January saw the 76th MK3D show at the BFI. Mark Kermode was joined by fantastic guests to talk about all things film: PINOCCHIO directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, TO LESLIE star Andrea Riseborough, and ALICE, DARLING director Mary Nighy.

The first guest on stage was Andrea Riseborough, an actress known for her roles in POSSESSOR (2020) and ROALD DAHL’S MATILDA THE MUSICAL (2022), who came to talk about her Oscar-tipped role in TO LESLIE. She went on to discuss her guilty pleasure, THE RULING CLASS (1972).

Next, Mark was joined by director Mary Nighy to talk about her new film ALICE, DARLING which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2022. The film stars Anna Kendrick as Alice, alongside Kaniehtiio Horn, Wunmi Mosaku, and Charlie Carrick, and is out in cinemas now. Mary talked to Mary Nighy about working with Anna Kendrick on conveying a specific tone in the film, and the importance of portraying a realistic vision of female friendship.

Mark then paid tribute to those in the industry we recently lost; Gina Lollobrigida and Mike Hodges, who had been a guest on the show. Mark paid tribute by listing his five favourite films by Hodges: I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD (2003), CROUPIER (1998), FLASH GORDON (1980), BLACK RAINBOW (1989) and GET CARTER (1971).

Finally, Mark was joined by directors Guillermo Del Toro and Mark Gustafson, who spoke about their take on the classic PINOCCHIO, which premiered at the London Film Festival last October. The original puppets of Pinocchio and Master Geppetto also joined them on stage: handmade in Manchester and intricately moved to create the stop-motion animation. Mark Gustafson went on to discuss his guilty pleasure, ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS (1964), and Guillermo spoke about his guilty pleasure DEATH LINE (1972) – known in the US as RAW MEAT..

To close the show Mark’s choice of Sound and Vision was the rousing ‘Revolting Children’ scene from ROALD DAHL’S MATILDA: THE MUSICAL (2022).

This month we celebrated the 75th MK3D show at the BFI, and as always Mark was joined on stage by a variety of amazing guests.

Here’s the show description — and some fantastic photos by Julie Edwards.

First on stage was Hassan Nazer, who talked about his film WINNERS, which was released in August 2022 and this weekend won the BIFA 2022 Raindance Discovery Award and Breakthrough Producer Award for Nadira Murray, who was in the audience. With his film, Hassan wanted to convey the joy of cinema-going, and portray his Iranian heritage. He talked movingly about the reason he had to flee his native Iran, and being red-flagged after having put a female actor on stage for the first time ever in his town. Now resident in Aberdeen, he is thrilled that his film is the British submission for Best International Picture at the Oscars. He also talked about two films that influenced him: Abbas Kiarostami’s 1987 AND WHERE IS THE FRIEND’S HOUSE and Majid Majidi’s 1997 CHILDREN OF HEAVEN.

Our next guests were director Mark Jenkin and actress Mary Woodvine, who discussed their new Cornish film ENYS MEN. They talked about the making of ENYS MEN as well as the BFI season Mark has curated, the upcoming “The Cinematic DNA of Enys Men”. Mark then went on to talk about one particular influence on his work, Lawrence Gordon Clark’s TV movie STIGMA, from the BBC’s series of Classic adaptations of Ghost Stories.

Mark then welcomed director Edward Berger onto the show to talk about his film ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, which if you missed in cinemas you can watch on Netflix now. They discussed why Edward chose to remake the classic film, his love for the novel, and what it was like to film such visceral scenes. Edward then went on to chat about his guilty pleasure, NOTTING HILL, in particular the scene where Hugh Bonneville meets Julia Roberts at a dinner party.

During Ask The Audience, Mark talked about the BFI Sight and Sound Critics’ Poll results, and asked the audience whether they had seen the film that tops the new 2022 list of 100 Greatest Films of All Time: Chantal Akerman’s JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES.

Mark then invited screenwriter Tony Kushner to talk about his latest collaboration with Steven Spielberg, autobiographical feature THE FABELMANS. They talked about how the script came to be, and what it was like working with Spielberg to produce such a personal film. Tony then went on to highlight his guilty pleasure, Robert Aldrich’s 1962 WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE starring the peerless Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

The conversation continued as Mark welcomed Stephen Woolley and Aimee Lou Wood to the stage, where they talked about LIVING, in which Aimee stars opposite Bill Nighy. The film is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 IKIRU, and Stephen, who produced the film, described how the idea for the production came out of a BFI season he curated around his 2016 feature THEIR FINEST, which also starred Bill Nighy. Aimee talked about the pleasure of working with ‘sparkly’ Bill Nighy and the way the film has opened doors for her.

To celebrate the festive season and the 75th edition of MK3D, show producer Hedda Archbold had pulled together a musical finale. The Philharmonia orchestra had lent Mark Kermode a double bass, and Mark was joined by composer David Arnold on piano to accompany Aimee Lou Wood, for a beautiful rendition of HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS. Then Mark was joined by a veritable supergroup consisting of Sanjeev ‘Elvis’ Bhaskar who sang Elvis Presley’s BLUE CHRISTMAS, accompanied on vocals by Hedda Archbold and Mary Woodvine, on double bass by Mark Kermode, on guitar by David Arnold (who did a rocking solo) and on daf (Iranian drum) by Hassan Nazer.

The 74th episode of MK3D at the BFI Southbank on Monday 7 November saw Mark on stage with a brilliantly varied group of talented guests, and discussions about film of different genres.

First on stage was director Charlotte Wells, talking about her latest feature AFTERSUN, which has been nominated for 16 BIFA awards. She talked about the autobiographical roots of the film and working with her leads Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal. She also discussed The Film That Changed Her Life, Lynne Ramsey’s 1997 GASMAN. The portrayal of memory in this short impacted her own filmmaking style.

Following this Mark was joined by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman, who talked about NEPTUNE FROST – an Afrofuturist sci-fi punk musical that opened in cinemas on Friday 4th November. They highlighted the significance of music, movement and sensory joy within the frame, and encouraged the audience to get up and dance in cinemas whilst watching the film. Anisia expresses her love for Wong Kar-Wai’s HAPPY TOGETHER, and Saul explained why the music in his guilty pleasure, MARY POPPINS, is actually rap music.

During Ask The Audience Mark received a question about the position of independent cinema in the current film streaming scene, to which he responded with a positive outlook on the wider availability of independent films and called cinema lovers to take risks with what films they go to see. This was followed by a question about the restoration of THE DEVILS, to which Mark got on his soapbox to say that the uncut version of the incredible Ken Russell film should be released universally.

Next, we saw filmmaker Ondi Timoner talk about LAST FLIGHT HOME, a moving film about the last days and intentional death of her father. She went on to talk about The Film That Changed Her Life, Frederik Wiseman’s 1967 TITICUT FOLLIES, which sparked her curiosity for making the private public – with the camera acting as a bridge into worlds otherwise unseen.

After this, Mark was joined by A BUNCH OF AMATEURS directors Kim Hopkins and Margaréta Szabó and stars Joe Ogden and Harry Nicholls, who discussed their charming new movie about the oldest filmmaking club in the world. Mark asked Harry and Joe about the films that influenced them; Harry highlighted the original KING KONG, while Joe chose BIRDEMIC: SHOCK AND TERROR and BEING THERE.

Intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien returned to MK3D after her last appearance in July 2021 to talk about her role in the film industry and the work she does with Intimacy On Set. She discussed the new releases she has worked on which include EMPIRE OF LIGHT, LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER, PRETTY RED DRESS, OUTDOORS, and BRAINWASHED: SEX-CAMERA-POWER.

Ita was joined on stage by DANGEROUS LIAISONS star Paloma Faith. The pair worked together during the intimate scenes in DANGEROUS LIAISONS, the television series that premiered on 6th November on LIONSGATE+. Paloma explained that Ita helped refine her performance and made her feel comfortable on set as a postpartum woman. Paloma revealed her guilty pleasure Nick Sparks’ 2004 THE NOTEBOOK, a film Mark clarified is nothing to feel guilty about.

We ran out of time so we had to skip Ita’s Guilty Pleasure, which will be revealed in next month’s 75th edition of MK3D at the BFI Southbank.

This month was our 73rd MK3D at the BFI Southbank and featured yet more wonderful guests and discussions about film.

The show opened with GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY director Rian Johnson and stars Kathryn Hahn and Kate Hudson, who shared their experiences working on the film and the community atmosphere as they shot during the pandemic. The three mentioned their highlights of filming #GlassOnion as well as their favourite detective movies. Rian revealed a love of THE LAST OF SHEILA which was the inspiration for his own whodunnits.

In Here’s The Thing Mark paid tribute to the passing of talented actress Angela Ladbury, who also had a cameo in #GlassOnion. Mark went on to highlight Black History Month and celebrate the new release of THE WOMAN KING which stars Viola Davis, whose performance will no doubt see her nominated for best actress this year. Mark then made a strong case for the audience to take action to save the Edinburgh Filmhouse, Aberdeen Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), which went into administration earlier this month. The EIFF was the oldest continuously running film festival, and it and both cinemas were key to the creative landscape in the UK and worldwide. This is devastating news for the industry – you too can sign the petition to save them, here: https://chng.it/tKHxf9MNtS

Our second guest was director Eddie Sternberg, who spoke about his feature I USED TO BE FAMOUS; a feel-good British Netflix film about the friendship of a washed-up pop star (Ed Skrein) and a musically gifted neurodivergent young man (Leo Long). Eddie speaks about his casting choices, representation, and inspirations behind the film, which was followed by a discussion of his love for horror, and in particular IT FOLLOWS.

During Ask the Audience, Mark received questions about his favourite director-actor duo; his answer mentioned the collaborative works of Cornish based filmmaker Mark Jenkin and Mary Woodvine, and the somewhat explosive pairing of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Mark also offered advice to aspiring film critics.

Next, Mark interviewed BFI film programmers Anna Bogutskaya and Michael Blyth about the upcoming horror season IN DREAMS ARE MONSTERS – the trailer for which is enough to scare you alone. Anna and Michael talked about their selection process for the films being shown, and mentioned their favourites, THE LURE and SOCIETY. If you’re a horror fan, this season is for you. It runs from October-December across the UK so you have no excuse to miss it!

Lastly, Mark welcomed Professor Sir Christopher Frayling to the stage to chat about his new book VAMPIRE CINEMA: THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED YEARS, which comes out later this month. Christopher also spoke about his love for NOSFERATU, and introduced the audience to the strangely comedic and largely unknown Universal short BOO!

When asked his opinion on vampire classic TWILIGHT, Christopher expressed his disdain for the ‘approved by parents’ vampires in the films – an opinion Mark couldn’t help to disagree with.

Mark closed the show with a Sound & Vision segment celebrating the “maybe-horror” film BEETLEJUICE.

This month’s MK3D at the BFI Southbank (no. 72!) saw another incredible array of guests and some great conversations about film culture.

We are back to using roaming microphones for our audience Q&As, and our brilliant audience asked Mark about everything from lost media and TV (the website mentioned is here for any people interested: https://lostmediawiki.com/Home) to the furore around the premiere of DON’T WORRY DARLING.

The news in Here’s the Thing of course focused on the passing of Her Majesty The Queen. In tribute, Mark played a clip from THE QUEEN starring Helen Mirren.

Mark then moved on to Michael Flatley’s latest film BLACKBIRD for which he has – somehow – won Best Actor at Monaco Streaming Film Festival. He then, swiftly, moved on to a much better festival: the London Film Festival.

Our first guest on stage was director of the LFF Tricia Tuttle, who gave us an excellent rundown of what’s on at the festival. Her highlights included opening film ROALD DAHL’S MATILDA THE MUSICAL, big festival moments Guillermo del Toro’s PINOCCHIO and Sam Mendes’ EMPIRE OF LIGHT, and five British debut films: BLUE JEAN, PRETTY RED DRESS, ORIGIN, AFTERSUN and MEDUSA DELUXE. Finally she looked forward to Rian Johnson’s GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY.

Our second guest was director Toby Amies who spoke about his feature documentary about the band King Crimson, IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING. After some anecdotes about filming the band and its leader Robert Fripp, Toby told us his Guilty Pleasure: the wonderful LEGALLY BLONDE – which is absolutely nothing to be guilty about.

Next, Mark returned to a news item in Here’s The Thing, highlighting Tom Cruise’s most recent video promoting his latest film MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE. This clip truly has to be seen to be believed – so go and watch it.

After that, Mark welcomed director Babak Anvari to the stage to talk about his new Netflix film I CAME BY starring Hugh Bonneville and the brilliant George MacKay (a round of applause for him and for co-star Kelly Macdonald came from the audience). Babak then spoke about his Influential Film CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and his film influences which span everything from Hitchcock to NIGHTCRAWLERS.

Finally, MK3D friend Mike Leigh took to the stage to talk about his current event at The Garden Cinema in which every single one of his films is being screened in chronological order, each one followed by a Q&A with the man himself. Mike told us all about his wonderful directing style and how he elicits such natural performances from the actors.

We closed the show with a tribute to Robert Fripp who collaborated with David Bowie on Heroes, which was used to great effect in one of the intoxicating scenes in CHRISTIANE F.

Mark thanked all the guests for coming – including the legendary director of GRACE OF MY HEART and GAS, FOOD LODGING Allison Anders, who had turned up to watch the show!

This month’s MK3D at the BFI Southbank saw another stellar array of guests and insightful conversations about Film and TV.

We are finally allowed to have roving mics again so we can do impromptu audience Q&As (hurrah!) Audience members asked about the canon of autistic films – which Mark agreed should NOT include RAIN MAN; the success of summer blockbuster TOP GUN: MAVERICK, and which ELVIS biopic is truly the best.

Our first guests on stage were BRIAN AND CHARLES co-writer and star David Earl and co-star Louise Brealey who talked about their brilliant new feature, which won the audience award at Sundance London last month. David talked about the film that has most influenced his work, director Chris Smith’s little-see documentary gem AMERICAN MOVIE (1999), and Mark reminded Louise of her experience of watching THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT at Cannes – her response to which was so powerful that it featured in Mark’s Channel 4 documentary THE BLAIR WITCH PHENOMENON.

The news in Here’s the Thing focused on James Caan, who sadly passed away recently – Mark especially celebrated Caan’s roles in MISERY and ROLLERBALL. Mark also looked ahead at our upcoming MK3D at Latitude on 22 July, where he will go head to head with Jack Howard about their very different responses to THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER.

Our second guest was director Charlotte Colbert who talked about her feature debut SHE WILL. Much to Mark’s surprise, the film that most influenced her was DEAD AGAIN. She explained that the themes of inherited trauma have very much influenced her work – but it was also influential because she repeatedly watched it secretly, because she wasn’t allowed to see it at a young and tender age. After the conversation Mark agreed that perhaps he had been wrong to dismiss the film – and Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson’s roles – and it might be due a rewatch.

After another Ask The Audience (we are so excited to be back to roving mics!) Mark welcomed his final guest, the magnificent Brett Goldstein, to talk about his pod FILMS TO BE BURIED WITH, about writing on and starring in the successful TV show TED LASSO – and about the final scene of THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, in which the news drops that Brett is to be Hercules in the Marvel Universe. Brett is working out to get the right physique and Brett and Mark ended up doing synchronised push-ups on stage. A memorable moment for sure. Brett talked about The Film That Changed His Life, SHOPLIFTERS – which moved him deeply – and about his Guilty Pleasure, GREASE 2. Is it better than the original? It’s certainly more feminist, which is what Brett likes about it.