Oscar and BAFTA nominee Carey Mulligan returns to Girls On Film for a very special episode celebrating her performance in the towering epic Maestro, currently on Netflix. Carey plays Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein, opposite director Bradley Cooper as composer Leonard Bernstein, and her performance is spellbinding. She joined host Anna Smith after a screening of Maestro in London on 23rd January 2024 – the very day she was announced as a nominee for the Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role. This exclusive recording sees Carey sharing her thoughts on preparing for this complex role, working with Bradley Cooper and the incredible craft departments such as Hair and Make-Up. Recalling Carey’s first appearance on episode 3 of Girls On Film, Anna and Carey spoke frankly about how things have progressed for women in film, and how much has changed since we launched the podcast. You can also hear Carey answering questions from our audience of Girls On Film listeners.

Other films mentioned in this episode: 
Promising Young Woman (dir. Emerald Fennell)
She Said (dir. Maria Schrader)

This week, Anna Smith welcomes Nicole Newnham back to Girls On Film to discuss her documentary The Disappearance of Shere Hite. The film sheds light on the groundbreaking sexologist and former Playboy model Shere Hite, who in 1976 published The Hite Report, dubbed ‘a sexual revolution in 600 pages’. Taking the intimate experiences of thousands of women across the world as its basis, Hite and a small team of grassroots feminists exposed some of the harmful ideas around female sexuality that were prevalent at the time.

In this episode, Nicole describes how she first got involved in the project, about the contemporary relevance of Shere Hite, and how Dakota Johnson became the voice of Shere Hite. With Anna, Nicole discusses some of the tragedy as well as triumph in the story of Shere Hite and the desire to explore what she calls the ‘the architecture of silence’ that attempted to remove Hite from the history books.

Other films mentioned in this episode:
Crip Camp, Nicole Newnham and James Lebrecht, 2020

You can watch The Disappearance of Shere Hite from the 12th January in UK cinemas.

Today’s episode of Girls On Film is about the winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, How to Have Sex. Anna Smith is joined by Molly Manning Walker, who wrote and directed How to Have Sex, and Mia McKenna-Bruce, whose performance as Tara earned her the BIFA for Best Lead Performance and Best Actress at the European Film Awards.

The film shows Tara and her two best friends from school, Skye (Lara Peake) and Em (Enva Lewis), celebrating the end of their GCSE exams on a girls trip to Malia. In a flurry of neon mini dresses, fish bowl cocktails and an intriguing group of eighteen-year-olds in the same holiday complex, the girls navigate the worlds of sex, consent and self-discovery. 

How to Have Sex has been hailed by viewers as a vibrant and authentic depiction of the agonies, and ecstasies of girlhood, and in this episode Mia and Molly talk about the filming process, as well as the film’s impact on viewers, from critics at Cannes to teenagers in the classroom. Molly talks about the importance of building meaningful backstories for all her characters, and creating a ‘360 degree’ set to give her cast an authentic background to work against. 

The pair recall the excitement of working on a project like this, where club nights and football matches were a common fixture among cast and crew. They also speak to Anna about the ‘bittersweet’ response to the film, citing how it has sparked meaningful conversations about sex and consent, but also how it is exposing just how many people have been affected by the issues that How to Have Sex explores. 
How to Have Sex will be streaming exclusively on MUBI from 29 December 2023 and Girls On Film listeners can watch it with 30 days free at mubi.com/girlsonfilm

Other series mentioned in this episode: 
I May Destroy You (Michaela Coel, 2020) 
Sex Education (Laurie Nunn, 2019)

On today’s episode of Girls On Film, Anna Smith talks to four of the women Heads of Department who helped create Oppenheimer. 

Anna speaks to its editor Jennifer Lame (Midsommar, Don’t Worry Darling) about her career, which led her to edit one of the biggest films of 2023. Jennifer shares her instinct-driven approach to her work and reflects on her position as a woman editor.
Next up Anna has a conversation with legendary costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, whose credits include Basic Instinct, Showgirls and Bridgerton. Ellen speaks about her first foray into costume design, hunting for the perfect hat for Oppenheimer, and the joys of putting together costumes for the film’s women characters. 

Finally, Anna speaks with Head of Hair Jaime Leigh McIntosh (Blonde, Babylon) and Head of Makeup and Prosthetics Luisa Abel (Knives Out, Interstellar) about the extraordinary attention to detail required when working in IMAX format, and about the role of the women characters in the Oppenheimer story. 
Oppenheimer is based on the 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer’ by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. It stars Cillian Murphy with an all star supporting cast including Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and Robert Downey Jr.  

At the time of writing it was announced that Oppenheimer, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, is up for eight Golden Globes at the 2024 awards. 

Oppenheimer is available on demand now. 

Other films mentioned in this episode include: 
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (Sidney Lumet, 2007) 
Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1988) 
Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992) 
The Wiz (Sidney Lumet, 1978)

Today on Girls On Film Anna Smith has a fascinating discussion about Todd Haynes’ May December with its screenwriter, Samy Burch. Samy talks to Anna about the journey she went on with this screenplay from writing it as a spec script to hopefully gain representation, to it catching the attention of one of the film’s stars Natalie Portman as a producer, and so meeting the legendary director Todd Haynes (Carol, Far from Heaven). Samy talks about the real-life story that inspired the screenplay, the layers of ‘power and manipulation’ in both Moore and Portman’s performances, and the role that gender plays in media coverage of these kinds of stories. 

May December tells the story of Gracie, played by Julianne Moore, and Joe, played by Riverdale’s Charles Melton, as they live family life in the shadow of their infamous first encounter: the couple’s 20-year relationship began when Gracie was 36 and Joe was just 13-years-old. Now, two decades later, Natalie Portman plays actress Elizabeth who travels to Georgia to study the couple for a role in an upcoming film. Gracie and Joe are forced to revisit their past from new perspectives, as they question the love story they’ve told themselves and the world. 

You can watch May December now in cinemas in the UK, and on Sky Cinema on the 8 December 2023.

Other films mentioned in this episode include: 
Persona, Ingmar Bergman, 1966
3 Women, Robert Altman, 1977
Coyote vs. Acme, Dave Green

In this episode of Girls On Film, Anna Smith talks to Director Paul Sng and Producer Jen Corcoran about their new feature documentary Tish, which tells the story of working-class photographer Patricia ‘Tish’ Murtha who worked to document life in Northeast England in the 1970s and 1980s. Anna then talks to Production Designer Sarah Greenwood and Set Decorator Katie Spencer, who worked together to create the distinctive world of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. 

Tish was the Opening Night Film of Sheffield Doc Fest 2023 and it is a celebration of a life devoted to exposing social inequality through art. The feature documentary is told from the perspective of Ella Murtha, both as daughter and custodian of the Tish Murtha archive. She retraces her mother’s relationship with the photographic medium, from finding her first camera in a local skip, to earning a reputation as the ‘demon snapper’ and beyond. Anna talks to Paul and Jen about the inspiration behind the project, the power of having working-class stories told from the inside, and asks about their favourite photographs in the Tish archive. 

Next on Girls On Film, Anna has a lively conversation with Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, whose long time collaboration has resulted in multiple Academy Award and BAFTA nominations, and, most recently, the weird, wonderful and instantly recognisable world of Barbie. Sarah and Katie talk about working with Greta Gerwig in the early design stages of the project, following visual prompts like ‘think Gaudí in a blender’ when creating Weird Barbie’s house, and the film’s many and varied visual inspirations. 

Tish by Paul Sng is being released by Modern Films in UK and Irish cinemas on 17 November 2023. On demand information: Virtual cinema 22 Dec, TVOD 5 Feb (iTunes, Amazon, Google Play). 

Barbie is available on 4K, Blu-Ray™, DVD & Digital Download now
Other films mentioned in this episode include: 
Singin’ in the Rain, Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1952
Grease, Randal Kleiser, 1978
Playtime, Jacques Tati, 1967
The Wizard of Oz, Victor Fleming, 1939
Psycho, Alfred Hitchock, 1960
Jaws, Steven Spielberg, 1975
Books mentioned; 
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960

Today Anna Smith talks to Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi about her new documentary The Eternal Memory, which follows a Chilean couple as they navigate the challenges of Alzheimer’s disease together. She then talks to Ella Glendining about her BIFA-nominated documentary, Is There Anybody Out There? which charts her search for individuals with the same rare disability as herself.
Journalist Augusto Góngora and actor Paulina Urrutia are the subject of The Eternal Memory, a touching testimony of the couple’s bond in the face of Augusto’s worsening dementia. ‘La Pauli,’ as Augosto referred to his partner, took care of him after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at 62. Maite recalls how the couple had a unique approach to the disease where they saw ‘Alzeimher’s as a challenge, not a tragedy’. The film uses a mix of archive footage from Augusto’s broadcast days and new material as the couple go about their daily lives, noticing the sensory experience of the everyday and how it interacts with Augosto’s condition. The Eternal Memory offers a unique and refreshing perspective on dementia, ageing and coupledom. 

Next, Anna Smith talks to Ella Glendining about the making of and motivation behind her documentary Is There Anybody Out There?. The film is personal, one woman’s search to find someone else born with no hip joints and short femurs, but it is also deeply political, laying bare the ethics of medical intervention, exploring the impacts of ableism and documenting disabled joy. Ella talks about the inspiration behind the film, the challenges and surprises she faced while making it, and she reveals the projects she is most looking forward to seeing next!

You can watch The Eternal Memory in select cinemas from the 10th November 2023. Visit www.theeternalmemory.film to find out more and book tickets

Is There Anybody Out There? is in cinemas and on demand 17th November 2023. Screenings and information at conic.film/anybody

Other films mentioned in this episode include: 
The Mole Agent, Maite Alberdi, 2020
Dick Johnson Is Dead, Kirsten Johnson 2020
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Original title: Savvusanna sõsarad), Anna Hints, 2023
Television mentioned in this episode include: 
We Might Regret This, Kyla Harris
Reviews mentioned in this episode: 
https://www.timeout.com/movies/smoke-sauna-sisterhood-2023