To mark International Women’s Day, we screen a documentary looking at one of Britain’s most significant female filmmakers. This biographical documentary celebrates the trail-blazing career of Antonia Bird, the first British woman to direct a Hollywood movie, who died in 2013. It explores her fight to get her voice heard, to break through the barriers against her gender and her politics, and to bring a radical edge to popular drama. Through intimate interviews with her closest collaborators including Robert Carlyle, Kate Hardie, Mark Cousins and Irvine Welsh, Scottish director Susan Kemp reveals the secrets behind Antonia’s greatest work.
The screening will be followed by a discussion around Antonia Bird's career, and the place of women filmmakers working today, with the film's director Susan Kemp, alongside Lou McLoughlin (16 Years Til Summer) and Andrea Gibb (Swallows and Amazons), chaired by Noe Mendelle from the Scottish Documentary Institute.