Glasgow
GFT and CCA, Glasgow, 18th - 21st November 2009
Birds Eye View hits Glasgow with a four day feast of events for film lovers and budding filmmakers. The tour includes a Sound and Silent event, a shorts showcase followed by Q&A session with Director Annie Griffin, Festival (2005), a documentary filmmakers' masterclass and a producers' panel discussion on opportunities for women in film.
SOUND AND SILENTS: My Best Girl accompanied by Jane Gardner
Wednesday 18th November 2009 / Glasgow Film Theatre / 6.45pm
The Birds eye View Sound and Silents strand fuses silent film and specially commissioned live musical accompaniment to create a unique cinematic experience. Jane Gardner hales from Scotland, her music has been commisioned far and wide and she has been composing and improvising scores to movies from the silent era since 2005. My Best Girl (Sam Taylor, 1925) is a charming comic love story featuring stars of the day Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers. It was nominated for an academy award in 1928 for its stunning cinematography. A vintage audio visual treat treat not to be missed!
For more information and to book tickets visit the Glasgow Film Theatre website: www.gft.org.uk
BEV SHORTS SHOWCASE: Followed by Q&A with Annie Griffin
Thursday 19th November 2009 / Centre for Contemporary Arts / 6.30pm
Birds Eye View, in partnership with Digicult, present a selection of mind blowing shorts from around the globe including Sam Taylor Wood's BAFTA and Cannes nominated Love You More - a tender tale of teenagers falling in love over punk music and August 15th - a devastating, award winning modern morality tale from China. The showcase will lead into a Q&A session with critically acclaimed Annie Griffin (writer and director of Festival and Glasgow based sitcom The Book Group). The event will be hosted by Birds Eye View's Founder and Director Rachel Millward and will focus on Annie's career development. There will be a networking session after the event co-hosted with DigiCult.
DigiCult are soon to announce their call for submissions to the Scottish Digital Shorts 2010 talent pool. To find out more visit www.digicult.co.uk
To book tickets call the Centre for Contemporary Arts: +44 (0)141 352 4900
FILMMAKERS DOCUMENTARY MASTERCLASS
Friday 20th November 2009 / Centre for Contemporary Arts / 7pm
Birds eye View, in partnership with Scottish Documentary Institute, present an exclusive masterclass with a very special guest: multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker and writer, Xialo Guo.
Guo, who won a Grand Jury Prize In 2006 for How is Your Fish Today? has directed a wealth of visually rich and imaginative fictional films and documentaries. Her most recent feature She, a Chinese (2009) won the Locarno Film Festival's highest prize and the Hamburg Film Festival's scriptwriting award. Once upon a time Proletarian, her 2009 documentary, has just premiered in the UK having been officially selected for the Venice International, Pusan and Toronto film festivals.
The masterclass, chaired by Sonja Henrici of the Scottish Documentary Institute, will be a special chance to see some of Guo's works and hear her discuss them and her career development.
More information on Xiaolu Guo's works are available at www.guoxiaolu.com.
To book tickets call the Centre for Contemporary Arts: +44 (0)141 352 4900
PRODUCERS' FORUM
Saturday 21st November 2009 / Centre for Contemporary Arts / 2pm
Please note 2pm start time, not 3pm as previously advertised here
A panel of three top producers and industry experts give top tips and valuable insights for aspiring women filmmakers on how to break into the industry, bringing about a positive change by addressing the balance of who holds these key positions in the world of film. The panel members include:
Carolynne Sinclair-Kidd Carolynne is Producer of multi-award winning TV Drama Series 'High Times', and most recently a Cinema Extreme for Film 4 and the UKFC.
Claire Mundell Claire is an award-winning producer with over 16 years experience at both at single camera director, creative producer and executive producer level, Claire’s debut feature film, Crying with Laughter recently premiered at The Edinburgh International Film Festival ’09 and was nominated for The Michael Powell Award. As Co-Creative Director of Synchronicity, Claire creates, develops and writes film and TV drama properties for the UK and International market with business and creative partner Justin Molotnikov. Claire spent 10 years in network production at the BBC, where she moved quickly up the ranks to become senior management covering all aspects of production on the way including research, celebrity booking on Saturday morning live show Live and Kicking and Fully Booked, to single camera directing, producing and then Executive Producing.
Karen Smyth Film producer Karen Smyth is managing director the Scottish production company La Belle Allee, and has worked in the industry in the UK and the USA for 12 years. After University she initially worked in the music business in Los Angeles as a songwriter for Warner Chappel. Returning to the UK, a chance encounter led her into film production, where she quickly established herself in production roles in both London and Glasgow. As a line producer, Karen worked with many renowned companies such as Tony Kaye Films and RSA Films. Approached to produce short films, commercials and promos, she decided to set up her own production company, La Belle Allée Productions Ltd in March 2003. Before this move however, she returned to Los Angeles as Associate Producer on the independent feature ‘Tinseltown’, bought and distributed by the Samuel Goldwyn Company. Returning to Scotland she produced the acclaimed feature ‘One Life Stand’. Shot entirely on location on a small budget, the film was the UK’s first wholly digital feature and has garnered several awards worldwide, including ‘Best Achievement in Production' for Karen at the BIFA’s and five new talent BAFTAS. She has also produced a 15 part TV series for the Discovery channel, as well as dozens of short films, including ‘Tracks’, which won Best Film at the Scottish BAFTAS.
Currently Karen is developing several feature projects with many international co-production partners including Sienna Films, Films du Requin, Epidemic Films and Pure Magic Films. She has recently completed the Nicolas Winding Refn film ‘Valhalla Rising’, co producing with Denmark’s Nimbus Films, and the documentary ‘Tormod’ for BBC Alba, with director Robbie Fraser at the helm.
Actively nurturing relationships with new writing and directing talents in the UK and Europe, Karen has attended Arista and The Film Business School. She is also a member of the ACE Producers Network.
To book tickets call the Centre for Contemporary Arts: +44 (0)141 352 4900
The Glasgow Season is funded by Scottish Screen National Lottery Funds.
