Naomi Ackie, the British star of Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, talks to Anna Smith about preparing for her portrayal of the musical icon. Ackie has been longlisted for a BAFTA Film Award for Leading Actress for her extraordinary performance. She explains how important it was to her that the audience was being shown a side of Houston that perhaps they hadn’t seen before, particularly with her same-sex relationship with her girl friend Robyn Crawford. They also discuss the importance of having a female director, Kasi Lemmons, at the helm with the involvement of Whitney Houston’s long-time producer Clive Davis, who is played by Stanley Tucci.

Anna is also joined by Vanja Kaludjercic, the director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, giving insight into the 2023 programme and what it is that makes this film festival special. Vanja and Anna talk diversity, inclusion and internationalism within film and film festivals, and Vanja also picks out a few of this year’s highlights. Vanja also talks about why she has invited Girls On Film to return for the third time in January 2023 to record a live podcast episode – check back soon for that episode.

You can listen to the episode here.

This week is all about horror as we’re joined by film critic Clarisse Loughrey. She joins Anna to share her thoughts on gender and female identity in the contemporary horror genre, particularly through the new Spanish horror film Piggy.

Piggy stars Laura Galán as Sara, an overweight teen in rural small town Spain, whose bullying at the hands of the ‘in crowd’ takes a turn when a stranger arrives. Piggy’s writer and director, filmmaker Carlota Pereda, speaks to Anna about her motivations behind making the film, as an embodiment of her own personal fears and her filmic inspirations.

You can listen to the episode here.

When Mark Kermode, feminist ally of Girls On Film, and one of the UK’s top film critics, expressed a wish to come on the Girls On Film podcast, Anna Smith asked listeners in an online poll which recent films they would like the two of them to discuss on the show.

They discuss two recent films, beginning with a Don’t Worry Darling review. **SPOILER ALERT** from 11:01 they move into spoiler territory, so skip to 18:36 if you’d like to avoid that. They then discuss The Woman King, as well as the winner of the Sight and Sound poll of the top 100 films of all time, Jeanne Dielman; why awards matter, the sense and nonsense of making lists of favourite films, and whether the film industry is making advances where gender parity is concerned.

You can listen to the episode here.

Gillian Anderson, Kate Hudson & Kathryn Hahn join Anna Smith to talk about their new films hitting Netflix. The always brilliant Gillian Anderson delves into her career in the industry, and the changes she has seen for women. She speaks about her character process and how she approached her distinctive role in the new Netflix mystery The Pale Blue Eye, a murder mystery starring Christian Bale and Harry Melling as a young Edgar Allen Poe. 
Also the hilarious Kate Hudson and

Kathryn Hahn chat to Anna about their full circle of working together, most recently on Glass Onion, the brilliant follow up to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out in which Detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a new whodunnit.

You can listen to the episode here.

Lila Neugebauer, the director of Jennifer Lawrence’s new film Causeway, joins Anna Smith to discuss the film, which is available on AppleTV+ now. Lila chats in-depth about the journey of the characters in the film, and her own from theatre director to film director. She discusses her admiration for the filmmakers who influenced her, who share an economy in their use of cinematic language – and she gives us an “invitation to patience” with her work.

Causeway is a beautifully nuanced film, written by Ottessa Moshfeg, Luke Goebel and Elizabeth Sanders. It features a fantastic central performance by Jennifer Lawrence as Lynsey, a soldier who is recovering after an explosion in Afghanistan. Heading home to New Orleans, she struggles to reconnect with her mother and ends up forming a friendship with a mechanic called James, brilliantly played by Brian Tyree Henry.

You can listen to the episode here.

Sally El Hosaini joins Anna Smith to discuss her new film The Swimmers and to talk in-depth about compassion and empathy in her work, her filmmaking as a political act, and her journey to become a director. Anna also speaks with the stars of the film, real-life siblings, Nathalie and Manal Issa, as well as one of the women who inspired the film, Yusra Mardini. They talk about their shared experience of being displaced from their homes, and the special relationship between sisters.

Based on a true story, The Swimmers follows sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini from their war-torn Syrian home via Germany to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Over the course of their harrowing journey as refugees they put their skills as champion swimmers to heroic use, and this becomes their saving grace. The girls’ story is an uplifting and inspiring look at sisterhood, compassion, bravery and the refugee experience.

You can find the episode here.