Bird's Eye View is back

Its not just a Birds Eye View: its a window on the world, with films from Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, India, Israel, Mozambique and Pakistan.

After the initial screenings in London (6-14 March), the films from women all over the world will go on a UK tour.

The festival's documentary section includes:

* Operation Filmmaker which charts American actor Liev Schreibers attempt to take an Iraqi film student to intern on a Hollywood movie, which has unintended consequences and ends in a power struggle between filmmaker and subject.

* The Devil Came on Horseback is a documentary set in Darfur that focuses on a US Marine who originally went to Sudan as a military observer working for the African Union but left to become a witness to the conflict that has claimed an estimated 400,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people

* Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, a six-part journey that takes a personal approach to female life in the 21st century, including intimate conversations around kitchen tables in South Africa, Russia, India and Pakistan

* 4 Elements, a meditation on mankind's connection to the natural world that features a Siberian "smokejumper" camp; a king crab fishing expedition in Alaska; German miners and space shuttle preparations in Russia and Kazakhstan.

The development charity ActionAid is sponsoring a number of films:

* The Blood of Yingzhou District is a documentary about a Chinese AIDS orphan who reveals his ferocious resolve to live while his extended family weighs whether or not to keep him

* Dinner with the President, a personal journey through Pakistan that explores a country markedly different from the images projected by the international media

* Three Times Divorced : documentary about a Palestinian woman who is divorced by her Israeli Arab husband and left with nothing not even her six children and begins a battle against the Sharia court, which always rules in favour of the husband, and against the state, in an effort to gain a temporary permit to stay in Israel in a shelter for abused women, while fighting for custody of her children

* Sleepwalking Land, a heart-rending, fantastical tale set in Mozambique

* Journey of a Red Fridge follows a 17-year-old boy hired to carry a huge red Coca-Cola refrigerator to the nearest Himalayan town

* Lakshmi & Me explores the life of a 21-year-old housemaid in Mumbai who works 10 hours a day, seven days a week: the filming has its own impact on unfolding events and on the relationship between the filmmaker and the maid

* View from a Grain of Sand is a journey through 30 years of Afghanistan's history as lived by three Afghan women, a doctor, teacher and social activist .

The organiser say Birds Eye View "is a unique platform for women filmmakers. Backed by leading lights of the film industry, it is a positive response to the fact that women make up only 7 per cent directors and 12 per cent of writers in what is the most powerful medium in the world. We are concerned with womens creative vision in film, and want to see more of it.

"In 2005 we launched a major UK womens film festival. This has been a storming success, proving the wealth of talent and potential that women bring to film.

"We believe that it is vital to the health and diversity of UK film that we raise role models, offer support and provide a forum for women in the industry, whilst encouraging the next generation to break new ground. As well as inspiring more women to write and direct their own work, we are also educating audiences about the importance of diversity in film, and through our extensive press & publicity and accessible events, we are widening the audiences for women-made films and world cinema."