Don't you just hate it when you're left out - of your own party?

The Birds Eye View film festival, which celebrates the work of female film-makers, has decided to have its closing night party in an inaccessible venue - even though one of the women it features is disabled.

Not one to be a party pooper, film-maker Liz Crow and her friends have decided to hold their own celebration on the pavement outside the Café de Paris in Coventry Street on Sunday evening, while the rest of the festival crowd will be inside quaffing champagne. Messages of solidarity have apparently poured in from as far afield as Chicago and will be read out at the 'alternative' party, in the hope of making festival organisers splutter into their drinks.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Birds Eye View said they had meant to hold the party at an accessible venue, but had to change it at the last minute for "various unforeseen and unavoidable reasons", leaving them without the time or budget to find somewhere suitable. It acknowledged the Café de Paris was a listed building with "unavoidable stairs", but said café staff would be on hand to assist wheelchair users.