This month marked the 80th edition of the MK3D show at the BFI Southbank! The show featured three fantastic guests; filmmaker Nina Menkes, actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar, and actress Jenny Seagrove.
Mark opened the show with Ask the Audience, where he received questions about Cannes and which TV shows he thinks would make good feature films, and vice versa.
The first guest was Nina Menkes, whose new documentary Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power explores the male gaze in cinema and its impact on wider society. Nina’s work is featured in an upcoming BFI season, Cinematic Sorceress: The Films Of Nina Menkes. She went on to discuss her guilty pleasure, which much to Mark’s delight was William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, explaining why she regards the film as feminist.
Next on stage was actor Sanjeev Bhaskar, who spoke about his role playing DI Sunil Khan in the hit TV series Unforgotten, which can be streamed on ITVX. Sanjeev then went on to talk about a performance that had a significant influence on him, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, explaining that he watched it as a child and it was the first time he was aware he was watching something that was crafted. This film contains acting, writing and directing at its purest. Next, he enthused about the best TV series he’s seen in a long time: The Offer, on the making of The Godfather.
Last to join Mark on stage was actress Jenny Seagrove, who spoke about the heart-warming film Local Hero, which is returning to select UK cinemas to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Jenny then talked about her role in The Guardian, about playing Chris MacNeil in the stage version of The Exorcist, as well as discussing a significant performance to her: Celia Johnson’s exquisite performance in David Lean’s Brief Encounter.
Mark closed the show with Sound and Vision, paying homage to the music of the great late Little Richard in Frank Tashlin’s The Girl Can’t Help It. There are two documentaries about the influential rock pioneer on release at the moment: Little Richard: I am Everything in cinemas now, and Little Richard: The King and Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll on BBC iPlayer.
