A BIRDS EYE VIEW...

Today is International Women's Day which I had never even heard of until I lived in Italy. On this particular day men kept coming up to me in the street, handing me sprigs of mimosa and saying congratulations. I blogged nostalgically (and somewhat bitterly!) about it here. But come on, congratulations on being a woman. No wonder it never really caught the public imagination over here, what with our mammas not being quite so revered.

But! The Birds Eye View Film Festival celebrates women in film. Clowning Glories looks at women in film before 1930 and Screwball Women at comediennes of Hollywood. But it's not just the acting; screenwriters and directors are also featured, many, let's face it - most - whose work has been forgotten over the years.

But ze best I have saved for last. Tomorrow at the ICA, as part of the festival, is Fashion Films. They'll show one of the short films Bella Freud and John Malkovich made together (I don't know which one). Then Wendybird, the short Ellen von Unwerth made for Erin Fetherston starring Kirsten Dunst (the photo above is a still from it.) Then there's a panel discussion about how fashion and film work together chaired by Penny Martin from showstudio. The panel: Bella Freud, Toyin and (every fashion bloggers' favourite) photographer Wendy Bevan.

If you can't get to the ICA you can watch the very charming little film Wendybird here.

Oops, I almost forgot: Mimosa per tutte le donne, from flickrers around the world...