Girls On Film hits the Cannes Film Festival with an episode recorded at the UK Film Centre in front of an industry audience.

Our guest film critics Leslie Felperin and Ella Kemp review Cannes releases by female directors, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu, 2019), Atlantique (2019) and Little Joe (2019). They also discuss the opening film, The Dead Don’t Die (2019) as well as Cannes classic We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011).

 Melissa Silverstein and Delphyne Besse join Anna to discuss activism at Cannes and beyond.

BAFTA-winning writer/director Amma Asante joins Anna Smith and Wendy Lloyd, film critic and reviewer for the British Psychological Society magazine – and Angie Errigo, film critic, broadcaster and contributing editor of Empire magazine, for a special episode in front of an audience at The AllBright Club Mayfair.

Asante talks about her new film, Where Hands Touch (2019), as well as her career, inspirations and being a film director in the age of Time’s Up.

Films reviewed include Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Woman At War (2019); while the panel discuss research conducted by Wendy Lloyd around critical responses to the sexual violence in Red Sparrow (2018).

Films put to the Bechdel Test range from Claire Denis’ High Life (2019) to Dragged Across Concrete (2018), while audience questions bring out fascinating issues around gender, film and bias.

Episode 10 combines studio interviews with Eighth Grade (2018) director Bo Burnham (our first male interviewee) and Madeline’s Madeline director Josephine Decker, with reviews of these titles by the panel, who this month are Total Film’s Jane Crowther and BBC’s Rhianna Dhillon.

The panel also reviews Us (2019), and puts The Pajama Game (1957), Dirty Dancing (1987), Bend it Like Beckham (2002), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Whiplash (2014) and Greta (2018) to the Bechdel Test.

Recorded live at HOME in Manchester, this episode also features lively audience contributions.  

Anna welcomes Mia Bays (Birds Eye View), Eve Gabereau (Modern Films), Akua Gyamfi (The British Blacklist) and actor Muna Otaru (The Keeping Room) to a special live recording at the famous Annabel’s nightclub in association with FiXX.

Together they talk about how activism in film distribution can significantly change the media landscape. Films reviewed include Jellyfish (2018) and The Breaker Upperers (2018), while those put to the Bechdel Test range from Back To The Future (1985) to The Phantom Thread (2017). Given the venue, the panel discuss their favourite nightclub movies too.

Episode 8 is the first in a series of episodes recorded live at HOME in Manchester, where Anna is joined by Miranda Sawyer, writer, broadcaster and cultural commentator who does a weekly film score show on BBC Six Music – and Francine Stock, presenter of The Film Programme on BBC Radio 4.

Together they review Barbarella (1968), Colette (2018) and Out of Blue (2018). Audience questions raise the topic of working–class women in films, while films put to the Bechdel Test include If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Isle Of Dogs (2018) and Frozen (2013).

An International Women’s Day Captain Marvel Special!

Brie Larsen and Lashana Lynch join Anna to talk about Captain Marvel (2019), the first stand-alone female superhero movie in the Marvel universe. Topics include female friendship, diversity in criticism, cleavage shots and cat allergies.

Anna welcomes back critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh to review the film.

Recorded live at the Glasgow Film Festival, Anna welcomes Observer critic Simran Hans, GFF’s Programme Director Allison Gardner and Dirty God (2019) director Sacha Polak.

The panel has a lively discussion about GFF release Wild Rose (2018), new release The Kindergarten Teacher (2018), and debates the charms of Bill Murray in GFF cult classic Ghostbusters (1984).

The films that are put to the test in the Bechdel Test segment, range from Thelma & Louise (1991) to Minding the Gap (2018).

Plus audience Q&A, and news on the Bumble Female Film Force.

Recorded live at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Anna is joined by Dana Linssen and Tara Judah.

This episode features our first Bechdel Test segment, and we review Festival Films Dirty God (2019), Happy as Lazzaro ( Lazzaro Felice; 2018) and Romantic Comedy (2019), as well as current releases The Favourite (2018) and Capernaum (2018). There’s a lively debate with the audience about gender and film criticism.

In our fourth episode, Anna is joined by Kate Stables and Steph Watts of The Bechdel Test Fest who exclusively reveal the results of their poll, which asked female film critics to select the best films of 2018.

The show features a discussion of Oscar contender Roma (2018) and an interview with star Marina de Tavira, as well as an interview with Kathryn Hahn and Tamara Jenkins about the Netflix original Private Life (2018).

Episode 3 is a Time’s Up special in which Anna is joined in the studio by actor Andrea Riseborough, whose new film Nancy (2018) comes from an all-female crew, and Birds Eye View’s Mia Bays, who champions the diverse UK musical Been So Long. They discuss female roles, the pay gap, sisterhood and more.

Anna interviews actor Carey Mulligan about feminism, body image and playing against type in the period film Wildlife (2018).