PANDEMIC RESPONSE PROGRAMME
JULY 16 2020 (extended to) DECEMBER 2020
FOR WOMEN IN DISTRIBUTION & EXHIBITION
Birds’ Eye View Film have been one of the UK’s leading advocates and instigators of gender equality in film first as a film festival then as cultural activists for the past 18 years.
After finishing the 4th iteration of Future Leaders in Distribution (FLD) at the end of February this year, we were already looking to respond to the constant requests to create an ongoing space for our alumni to connect and continue to learn and expand their experience and contacts.
We accelerated this ambition following the devastating outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the huge impact it had, and is still having on our industry, the physical and mental well-being of our people, our economic and cultural environment, and created what we are calling a Pandemic Response Programme (PRP): a network for womxn in film distribution and exhibition; a female-led, online (for now) community, focused on rebuilding film in new ways, fostering connections, sharing knowledge and new ways of operating post-Covid. The programme is far-reaching and challenges the norms, shifts paradigms and offers a people-centred approach; a network that holds open a space to take a breath, to dive deep, to connect, to centre yourself, and, sometimes, to scream!
Our activity and connectivity began in July this year with a pool of 67 UK-based womxn (some of whom we partner with on Reclaim the Frame) from companies such as:
CURZON/ BFI/ EONE/ SKY/ WE ARE PARABLE/ CHAPTER/HOME
EXETER PHOENIX/PLYMOUTH ARTS CINEMA/WATERSHED
FILM HUBS: MIDLANDS/ WALES/ LONDON
STUDIOCANAL / CARAMEL FILM CLUB/CINE LUMIERE/BARBICAN
PICTUREHOUSE /SAFFRON SCREEN/DOCHOUSE/QUEENS FILM THEATRE
GLASGOW FILM THEATRE/ AYA FILMS/MODERN FILMS
AFRICA IN MOTION FEST/SHEFFIELD DOC FEST/ BATH FILM FEST
FRINGE! /QUEER FILM FEST/INCLUSIVE CINEMA/MUBI/SKY/ALTITUDE
GOWER ST ANALYTICS/TOGETHER FILMS/ UNIVERSAL PICTURES/NETFLIX/PATHE
We are just over ten weeks in, and we are learning (enjoying it) so much, we have decided to extend the programme to December.
We have no doubt it will have a legacy beyond this.
This Pandemic Response Programme is supported by ScreenSkills using National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI as part of the Future Film Skills programme and is aimed to offer a space (weekly, online, from July to December 2020) for both personal well-being as well as find ways to get our industry out of this crisis, together. We want better models of operation, better work practices, better templates for leadership – everything needs rebuilding.
ScreenSkills is the industry-led skills body for the UK’s screen industries
FEEDBACK FROM OUR FLD PROGRAMME
“This course should be available to all women in the industry every year. I found it invaluable and the connections made are priceless.’’
“Life changing and helps to create awareness to strive for more equality in the film industry.’’
“A really positive environment that made learning and self-development so much easier.”
“I feel more confident on a personal and professional level. It was great and a privilege to connect and bond with like-minded women.”
“A real boost in optimism, confidence and willingness to take more risks.’’
how it works
COURSE LEADER
Mia Bays
Mia Bays is an Oscar-winning, twice BAFTA nominated, producer on documentary and fiction, and founder of the production company and distribution/sales strategy advisor Missing In Action Films. She has worked on over 90 features in various capacities, as a distributor, producer (on SIX SHOOTER by Martin McDonagh which won Best Live Action Short Oscar 2005, and most recent credit being LETTERS FROM BAGHDAD, voiced by Tilda Swinton, released by Verve in 2017). She has held such roles as Creative Producer on the Microwave micro-budget scheme 2007-14 (LILTING, SHIFTY, ILL MANORS, STRAWBERRY FIELDS, etc) which included strategizing the UK distribution deals and international sales plans. All films got UK distribution and international sales deals. She began her career in the film industry in distribution, in the early ’90s, working for Romaine Hart, a successful female distributor and exhibitor – and her first role model. Mia took over Birds’ Eye View in 2016, pivoting it from being a film festival about to close into a year-round positive agitator in the UK distribution and exhibition space, establishing the BFI Audience Fund backed RECLAIM THE FRAME project (a mission to bring ever-greater audiences to films by women) in 2018. The project now has networks in 10 cities, and partnerships with 11 cinemas from across the UK and collaborates with distributors such as Curzon, Vertigo, Dogwoof, 20th Century Fox and eOne, and with cinema partners such as Picturehouse, Curzon, Home Manchester and Glasgow Film Theatre.
Averil Leimon is an executive coach, a leadership psychologist, an author and a media commentator. She is a founder of leadership consultancy White Water Group, and the force behind White Water Women. Through her work in big business, we will have access to female leaders from other sectors to build our work shadowing program and bespoke coaching for each participant, benefiting from
COACHES & SPEAKERS INCLUDE
Averil Leimon
Averil Leimon is an executive coach, a leadership psychologist, an author and a media commentator. She is a founder of leadership consultancy White Water Group, and the force behind White Water Women. Through her work in big business, we will have access to female leaders from other sectors to build our work shadowing program and bespoke coaching for each participant, benefiting from her work at the cutting edge of female entrepreneur training.
Caroline Goyder
Caroline Goyder is a leading voice coach and keynote speaker. She has worked at Central School of Speech and Drama as a voice coach since 2001 and has over 15 years’ experience providing voice and gravitas training to people of all ages, including celebrities, teachers, broadcasters and the corporate sector.
Gaylene Gould
Gaylene is an artistic director, writer, broadcaster, facilitator and coach who designs interactive art projects and spaces that generously connect us with ourselves, each other and the world. She explores the healing and growth potential of sharing space, stories, ideas and knowledge through her artistic, writing and consultancy practice. She believes the transcendent moments that art and culture creates can change how we are in the world.
Others tbc
KEY PARTNERS
ScreenSkills, formerly known as Creative Skillset, is the industry-led skills body for the UK’s screen industries – animation, film, games, television including children’s TV and high-end drama, VFX and immersive technology. We work across the whole of the country to ensure that UK screen has access now, and in the future, to the skills and talent needed for continued success.
