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.
1970- March 28 2022
The Birds Eye team are saddened at the news of the untimely death of Mira Calix. We wish to send our condolences to her family and friends and all those who worked with her and loved her.
Chantal Francesca Passamonte, known professionally as Mira Calix was a South African-born, British-based audio and visual artist signed to Warp Records.
Although her earlier music is almost exclusively electronic, from the 2000s onwards she incorporated writing for classical instrumentation into her musical works and expanded her practice to include multidisciplinary performance, film and multi-channel installation artworks. She often stated that she considered sound a sculptural material.
She once said of her boldly experimental yet populist approach, in response to elderly listeners who loved one of her installations: “The whole piece was completely abstract, but it made them feel something. They didn’t say, ‘This is too weird’ … People like fantasy. We know this. But people also like fairytales. And they like abstractions. Art isn’t just for arseholes. People can handle it.”
Here is an interview we did with Mira prior to her performing her original score to The Adventures of Prince Achmed as part of the Birds Eye View Film Festival 2010
Fresh from winning a Composer of The Year Award 2009, Mira Calix is known for her innovative scores, often accompanied by unique visual displays. As part of a special commission for the BEV Film Festival this year she will be presenting an original score for the first ever feature-length animation. Subtle and beautiful, The Adventures of Price Achmed was directed by Lotte Reiniger in 1926. The trailblaizing Warp-signed composer/ musician shares the story so far…
BIRDS EYE VIEW (BEV) What was your reaction when you first saw The Adventures of Prince Achmed?
MC: I was really surprised at how fresh it looked. We’re quite used to seeing naïve animation styles used today, so what struck me, is how little this films seems to have aged.
BEV: Do you have a favourite part of the story?
MC: I think it’s probably the very end when all the characters are united in love and peaceful times, after all the war and drama.
BEV: What were the first steps of writing your composition?
MC: Really, it was just watching the film several times, in silence and trying to get a feel for the mood and pace from the animation, and getting to grips with the direct action foretold in the subtitles.
BEV: What are the main challenges involved in writing a score for a film? and what do you like about it?
MC: Synchronisation really is the biggest challenge, and the fact that the mood can change every few seconds. Also with no Foley, or other other sound on this film, it meant that the whole thing can feel very two dimensional. It’s the big difference between a silent animation from 1926 and something new like WAll-e, which although without much dialogue, has a dense layer of sound design. my approach to this soundtrack was to create a simple and illustrative layer of sound design. it makes the narrative come alive for me.
I’m enjoying the storytelling. With music, you can choose which emotion to bring to the foreground.
BEV: Do you feel that writing music for animation differs from writing music for a film which uses actors?
MC: Yes, very much so, particularly with Prince Achmed, as the characters have almost no facial expression, their movement is very simple, and therefore there is less subtlety than with live action. That’s not necessarily always true of contemporary animation, but it is of this particular film. The other big difference is what I’ve mentioned above, without creating the sound landscape on animation, there is no atmosphere, as in no definition of the space the narrative is taking place in, that’s why sound is so crucial to making an animated tale come alive.
BEV: I imagine that the original composition you are writing might still be a work in progress at this stage? May we ask how its going?
MC: Its going well, I’ve been using a lot of my own existing material that I have been remixing and reworking. I’ve also been using very simple orchestration, a small palette of instruments, which I feel is in- keeping with the visual aesthetic, and of course the eastern and magical lands that we visit in the narrative. Themes and motifs re-appear throughout the film in the narrative and so I’ve done the same with the music. I’ve concentrated very much on the rhythm of the film, and the pacing of the tale. There’s a lot of tension and conflict in the film, times when I can really let go and make a noise.
Click HERE to read Mira Calix obituary in The Guardian.
To celebrate and honour the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society, we’ll be revisiting some of the films we have enjoyed and supported that feature mothers.
PETITE MAMAN (2021)
By Céline Sciamma
★★★★ “A poetic, touching vision of childhood” Time Out
PETITE MAMAN is a sublime modern fairytale about the quiet wonder of mother-daughter relationships. After the death of her beloved grandmother, eight-year-old Nelly meets a mysterious friend in the woods. Together they embark on a fantastical journey of discovery which helps Nelly come to terms with this newfound loss. A favourite of the 2021 Berlin Film Festival, Sciamma’s new masterwork examines childhood, memory and loss with a typically delicate touch, elegantly weaved together into an enchanting and moving depiction of love and acceptance.
This latest offering from Sciamma feels like a much-needed warm embrace, leaving both protagonist and audience in a good place.
The Birds Eye View team loved this quiet, contemplative look at loss, grief and memory seen through the eyes of an eight-year-old girl. This smart, moving, emotionally intelligent (and, ultimately uplifting), perfectly paced ghost story come fairy tale is, like everything Sciamma touches, authentic, original and refreshing. In less capable hands we might easily be subjected to over-sentimentality. Sciamma never subjects her audience to this – she never tells us how we should think or feel – she shows, she doesn’t tell. She goes deep rather than wide and trusts herself, and us, to join the dots.
Click HERE for where to watch
GERMANY, PALE MOTHER (1980)
By Helma Sanders-Brahms
Set during the Third Reich and its aftermath, this lyrical, harrowing tale of love and war is a neglected classic of New German cinema. Hans and Lene scarcely have time to meet and marry before Hans is sent away to fight, leaving Lene to give birth during an air raid and struggle through the war with a baby daughter. Based on director and writer Helma Sanders-Brahms’ mother’s experience, the film explores the devastating impact of politics of family life.
Eva Mates (Lene) gives a brilliant, fearless performance, with the film casting a powerful emotional spell which is intensified by a delicate, plaintive piano score. German critics savaged the film at its premiere, baulking at its ‘subjective’ female take on recent history. Cut by 30 minutes for cinema release, only now has it been restored to its impressive original form and available for home viewing.
Click HERE for where to watch
MEMORY BOX (2021)
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreigeige
Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia sent to her best friend from 1980’s Beirut. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex enters the world of her mother’s tumultuous, passionate adolescence during the Lebanese civil war, unlocking mysteries of a hidden past.
Click HERE for where to watch
Click HERE for Elise Hassan’s commissioned piece
The film is French, Arabic, English language with subtitles and is also available with subtitles for those who are D/deaf or hard of hearing.
Learn more about the film HERE.
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THE SECOND MOTHER (2015)
By Anna Muylaert
Having left her daughter, Jessica, to be raised by relatives, Val works as a loving nanny in São Paulo. When Jessica visits 13 years later to take her college entrance exams, her confident presence upsets the unspoken power balance in the household. Soon, Val must decide where her allegiances lie.
Click HERE where to watch
GUNDA (2020)
Co-written by Ainara Vera
Experiential cinema in its purest form, GUNDA chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy. Using stark, transcendent black and white cinematography and the farm’s ambient soundtrack, Master director Victor Kossakowsky invites the audience to slow down and experience life as his subjects do, taking in their world with a magical patience and an other worldly perspective. GUNDA asks us to meditate on the mystery of animal consciousness, and reckon with the role humanity plays in it. Executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix.
The whole Birds’ Eye team loved this simple yet powerful film – which is all the more devastating because you know what’s coming. Right up to its tragic denouement, the film’s sensitive and contemplative black and white imagery slowly builds empathy with the ‘free range’ animals on the farm as they go about their lives amongst their natural surroundings. The film’s titular character, is closely observed mothering her litter of hungry piglets. Spending time with Gunda and her young shows us just how intelligent, sociable and curious pigs are. After becoming so close to these fascinating animals over 80 minutes, the extended final scene hits hard – this incredibly moving sequence will test the resolve of even the most committed carnivore.
Click JustWatch HERE for where to watch Gunda.
EVE’S BAYOU (1997)
By Kasi Lemmons
Eve’s Bayou is a 1997 American southern gothic drama film written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, who made her directorial debut with this film. Samuel L. Jackson served as a producer, and starred in the film with Lisa Nicole Carson, Jurnee Smollett, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Meagan Good and Diahann Carroll.
Over the course of a long, hot Louisiana summer, a 10-year-old black girl, Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett), discovers that her family’s affluent existence is merely a facade. The philandering of her suave doctor father, Louis (Samuel L. Jackson), creates a rift, throwing Eve’s mother, Roz (Lynn Whitfield), and teenage sister, Cisely (Meagan Good), into emotional turmoil. Eve, though, manages to find some solace with her quirky psychic aunt, Mozelle (Debbi Morgan).
Click HERE for where to watch
THE LOST DAUGHTER (2021)
By Maggie Gyllenhaal
Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her directorial debut from a script she adapted from the novel by Elena Ferrante.
A woman’s seaside vacation takes a dark turn when her obsession with a young mother forces her to confront secrets from her past.
Click HERE for where to watch
Click HERE for a reminder of Flora Spencer Grant’s review
HERSELF (2020)
By Phyllida Lloyd
Struggling to provide her daughters with a safe, happy home, Sandra decides to build one – from scratch. Using all her ingenuity to make her ambitious dream a reality, Sandra draws together a community to lend a helping hand to build her house and ultimately recover her own sense of self.
Currently you are able to watch “Herself” streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel. It is also possible to buy “Herself” on Apple iTunes, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, Sky Store, YouTube as download or rent it on Apple iTunes, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, Sky Store, Curzon Home Cinema, YouTube online
Click HERE for where to watch
Inspired by #BreakTheBias the campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2022, Birds Eye View has curated a selection of films from around the world which strive to imagine an equal world, free of discrimination. For the influential medium of film, breaking the bias not only depends on growing audiences for films by and about women, but also broadening these representations to include diverse female stories and experiences from right around the world. Each title we have selected is female directed and focused and seeks to combat stereotypes and foster greater understanding. Featuring films from the UK, across Europe, to Vietnam, Australasia, the continent of Africa and the USA, the selection also features diasporic filmmakers from India, Iran, and Iraq. International Women’s Day’s Break the Bias campaign looks to a world where difference is valued and celebrated, an aim which resonates with Birds Eye View’s own mission to broaden perspectives of the world through cinema, and which inspires this selection of titles, all of which can be seen online, on BFI Player.
Together we can forge women’s equality.
Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.
Appropriate Behaviour by Desiree Akhavan (UK 2015, 86mins) [CC]
Desiree Akhavan (The Miseducation of Cameron Post) directs and stars in this fearless comedy about a twenty-something bisexual Iranian-American woman struggling to conform to traditional Persian standards.
Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash (USA 1991, 112mins) [CC]
A fictionalised telling of Julie Dash’s father’s family of West African former slaves struggling to maintain their heritage. Part of the L.A Rebellion, Dash’s first feature made herstory as the first feature by an African American woman to get a general release in the USA.
I’m British But.… by Gurinder Chadha (UK, 1989, 29mins)
The first of a number of films from journalist turned filmmaker Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) telling stories of Indian people (mostly women) living in the UK, this one exploring themes of home and second generation identity, and the importance of Bhangra music.
Island of the Hungry Ghosts – Gabrielle Brady (Germany 2018, 98mins) [CC + AD]
An experiential exploration of the injustice and trauma faced by those seeking asylum, focusing on Poh Lin, a Chinese Malaysian Australian therapist working in a high security detention facility on Christmas Island.
Jaddoland by Nadia Shihab (USA 2018, 91mins) [CC]
Filmmaker Nadia Shihab turns the camera on her mother, an Iraqi artist living an increasingly isolated life in the small town she’s made home in Texas. Her mother returns her gaze, taking photographs of Nadia, as each explores their cultural heritage through creativity.
My 20th Century by Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary 1989, 99mins)
A film about light, told in luminous monochrome. It’s 31 December 1979, Edison’s light bulb is being unveiled to the world and we’re transported to a magical realist Budapest where twin girls are born in that same moment – from here we follow their radically different paths.
Rafiki by Wanuri Kahiu (South Africa 2018, 83mins) [CC]
Popping with colour and energy, Rafiki tells the story of young Nairobi women Kena and Ziki, whose immediate connection blossoms into romance. This brave film was banned in Kenya where gay sex is punishable by 14-years in jail following director Wanuri Kahiu’s refusal to change the ending.
Something Different by Věra Chytilová (Czechoslovakia 1963, 81mins)
Vera Chytilová’s (Daises) first feature-length film, and one of the breakout films of the Czech New Wave, intersperses two narratives in parallel: the story of Vera, a fictional housewife living in Czechoslovakia, and that of Eva, a real-life Olympic gymnast.
Souad by Ayten Amin (Egypt 2021, 102mins)
A recent #ReclaimTheFrame supported title, telling the story of Souad as she navigates teenage life in contemporary Egypt, caught between the standards expected of her by both traditional religious values and social media pressures.
The Arbor by Clio Barnard (UK 2010, 90mins)
The first of Clio Barnard’s Bradford based tales (Ali & Ava), this one celebrating the life and work of playwright Andrea Dunbar (Rita, Sue and Bob Too) blending fact with fiction, testimonies with recreation, theatre with cinema.
The Third Wife by Ash Mayfair (Vietnam 2018, 92mins)
Fourteen year old May finds herself in a forced marriage to an older polygamous man, facing pressure to bear him a baby boy while still coming of age herself. She finds compassion in her husband’s second wife, developing in a forbidden love in this beautifully understated tale set in 19th Century Vietnam.
The Watermelon Woman by Cheryl Dunye (USA 1997, 85mins) [CC]
“Sometimes you have to create your own history.” This ‘dunyementary’ tells the story of Cheryl, an aspiring filmmaker (Dunye) who discovers and sets out to solve the mystery of a (fictional) 1940s Black actress known only as the ‘watermelon woman’ in this first feature by an out Black lesbian.
Tomboy by Celine Sciamma (France 2011, 82mins)
Gender identity and expression are explored in this tender coming of age drama from Celine Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Petite Maman). 10-year-old Laure navigates a new identity as ‘Mickael’, a new neighborhood in Paris and a new friendship when Laure meets a local girl Lisa.
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