Women X Film Festival Podcast

Women X's Amy Ware is joined by filmmakers Jadey Duffield and Gabriela Staniszewska to talk all things funding and festival strategy. They discuss some of the ways they funded their film 'Yummy Mummy', their strategy for distributing to festivals, and how they work so well together despite having very different backgrounds in film. You can watch Jadey and Gabriela's short film 'Yummy Mummy' at Wom...

If you've never submitted a film to a festival using FilmFreeway, you might have a lot of questions about the process. In this episode, Women X's Caris Rianne and Ashton Clarke discuss everything you need to know about what to include in your FilmFreeway application, and what festival programmers will be looking for. Tickets are now on sale for the Women X Film Festival 2023, which will run from 9...

Women X's Lilia Pavin-Franks chats with Anna Járai about her film 'Virágom, Virágom', inspired by folk communities, heritage, and Anna's Hungarian culture. She talks about the experimental nature of the film including the use of archival material and folk-inspired soundscapes, the process of crowdfunding and distributing a small-budget student film, and the shooting on Kodak Super 8. You can watch...

We're delighted to welcome Lucy Chappell back to this year's Women X, after she won Best Director in 2021. Emily Garbutt spoke with Lucy about how being an actor made filmmaking seem more possible, her experience creating an experimental film this time round (and filming a club scene in a Tesco car park), and why you shouldn't let fear hold you back from filmmaking. You can watch Lucy's short film...

Mel and Caris return for the second instalment in our series on scam film festivals! Fake venues, gapekept meals, tax evasion and expensive flights - we cover it ALL! CW: Mention of transphobia We're so excited to bring you (our very real festival) Women X from 8-10 September 2023 in Darlington. Find out more about Women X here: https://riannepictures.com/womenx Find us on social media: https://ww...

Caris Rianne and Mel Fielding kick off our new series about film festival scammers! Following some investigating into dodgy film festivals, Mel tells Caris all about them and the red flags filmmakers can look for when selecting festivals to submit their films to. Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon! We're so excited to bring you (our very real festival) Women X from 8-10 September 2023 in Darlington...

We’re back with another Women X Podcast episode! This week we were elated to sit down with Alia Ghafar, who took home the award for Best Director at the 2022 festival for her heartwarming short SCUZZ. Alia talks everything writing and directing, the importance of finding great collaborators, and being mistaken for Lynne Ramsay at an awards ceremony! Subscribe to the podcast for more episodes! Thro...

In the final instalment in our five-part tips series, our festival director, Caris Rianne, shares a marketing mistake we made in the past. As she says, it's good to look at not only the great things we've done and the challenges we've faced, but it's important to acknowledge our mistakes too and how we learn from them! We're so excited to bring you the 2023 edition of Women X from 8-10 September 2...

Women X's Festival Director, Caris Rianne, shares 2 ways we're improving our festival this year and what we've learned over the past few years. Our motto is better not bigger! This episode is part of our top tips series, stay tuned for our final instalment in the 5-part series next week! We're so excited to bring you the 2023 edition of Women X from 8-10 September 2023 in Darlington. Find out more...

If you're wondering how to get the most out of networking at film festivals, Women X's Caris Rianne & Ashton Clarke share their 3 top tips! Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date with more episodes. Through this podcast, we take you behind-the-scenes of an exciting, fresh short film festival. Learn about the ins and outs of running a film festival, get tips for your short fil...

This week on the Women X Festival Podcast we chatted to director-producer Tulsi Behl, whose short film Pigeon screened at our 2022 festival. Tulsi took us through her varied industry career, the making of Pigeon (all the way from development to the edit), and gave us insight into what it’s like juggling the roles of producer and director on set. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to stay up to...

We're back with another episode from our five-part advice series. This time our festival director, Caris Rianne, is joined by Ashton Clarke, to share 4 ways to improve your festival campaign. Between them, they must've watched over 2,000 short films for our festival, so they really know what makes an effective campaign. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date with more episodes. T...

Women X's Emily Garbutt interviews Shamim Sarif to discuss the making of her new film 'Polarized', which screened at this year's BFI Flare, the UK's largest queer film festival. She also shares what it was like to direct an episode of Netflix's 'You' and what's next for her as a filmmaker. Thank you to Shamim for coming on the Women X Film Festival Podcast! Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to...

Izzy Hill interviews our 2022 Rising Star Averi Israel, whose short film Sequin was a part of last year’s programme. Averi talked through her career so far, what it was like shooting in New York under a strict time limit, and how her acting experience aids her as a director. Subscribe to the podcast for more episodes! Through this podcast, we take you behind-the-scenes of an exciting, fresh short...

We're beginning a mini-series to help you prepare your short film for the film festival world! Our festival director, Caris Rianne, shares 5 common mistakes we see people make with their short film scripts. Listen for tips on how to best prepare your script! Subscribe to the podcast for more episodes! Through this podcast, we take you behind-the-scenes of an exciting, fresh short film festival. Le...

Writer-director Tia Salisbury sat down with us to talk about her varied industry career, the making of her Women X Festival short film Placenta Pâté, and what inspired her to make such a funny and touching film about parenthood. Learn more about Women X Film Festival: https://riannepictures.com/womenx

Writer-director Gabriela Staniszewska and producer Jadey Duffield spoke to us about making their Women X Festival short film Choose Your Weapon, the struggles of being women and parents in the film industry, and their tips and tricks for breaking in. Learn more about Women X Film Festival: https://riannepictures.com/womenx

In this episode, Emily Garbutt speaks to Clodagh Chapman, the writer and director of First Kiss (With A Girl). Clodagh shares how the film explores a second adolescence that queer people experience, how you can make a film (even on your bedroom floor!) and the excitement of being early into her film career. A quote that resonated with Clodagh by Ng Choon Ping is "just because you're new to filmmak...

Emily Garbutt interviews the writer and director of THIS LITTLE GIRL, Annette Westwood. Annette shares how her acting experience informs her directing, the process of getting BFI funding and why filmmakers can benefit from working at film festivals. THIS LITTLE GIRL screened at Women X Film Festival 2022. CW: Mention of substance misuse Subscribe to the podcast for more episodes! Through this podc...

We're excited to be bringing you a series of interviews with some of this year's filmmakers. Louise Nesbitt ('Snuff') tells us about how she got into filmmaking (after watching so much film and TV she couldn't not make it her job!), why you shouldn't overlook regional-specific schemes and what it's like balancing numerous roles in one project (writer, director, producer AND costume designer!) 'Snu...

Ever wondered how we programme our film festival? A few of our Women X programmers, Courtney, Ashton & Lilia provide an insight into selecting this year's films and each share one film people shouldn't miss. CW: 08:00 - 08:38 Mention of violence against women Our 2022 programme has now launched! Read more about this year's films here: https://riannepictures.com/wxff22-film-programme Get your t...

We share the do's and don'ts for filmmakers attending a film festival! Caris Rianne (Festival Director), Sophie Duncan (Festival Producer) & Ashton Clarke (Development Exec & Senior Festival Programmer) have worked at and attended many film festivals over the years. They talk about their experiences both as filmmakers and film festival staff to give tips on how you can make the most out yo...

Women X's Festival Producer, Lilia Pavin-Franks, interviews Caris Rianne about her experience as Festival Director, how she started Women X and the purpose behind our film festival, what is different about this year's edition of the fest and her future goals for Women X. Stay tuned for more episodes! Learn more about Women X here: https://riannepictures.com/womenx Get your tickets for Women X Film...

Welcome to the very first episode of the Women X Film Festival podcast! Through this podcast, we will take you behind-the-scenes of an exciting, fresh short film festival. Learn about the ins and outs of running a film festival, listen to interviews with this year’s filmmakers, our alumnis, other festivals and more! For our very first episode, our Festival Director Caris Rianne has a conversation...