A recent dip in female-led theatrical releases in the UK - back to 2018 levels of 26% reminds us that our work is far from over; that we cannot be complacent.
Below you can read about the research we conduct into gender representation in film and the wider industry, tracking the release landscape to present an accurate picture of investment in films by filmmakers of marginalised genders.
Here you can also find out about news and opportunities at Reclaim The Frame, along with curated film recommendations, filmmaker interviews, and creative responses.
Sea Sorrow is a very personal and dynamic meditation on the current global refugee crisis through the eyes and voices of campaigners and children, where past and present establish a dialogue. A reflection on the importance of human rights.
Drawing on her own experience as a wartime evacuee, Redgrave tells the story of refugees fleeing European war zones throughout the last century and drawing parallels between government attitudes towards refugees in the 1930s and now.
Redgrave might be most garlanded for her stage work, but she also has six Oscar nominations, when she finally won an Oscar in 1978, for playing the eponymous Nazi resistance fighter in Julia.
Vanessa Redgrave CBE is an English actress and activist. Proclaimed as the “Greatest Actress of our Time” by Tennessee Williams, Redgrave is the recipient of the Triple Crown of Acting, and was inducted to the American Theatre Hall of Fame, and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2010
Redgrave turned down a chance to become a Dame in the 1990s because she didn’t agree with the U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s politics. The veteran actress was invited to take the title in 1999, but she declined it because she was upset about Blair’s decision to enter into the Iraq War.
On being told by a journalist that she was difficult to interview, Redgrave replied, “I don’t think so. I think I’m illuminating. Hahahaha!”
CAST
Vanessa Redgrave – Herself / Emma Thompson – Herself / Ralph Fiennes Himself / Daisy Bevan Herself / Juliet Stevenson /Herself
Simon Coates /Himself
1 hr 12 mins
1 hr 12 mins
WHERE TO WATCH – CLICK HERE
To mark the sad loss of Cicely Tyson (19 Dec 1924 – 28 Jan 2021), the pioneering Black Hollywood actress known for portraying characters of strength, whose 60-year career earned her three Emmys and a Tony Award, we will be watching Fried Green Tomatoes. Based on the 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg, and adapted for the screen in 1991 by Carol Sobieski.
Younger moviegoers, might remember Tyson as Constantine Jefferson in 2011’s The Help, which starred Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Emma Stone. Tyson’s other notable film credits included Hoodlum, Because of Winn-Dixie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Last Flag Flying and A Fall from Grace, the latter of which was her final movie.
In 2018, Tyson received an honorary Oscar, making her the first African-American woman to earn such an honor.
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES – SYNOPSIS
Evelyn Couch, whose name inadvertently describes the kind of languid person she is, has had enough of her tedious, predictable, mind-numbing life. So where does Evelyn go looking for excitement? The local nursing home! Though Ninny Threadgoode lives in the facility, but has way more pluck than Evelyn. At each visit, Ninny recounts stories of her youth, especially the goings on in Whistle Stop, Georgia, and the café where the specialty of the house was fried green tomatoes. Cicely Tyson plays Sipsey, who raises the children in the Threadgoode family and is mother to Big George, who, despite being African American, is heartily welcomed by the proprietors of the Whistle Stop Café—in defiance of local Klan intimidation.
With Cicely Tyson, Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker.
The film was released in theatre in the United States on December 27, 1991, garnered positive reviews from critics and was a box office hit, grossing $119.4 million on a $11 million budget. It was nominated for two Oscars at the 64th Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (Tandy) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Carol Sobieski).
AVAILABLE TO WATCH CLICK HERE
READ MORE – CLICK HERE and HERE
Rachel Century, Head of Research for The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said: “Film can be crucial in discovering more about and discussing the impact of genocide, and can bring a group together as they discuss the issues raised.”
To mark this day with a film, we here at Birds’ Eye View will be watching Hester Street (1975), adapted and directed by Joan Micklin Silver from Abraham Cahan’s late 19th-century novella Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto, about immigrants to New York.
Shot in black and white, the film is essentially a chamber piece and tells the story of Yankl (Steven Keats) who wants to assimilate into American culture, and his wife Gitl (Carol Kane in an Oscar-nominated performance) who struggles to give up her sense of tradition. As with many communities, Jewish women have struggled to find a voice. In the film we see Gitl reluctantly being forced to assimilate. The film poses the important question as to whether women really are that much more liberated within modern western society – a question that still resonates among modern day immigrant communities.
Joan Micklin Silver (1935-2020) was an American director of films and plays. Born in Omaha, Silver moved to New York City in 1967 where she began writing and directing films. She is best known for Hester Street, her first feature; and Crossing Delancey.
cklin Silver (1935-2020) was an American director of films and plays. Born in Omaha, Silver moved to New York City in 1967 where she began writing and directing films. She is best known for Hester Street, her first feature; and Crossing Delancey.
“I grew up feeling very, very aware of being Jewish and feeling proud of that. I went to school and I remember classes where I was the only Jew, and I would know that because I was the only one who wasn’t in school on the holidays.” Joan Micklin Silver
This marvellously evocative study of Jewish immigrant life in turn-of-the-century New York, mainly told in delightfully subtitled Yiddish, features an outstanding lead performance from the Oscar-nominated Carol Kane.” Radio Times
This marvellously evocative study of Jewish immigrant life in turn-of-the-century New York, mainly told in delightfully subtitled Yiddish, features an outstanding lead performance from the Oscar-nominated Carol Kane.” Radio Times
“Joan Micklin Silver, the filmmaker whose first feature, “Hester Street,” expanded the marketplace for American independent film and broke barriers for women in directing.” NY Times
“Joan Micklin Silver, the filmmaker whose first feature, “Hester Street,” expanded the marketplace for American independent film and broke barriers for women in directing.” NY Times
In 2011, Hester Street was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
“This marvellously evocative study of Jewish immigrant life in turn-of-the-century New York, mainly told in delightfully subtitled Yiddish, features an outstanding lead performance from the Oscar-nominated Carol Kane.” Radio Times
FILMMAKER ARTICLE CLICK HERE
“This marvellously evocative study of Jewish immigrant life in turn-of-the-century New York, mainly told in delightfully subtitled Yiddish, features an outstanding lead performance from the Oscar-nominated Carol Kane.” Radio Times
TO WATCH HESTER STREET – CLICK HERE
Light a candle at 8pm on Holocaust Memorial Day
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