Girls On Film

The Girls On Film Awards are back for a second year, and you are warmly invited to join the audience! This second in a three-part episode was recorded at The Garden Cinema in London on 23 February 2023, with an intimate audience of nominees, film critics and industry supporters. Hosts Anna Smith and Hedda Archbold reveal the winners of the following categories: Best Cinematographer - for which our...

The Girls On Film Awards are back for a second year, and you are warmly invited to join the audience! This first in a three-part episode was recorded at The Garden Cinema in London on 23 February 2023, with an intimate audience of nominees, film critics and industry supporters. Hosts Anna Smith and Hedda Archbold reveal the winners of the following categories: Best Female Friendship on Screen Best...

This episode celebrates the achievements of two women who have had decades of experience in the industry, as well as one who is breaking new ground. BAFTA and Oscar-winning Costume designer Sandy Powell OBE, Prop Buyer Judy Ducker, and film critic and author Hanna Flint join Anna Smith to talk about their work in the film industry. First, Sandy Powell OBE, who has worked on films including The Fav...

Emmett Till’s cousin Deborah Watts speaks candidly about the BAFTA-nominated film Till, which is in cinemas and also available on digital download. Anna Smith also speaks to writer Ellen E Jones about this powerful film directed by Chinonye Chukwu. It tells the true story of Mamie Till-Bradley, whose 14-year-old son Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. The film follows her fight for justice and f...

Sara Dosa, the director and co-writer of documentary Fire of Love joins Anna Smith in London for a live Q&A following a screening of her film. The extraordinary documentary, from National Geographic Documentary Films, mines the extensive film and image archive of intrepid French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft. The fascinating couple died as explosively as they lived, whilst doing what the...

This episode of Girls On Film is dedicated to BAFTA-nominated drama Blue Jean, which is set in 1980s Newcastle, at a time when Thatcher’s government was making life very difficult for gay people in the UK. The law ‘Section 28’ forbade “the teaching in schools of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. Rosy McEwen puts in a terrific performance as teacher Jean, who h...

Live from the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), Anna Smith is joined on stage by an international panel of inspiring industry figures. Prolific power-house Christine Vachon chats about how it feels to have produced over 100 films, and the job of using “disruption for opportunity”. She also has valuable advice for would-be producers. Friend of Girls On Film Dutch film critic Dana Linsse...

Novelist Emma Donoghue joins writer-director and male ally Sebastián Lelio to talk with Anna Smith about his new film based on Emma’s book, co-written by Alice Birch. The Wonder, which has earned a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film (and Girls On Film Award nominations for Best Feature Film sponsored by EON Productions, The Girls On Film Ally Award sponsored by IMDb for Sebastián Lelio,...

Intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien talked with Girls On Film co-founder Hedda Archbold at last summer’s Latitude Festival about the work of her company, Intimacy On Set. She explains the way their work is transforming on-set working practices, and the kind of intimate scenes we see on screen – as well as how we think about consent in our everyday lives. In this episode we announce that on 23 Februar...

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, particularl...

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....

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 territor...

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...

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...

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 experien...

In this episode filmmaker Ondi Timoner joins Anna Smith to talk about her new documentary, Last Flight Home, sharing with Anna how the documentary came to be, her personal journey throughout the making of it, and the impact that the film is having on audiences. They also talk about her journey to becoming a filmmaker, and her experience of being a woman in the industry. Last Flight Home is a beaut...

What’s your leadership style? Just one of the questions answered by our impressive panellists at the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival, where festival director Sandra Lipski invited Girls On Film to host a panel discussion on Women and Leadership, with a focus on the creative and business side of the industry. Four high profile industry women joined Anna Smith on stage at the Fondacio...

Director Phyllis Nagy and stars Elizabeth Banks and Wunmi Mosaku join Anna to talk about the inspiring new film CALL JANE. CALL JANE follows Joy, played by Elizabeth Banks, a woman whose life-threatening pregnancy leads her to seek help from the 'Janes', an underground collective. In Chicago during the 1960s, a group of extraordinary women came together to secretly provide nearly 12,000 women and...

Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane and Nicholas Stoller join Anna Smith for this episode to talk about BROS, the first romantic comedy from a major film studio about two gay men, produced by Judd Apatow and directed and co-written by Nicholas Stoller. Billy co-wrote and stars in this funny, refreshing rom-com alongside Luke Macfarlane who plays the macho lawyer Aaron, who Billy’s character Bobby just...

Jamie Lee Curtis and Anna Smith discuss HALLOWEEN ENDS, the final chapter in the HALLOWEEN horror franchise, directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak and Kyle Richards. Anna is also joined by Executive Producer Hedda Archbold to talk about the best films featured at this season's film festivals. Anna speaks to Jamie Lee Curtis about her experience playing Laurie...

In this episode of Girls On Film Anna Smith explores GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS, a Finnish coming-of-age film directed by Alli Haapasalo, starring Aamu Milonoff, Linnea Leino and Eleonoora Kauhanen. Anna talks to Alli Haapasalo about her fresh perspective on stepping into adulthood and navigating sexual desire alongside discussing her motivations, her casting process and narrative choices. Alli also talks...

In this episode we focus on two female-run film festivals coming up in October: the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. Anna Smith speaks to Sandra Lipski, founder and director of EMIFF, and Tricia Tuttle, director of festivals at the BFI and director of the LFF about what is coming up. The festivals share not only a female focus with an emphasis on div...

In this episode of Girls On Film Anna Smith does a deep dive into MR. MALCOLM’S LIST, a new release starring Zawe Ashton, Freida Pinto and Sope Dirisu, directed by Emma Holly Jones in her feature debut. Anna talks to Emma Holly Jones about this Regency RomCom with a difference: about what it takes to get a first feature made, about historical accuracy versus depicting diverse female agency on scre...

In this special episode recorded with an audience at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2022, Girls On Film celebrate EIFF’s 75th anniversary with an all-star line-up including Julia Davis, Jackie van Beek and Armağan Ballantyne from NUDE TUESDAY; director and co-writer of ZUHAL Nazli Elif Durlu; EIFF 2022’s Creative Director Kristy Matheson, and film critics Wendy Mitchell and Finn Halligan. F...

Anna Smith talks to two of the women behind the new road movie Joyride, starring Olivia Colman: Emmy-nominated director Emer Reynolds (THE FARTHEST) and screenwriter Ailbhe Keogan. The film focuses on reckless solicitor Joy (Colman) who has arranged to give up her baby before her taxi is hijacked by tearaway Mully (Charlie Reid), a boy running away from his manipulative father. Together, they are...