Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Antonia Bird: Bye bye Bird

by Michael Roberts

On Friday, I am going to the funeral of Antonia Bird who died of cancer last week.  Antonia was a great British stage, film and TV director, making several riveting Hollywood movies.  But more important, she was an exciting and class conscious director of both fiction and non-fiction drama.  Here are some obituaries.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/28/antonia-bird
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/28/antonia-bird-film-maker-death
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comment/obituaries/antonia-bird-1951-2013

And Antonia was a committed socialist, something omitted from most accounts of her life, and yet central to her motivations. She made several great movies, but the one I Iiked a lot was Hamburg Cell, the best account and explanation of the motives and actions of the 9/11 bombers.

I was honoured to have been her friend, along with husband Ian, and comrade.
Bye , bye, Bird.

Michael Roberts

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