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WHAT WE SAY

My Eyes are Up Here is sharp, fresh and utterly believable with very well written dialogue and realistic characterisation. The film is very much autobiographical, and while it may have made the main character an in-demand New York model to fit with the excellent casting, it does not balk at the prejudice she faces as a non-white wheelchair user. Aminder’s journey with this project has been long and we are very impressed with her perseverance and patience with it as well as her resilience and creativity.

BIO

Aminder Virdee is an artist, arts and community justice facilitator, writer and creator; intersectional disability inclusion and access consultant; and speaker with 15 years of experience; and a Trustee at disability-led live music accessibility organisation Attitude is Everything. She is also the founder of Disabled Intersectional Voices in the Arts (DIVA) and co-founder of Cripjoy, both disabled BIPOC-led communities of practice. Aminder’s dedication to disability campaigns led to her receiving the Merrill Lynch Local Hero Award in 2012. Her art and audiovisual works have been exhibited, performed and screened internationally across many galleries, venues, and festivals, such as the European Film Festival and The National Gallery X, where she was mentioned as “one of the most underrepresented radical artists of our time.” Her work has been featured in the BFl’s International Film Magazine Sight and Sound’s Winter special as one of four artists in the ‘best of 2021’s experimental cinema’. Recently, Aminder has also been channelling her creativity into filmmaking. She is the Creator, Co-Writer, Director’s Attachment, and Consultant for the short film My Eyes Are Up Here (funded by BFI NETWORK and BBC), which draws from her complex lived experiences. The short film has received recognition from over 20 prestigious international film festivals, including the BFI London Film Festival 2022, the London Short Film Festival 2023, TriBeCa Film Festival 2023 (NYC), and Sundance Film Festival 2023 (London). The film has also been shortlisted for awards across many film festivals, most recently being honoured with the “Woman’s Voice Award” and the “Best of the Festival Award” at the BIFA-qualifying Beeston Film Festival.