mayhem, Jabba the Slut, Bloody Holly and Smashley Simpson, and are played with joyful abandon by a winning squad of comic actresses including Juliette Lewis and Barrymore herself. ‘Whip It!’ is a riotous celebration of girl power in its truest form and so the perfect choice to close this femme-tastic festival.

Birds Eye View is at the ICA and BFI Southbank March 4-12.

www.birds-eye-view.co.uk

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