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| Birds Eye View: a festival of female Arabian film-makers | Birds Eye View: a festival of female Arabian film-makers |
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| "The best documentary at the Doha international film festival in 2011 and 2012 was won by a woman," says Will Young from the Birds Eye View film festival. "The best feature in the Dubai international film festival in 2011 and 2012 was won by a woman … We knew there was something going on." | |
| The "something", says the event's creative director Kate Gerova, was "an explosion of creative talent" among female directors from the Middle East with Lara Saba's Blind Intersections opening the Beirut international film festival and Djamila Sahraoui's Yema winning the Algerian international film festival last year. Throw in the added topicality sparked by the Arab spring and the organisers of Birds Eye felt it only right for the annual festival dedicated to women and film to give itself over for one year to Arab women film-makers. | |
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| Many of the films – from Wadjda, the first feature film to be filmed entirely in Saudi Arabia (shown ahead of the main schedule, which starts on April 3) – to Yema, are laden with awards and most are UK premieres. But all, the organisers say, counteract the stereotypes of Arab women so often perpetuated by news stories. | Many of the films – from Wadjda, the first feature film to be filmed entirely in Saudi Arabia (shown ahead of the main schedule, which starts on April 3) – to Yema, are laden with awards and most are UK premieres. But all, the organisers say, counteract the stereotypes of Arab women so often perpetuated by news stories. |
| One of these assumptions, says director Annemarie Jacir – whose lyrical film When I Saw You, is based around a Palestinian refugee camp in 1960s Jordan – is that female directors must face tougher challenges in the Arab world. Actually, she says: "It feels like there are more female film-makers in Iran and the Arab world, comparatively, than in Hollywood." | One of these assumptions, says director Annemarie Jacir – whose lyrical film When I Saw You, is based around a Palestinian refugee camp in 1960s Jordan – is that female directors must face tougher challenges in the Arab world. Actually, she says: "It feels like there are more female film-makers in Iran and the Arab world, comparatively, than in Hollywood." |
| Thanks to the film industries in countries such as Jordan and Palestine being relatively young, women are not "shut out" of already-established systems, but feel they are helping to build something new. This, she says, is reflected in the awards ceremonies in the region, which act as a riposte to the male-dominated European and North American festivals. | Thanks to the film industries in countries such as Jordan and Palestine being relatively young, women are not "shut out" of already-established systems, but feel they are helping to build something new. This, she says, is reflected in the awards ceremonies in the region, which act as a riposte to the male-dominated European and North American festivals. |
| "If you go to film festivals in the Middle East half the programmes are women but when you go to Sundance and Cannes there are hardly any women." | "If you go to film festivals in the Middle East half the programmes are women but when you go to Sundance and Cannes there are hardly any women." |
| Yet Jacir admits that not everything is rosy. While sexism is not a problem during filming, funding is traditionally harder to find for women directors across the world. But the fact that organisations such as the Doha Film Institute seem happy to fund women (47% of the institute's grants last year were made to women, says Gerova), may be one reason for what Young calls the "sudden emergence of these extraordinary women film-makers". | Yet Jacir admits that not everything is rosy. While sexism is not a problem during filming, funding is traditionally harder to find for women directors across the world. But the fact that organisations such as the Doha Film Institute seem happy to fund women (47% of the institute's grants last year were made to women, says Gerova), may be one reason for what Young calls the "sudden emergence of these extraordinary women film-makers". |
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| The festival programme is certainly varied: from El Gusto, a film about musicians, which has been dubbed the Algerian Buena Vista social club, to A Tale of Two Syrias, charting the lives of a monk and a fashion designer, none of its offerings fit into easy stereotypes. Instead, says Gerova, it provides cinema-goers with a chance to discover new film-makers and a different slant on events in the Arab world. | The festival programme is certainly varied: from El Gusto, a film about musicians, which has been dubbed the Algerian Buena Vista social club, to A Tale of Two Syrias, charting the lives of a monk and a fashion designer, none of its offerings fit into easy stereotypes. Instead, says Gerova, it provides cinema-goers with a chance to discover new film-makers and a different slant on events in the Arab world. |
| As Jacir adds, it also helps women in the Arab world to speak directly to an audience. "People have a lot of cliches about life in the Arab world and Arab women in particular," she points out, "and traditionally the stories that come out are not by women and not by Arab women." | As Jacir adds, it also helps women in the Arab world to speak directly to an audience. "People have a lot of cliches about life in the Arab world and Arab women in particular," she points out, "and traditionally the stories that come out are not by women and not by Arab women." |