History

Birds Eye View believe in honouring the past, celebrating the present and empowering the future of women and non-binary people in film. We have been working in this field since 2003, when Birds Eye View was founded by Pinny Grylls and Rachel Millward as a film festival showing films by women from around the world to London and UK audiences.

The original film festival was created by Pinny and Rachel in response to the industry numbers indicating that men directed 92% of films on general release. Celebrating female filmmakers, Birds Eye View started out as a short film festival (2003-14) and has since grown into one of the most respected platforms for showcasing female and non-binary film talent.

In 2018, during Mia Bays, our former director’s term, we created RECLAIM THE FRAME, a mission to bring audiences together and build a community for films by women and non-binary filmmakers in cinemas across the UK.

We continue to run year-round filmmaker training, regular screenings, advocacy campaigns and special events.

Below are Birds Eye View’s old Festival programmes – right back to 2007…