In this episode, Anna Smith welcomes film critic Corrina Antrobus back to Girls On Film to discuss her brand new book, I Love Romcoms and I am a Feminist: A Manifesto in 100 Romcoms. Anna is also joined by film critic Jo-Ann Titmarsh who shares her highlights direct from the Venice International Film Festival.

First up, Corrina begins by discussing two Girls On Film romcom favourites – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and She’s Gotta Have It, which both feature in our pod’s intro jingle. She highlights the romcoms that have often been overlooked in the genre, as well as the underlying feminism of the popular, mainstream romcoms which are often dismissed as anti-feminist. Corrina also notes the importance of diverse representation and some of the challenges of finding examples of trans romances in the romcom genre, but that by pushing for change, she has hope that things will change. **Note that there are mild spoilers for classic romcoms in this segment.**

Next up, Jo-Ann shares the exciting buzz of this year’s Venice International Film Festival and discusses her festival favourites. She notes how this year’s fest consists of all-out glamour and fabulous women rocking the red carpet and discusses her film highlights, including her top performances by women including Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and Angelina Jolie. She notes the films to look out for, and ends by discussing the long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice.

Films mentioned in this episode:
Wolfs (Jon Watts)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks) – Rent on Google Play, Apple TV, Prime Video
She’s Gotta Have It (Spike Lee) – Netflix
Rye Lane (Raine Allen Miller) – DisneyPlus
Palm Springs (Max Barbakow) – Prime Video
While You Were Sleeping (Jon Turteltaub) – DisneyPlus
Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall) – DisneyPlus
Magic Mike XXL (Gregory Jacobs) – Prime Video, Apple TV
Kissing Jessica Stein (Charles Herman-Wurmfeld) – Rent on YouTube, Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play
But I’m a Cheerleader (Jamie Babbit) – Prime Video
Happiest Season (Clea DuVall) – Rent on YouTube, Prime Video
The Room Next Door (Pedro Almodovar) – Releases 25 October 2024
Babygirl (Halina Reijn). Releases 10 January 2025
Maria (Pablo Larraín)
I’m Still Here (Walter Salles)
Familiar Touch (Sarah Friedland)
Queer (Luca Guadagnino)
The Wire (created by David Simon) – Sky, NowTV
The Office (US version developed by Greg Daniels) – Netflix, Sky, NowTV, Prime Video
Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu) – DisneyPlus
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Tim Burton) – In cinemas
Beetlejuice (Tim Burton) – Netflix, Prime Video
Firebrand (Karim Aïnouz) – In cinemas
His Three Daughters (Azazel Jacobs) – In cinemas
Lee (Ellen Kuras) – In cinemas
The Queen of My Dreams (Fawzia Mirza) – Releases 13 September 2024

You can listen to the podcast here.

You can buy Corrina Antrobus’s book I Love Romcoms and I am a Feminist: A Manifesto in 100 Romcoms at most book retailers including Waterstones, Blackwells, WH Smith and Amazon.

Zoë Kravitz joins Anna Smith to discuss her directorial debut, Blink Twice, while Anna also reports from the 2024 Edinburgh International Film Festival, where she speaks with Daisy-May Hudson about her feature debut, Lollipop.

First up, Anna welcomes actor turned writer, director and producer Zoë Kravitz, best known for her roles in ‘The Batman’ and in TV series ‘Big Little Lies’ and ‘High Fidelity’, onto the podcast. With Anna, Zoë discusses the feminist messaging in her slick thriller ‘Blink Twice’. She talks about casting the wonderful Naomi Ackie as Frida, a cocktail waitress who catches the eye of tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) and is transported to his private island for sundrenched luxury, or so she thinks… Zoë also tells Anna about the writing process behind ‘Blink Twice’, originally titled ‘Pussy Island’, reveals her relief at turning up to set as the director without having to worry about what she looks like, and describes her approach to capturing women on camera to produce a disturbing and believable depiction of gender and power among the megarich.

Next up, Anna reports from Edinburgh International Film Festival, where Girls On Film partners on the festival’s Closing Night sçreening of the powerful feminist music documentary, ‘Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands’. Anna catches up with first-time feature director Daisy-May Hudson whose film ‘Lollipop’ is a heartbreaking but hopeful depiction of a mother (Posy Sterling) who battles to regain custody of her children after coming out of prison. Daisy-May speaks about the fierce maternal love of her protagonist Molly, what happens when children are required to parent, as well as the challenges faced by a first time director. Plus: karaoke as a symbol of working class joy!

Anna also hears from Karen Needham and Col Needham from the IMDb, plus director of the BFI’s filmmaking fund Mia Bays and costume designer Rachael Fleming about their highlights from the EIFF 2024. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes of Girls On Film as we move into autumn and host Anna Smith heads to Sea Change Film Festival 2024.

Find out about their festival, dedicated to women in film here.

Films mentioned in this episode:
Timestalker – Alice Lowe
Xibalba Monster – Manuela Irene
Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands – Blair Young, Carla J Easton
Blink Twice – Zoë Kravitz
Rosemary’s Baby – Roman Polanski
To Kill A Wolf – Kesley Taylor
Sunlight – Nina Conti
Lollipop – Daisy-May Hudson

Blink Twice was released in the UK by Warner Bros. Pictures on 23rd August, 2024

Lollipop had is world premiere at the 77th edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival (on August 20th).

Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands will hit UK cinemas from 18th October and Glasgow girl band Sophisticated Boom Boom will reform for one night only at a special screening of the film in Glasgow on the night of the release.

You can listen to the podcast here.

For our 180th episode, Girls On Film gets the festival buzz at Latitude in front of a live audience! First up we hear from host Anna Smith as she boogies to the song ‘Girls On Film’ sung by one of the Latitude headliners, Duran Duran! Plus, Anna had the chance to meet some band members after the show.

Also in this episode, Anna is joined by Rachel Ramsay, the co-director of Copa 71, to discuss her brilliant documentary on the scandalously overlooked Women’s World Cup which took place in Mexico City in April 1971.

With Anna, Rachel discusses the process of uncovering this compelling forgotten story and reaching out to the women from Argentina, Mexico, Denmark, France, England and Italy who played in the tournament to participate in the doc. Rachel shares some of the triumphs and challenges of creating a multilingual documentary that positions older women as subjects. She also talks about the ‘archaeologist’s mission’ of scouring the archives to bring Copa 71 to the big screen.

Copa 71 can be seen in an abridged version on BBC iPlayer.

Listeners in the UK can stream it in full on iTunes, Sky, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, BFI Player, Virgin and Dogwoof on demand.

Other films mentioned:
Copa 71
Bend it Like Beckham
Calendar Girls

You can listen to the podcast here.

Anna Smith speaks to director Susan Seidelman about her highly anticipated new memoir, Desperately Seeking Something, as well as Rosanna Arquette, who starred in Seidelman’s 1985 cult classic, Desperately Seeking Susan.

Anna begins by speaking to Susan Seidelman about her memoir and her recollections of working with Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. Susan talks about the explosion of Madonna’s stardom during filming, sharing some of her cherished memories from that time. She reflects on the enduring cultural impact of Desperately Seeking Susan as well as more broadly on her career.

Next, Anna speaks to Rosanna Arquette about her memories of starring in Desperately Seeking Susan. Rosanna talks about the celebrated female friendship between her and Madonna’s much-loved characters in the film, and how that translated into their off-screen friendship, sharing some of her hilarious highlights of working with Madonna. Rosanna also talks about the Time’s Up movement, discussing her powerful allyship with the other women who were amongst the first to speak out against Harvey Weinstein, and sharing insights into the monumental impact that it had on her life.

Susan Seidelman’s memoir Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir about Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls is published by Macmillan Publishers and is available online and in bookstores in the US, and through Amazon and Blackwells in the UK.

UK Blackwells:
tinyurl.com/4xfnn8ud

UK Amazon:
tinyurl.com/2z6uakkt

US Macmillan:
tinyurl.com/3z8hnp9c

US Amazon:
tinyurl.com/26ub6sas

Trigger warning: The interview with Rosanna Arquette in this episode contains potentially upsetting conversations relating to Harvey Weinstein. This episode also contains very strong language.

Other films mentioned:
Desperately Seeking Susan
Smithereens
After Hours
Basic Instinct
Thelma and Louise
Midnight Cowboy
The Graduate
Sex and the City
The Sopranos
She Devil
Baby It’s You
The Linguini Incident
Searching for Debra Winger

You can listen to the podcast here.

In this episode, Anna Smith speaks to the creators behind Prime Video’s new series, My Lady Jane, including creator/writer Gemma Burgess and writer Meredith Glynn, as well as the executive producer of My Lady Jane, the legendary Laurie MacDonald.

Anna begins by speaking to Gemma Burgess and Meredith Glynn about the creation of the series, including the inspiration they found in their shared love of films from the 80s and 90s, and how keen they were to bring the playful tone of those films into the series. They discuss their exciting revisionist approach to history and the importance of the representation of women both behind and in front of the camera.

Next, Anna speaks to Laurie MacDonald, who was the co-head of Amblin Entertainment and the co-president of DreamWorks, and together with her husband has produced the Men in Black series, Gladiator, Minority Report, and The Trial of Chicago 7, as well as American Beauty and Free Solo. They talk about what first attracted her to adapt the book, about the depiction of women through a female gaze, and the way that the production celebrates diversity. She speaks more broadly about how things have changed for women in both the industry and gender dynamics and offers advice to listeners who are looking to work in the film industry.

Thank you to our partners for this episode, Prime Video.

My Lady Jane will be available on 27 June 2024.

Other films and television series mentioned:

The Boys (Eric Kripke)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon)
Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson, Ben Elton, Richard Curtis)
The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner)
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (Kevin Reynolds)
Ladyhawke (Richard Donner)
A Knight’s Tale (Brian Helgeland)
Shakespeare in Love (John Madden)
Romeo and Juliet (Baz Luhrmann)
Lady Jane (Trevor Nunn)
Bridgerton (Chris Van Dusen)
Still Star-Crossed (Heather Mitchell)
Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis)
Clueless (Amy Heckerling)
Crocodile Dundee (Peter Faiman)
Broken Arrow (John Woo)
Young Guns II (Geoff Murphy)
Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke)
My So-Called Life (Winnie Holzman)
Men in Black series (Barry Sonnenfeld)
Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)
Trial of the Chicago Seven (Aaron Sorkin)
American Beauty (Sam Mendes)
Free Solo (Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi)

You can listen to the podcast here.

In this episode of Girls On Film, Anna Smith highlights some feminist favourites from Sundance London Film Festival. She catches up with director Shuchi Talati, whose debut feature Girls Will Be Girls follows headgirl Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) as she strives to get As in the classroom and the bedroom, and struggles with a third-wheeling mother (Kani Kusruti). Anna is joined by Shuchi as well as lead actress Preeti Panigrahi as they reflect on women’s filmmaking in India, reveal how they tackled intimacy on set together, and share Shuchi’s initiative Undercurrent, a scheme to train women to work in the lighting department on film sets in India.

Next up, Anna hears from the singer turned actress Maisy Stella, who stars opposite Aubrey Plaza in Megan Park’s My Old Ass. The pair chat about what attracted Maisy to the role of 18 year old Elliott, who meets her 39 year old self while tripping on magic mushrooms and has to deal with the consequences of knowing how her teenage decisions will impact her later life. Maisy recalls the refreshing nature of Park’s script, which portrays a queer lead without feeling tokenistic or trite.

Finally, Anna chats to Vicky Krieps about starring in Viggo Mortensen’s new feminist western, The Dead Don’t Hurt. She talks with Anna about ‘becoming your own department’ when your co-star is also the director, and Viggo speaks about the inspiration behind the character of Vivienne. Vicky also dispels some of the myths of progress in the film industry, while acknowledging the importance of portraying women like Vivienne in The Dead Don’t Hurt in order to move towards a more feminist cinema, but also a more feminist film set.

The Dead Don’t Hurt is in UK and Irish cinemas now.

Girls Will Be Girls will be in UK and Irish cinemas on 20 September 2024.

Follow Girls On Film on social media to see release updates for My Old Ass.

Other films mentioned:

Flowervale Street (David Robert Mitchell)
The Fallout (Megan Park)
Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)
Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson)
Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
Falling (Viggo Mortensen)

Find out more about Undercurrent below:
www.undercurrentfilmlab.com/

You can listen to the podcast here.

This episode of Girls On Film comes from Cannes, where Anna Smith speaks to Jane Crowther and Wendy Mitchell about their Film Festival highlights. Anna hosts the very first Girls On Film party at The Members Club, and speaks to some of the guests about their work at the festival and which films they’ve enjoyed.

First up, Anna takes us through the soundscape of Cannes and walks the red carpet for Emilia Perez. Anna joins the Women in Film and TV yacht party, to hear CEO Katie Bailiff’s speech, before heading to MUBI’s beach party. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Then Anna invites film journalists Jane Crowther and Wendy Mitchell to discuss the films they’ve seen in Cannes so far, which include Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Megalopolis, The Girl With the Needle and On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, as well as Andrea Arnold’s Bird, Wild Diamond, and feminist comedy horror The Balconettes.

Jane talks about her new role as editor-in-chief of Hollywood Authentic, a new luxury, glossy magazine, and Wendy discusses her portfolio of projects including the upcoming Sundance London, and San Sebastian Film Festivals.

Wendy and Anna are both on the Palm Dog judging panel for Best Canine on screen, so naturally the conversation turns to the various dogs in films at Cannes. They also discuss the impact of #MeToo and Time’s Up, and recent changes at the Cannes Film Festival, including the arrival of signs stating that harassment won’t be tolerated.

Finally, we join Anna at The Members Club for Girls On Film’s own Cannes party. We hear from a few of the guests, who include Akua Gyamfi of The British Blacklist and Dame Heather Rabbats of Time’s Up, who talk about the launch of their new initiative around appropriate hair and makeup for diverse requirements on set. Anna also speaks to Nicole Weis of IFC Films, producer and comedienne Ronni Ancona, director Rachel Ramsay, and The Girl With the Needle co-writer Line Langebek Knudsen, and our wonderful supporter, IMDb founder Col Needham.

With special thanks to our sponsors for the party, Rebecca Hawkes at Elstree Studios, HLA Agency, Col Needham at IMDb, and JoJo Dye at JJD Consulting.

And with gratitude to our lovely partners for this episode, Vanessa Smith and Peter Brewer, for their continuing support of the podcast.

Other films mentioned in this episode:

Anatomy of a Fall. (Justine Triet, 2023)
Black Dog (George Jaques, 2023)
Saltburn (Emerald Fennell, 2023)
Santosh (Sandhya Suri, 2024)
The Second Act (Quentin Dupieux, 2024)
The Surfer (Lorcan Finnegan, 2024)
When the Light Breaks (Rúnar Rúnarsson, 2024)

You can listen to the podcast here.

In this episode of Girls On Film, Anna Smith talks about the recent Cinema for Gaza auction with two of the women behind the initiative, Helen Simmons and Julia Jackman, and she reviews some imminent releases with film critic Rhianna Dhillon and film journalist and programmer Cici Peng.

First up Anna speaks with Rhianna Dhillon about Italian box-office hit C’è ancora domani or There’s Still Tomorrow. They discuss the representation of domestic violence in this neorealist-style debut from Paola Cortellesi, and pick up on the film’s surprisingly hopeful feel. Next up they discuss The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling as a stunt-double and Emily Blunt as a blockbuster director, which is out in UK cinemas on 2 May 2024.

A recent auction raised over £260,000 for Medical Aid for Palestinians or MAP, a charity currently working in Gaza to provide immediate medical aid to those in great need. The auction was an initiative led by film critics Hanna Flint, Leila Latif, and Sophie Monks Kaufman who teamed up with publicist Hannah Farr, and filmmakers Julia Jackman and Helen Simmons. Anna talks with Helen and Julia about the initiative, who also share some insights into the highest-earning lots, which included Annie Lennox’s handwritten lyrics to 1983 hit Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).

Finally, Anna is joined by film journalist and programmer Cici Peng, who shares her thoughts on Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding, and Léa Seydoux’s performance in the upcoming film The Beast. Cici also speaks about her recent archival work to create a programme of hidden gems at Queer East Festival, which showcases queer cinema from East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora.

Films mentioned in this episode:

There’s Still Tomorrow / C’è ancora domani (Paola Cortellesi, 2024)
The Fall Guy (David Leitch, 2024)
Jungle Cruise (Jaume Collet-Serral, 2021)
The Devil Wears Prada (David Frankel, 2006)
Ordinary Angels (Jon Gunn, 2024)
Hoard (Luna Carmoon, 2024)
Abigail (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, 2024)
Bonus Track (Julia Jackman, 2024)
Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass, 2024)
The Beast / La bête (Bertrand Bonello, 2024)
The River / He liu (Tsai Ming-liang, 1997)
Bye Bye Love / Baibai rabu (Isao Fujisawa, 1974)

You can buy Cinema for Gaza merchandise until 7 May 2024 via the links below:
www.weareprintsocial.com/campaigns/ci…a-for-gaza-2
www.weareprintsocial.com/campaigns/cinema-for-gaza

You can listen to the podcast here.

In this episode of Girls On Film we give you a flavour of the third Girls On Film Awards, our annual celebration of women in film which this year took place at our new home, Regent Street Cinema in London.

We launched the awards to celebrate excellence in women-focused films, and to honour women and non-binary filmmakers.

Girls On Film provides an inclusive platform for the voices of diverse women and people of marginalised genders, and we have a mission: to bring about industry-wide change, and to work toward equal representation of women in the film industry: on screen, and behind the camera.

As the saying goes: “if she can see it, she can be it”, and that’s why shining a light on the great work women are making can make a real difference.

Girls On Film host Anna Smith and co-founder Hedda Lornie Archbold hosted the awards together, and were joined by a stellar group of presenters to give out the awards, including Monica Dolan, Ronni Ancona, Sarah Gavron, Mia Bays, Col Needham, Mark Kermode, Nitin Sawhney and more.

The mics didn’t pick up all the sound as well as we’d hoped – but the pod conveys the great atmosphere in the room.

We hope you enjoy the awards!

For a full list of the nominees and winners, you can find the press release on the HLA Website:
hlaagency.co.uk/category/projects…s-on-film-awards/

Contributors to this episode include:
Ronni Ancona
Anthony Andrews
Teanne Andrews
Blair Barnette
Mia Bays
Suzie Davies
Charlotte Dirickx
Monica Dolan
Jacqueline Durran
Melanie Iredale
Ayo Edebiri
Kathryn Ferguson
Jo Fernihough
Kerry Fox
Sarah Gavron
Sarah Greenwood
Priya Kansara
Mark Kermode
Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Molly Manning Walker
Nida Manzoor
Col Needham
William Oldroyd
Rose Ryan
Nitin Sawhney
D. Smith
Katie Spencer
Holly Waddington
Paris Zarcilla

Films and television series mentioned in this episode are:
ALL OF US STRANGERS
AMERICAN FICTION
ANATOMY OF A FALL
ANOTHER BODY
BARBIE
THE BEAR
BOTTOMS
BRICK LANE
EILEEN
THE ETERNAL MEMORY
FAIR PLAY
THE FALLING
FILMSTARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL
HOW TO HAVE SEX
JOY RIDE
KOKOMO CITY
LADY MACBETH
MR BATES AND THE POST OFFICE
NOTHING COMPARES
NYAD
PAST LIVES
POLITE SOCIETY
POOR THINGS
THE POWER
PREVENGE
PRIDE
PRISCILLA
RAGING GRACE
RETURN TO SEOUL
ROCKS
RYE LANE
SALTBURN
SCRAPPER
SUFFRAGETTE
TILL
TYPIST ARTIST PIRATE KING
W1A
YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
THE ZONE OF INTEREST

You can listen to the podcast here.