In this special episode from the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival, Anna Smith hosts a panel discussion on women in leadership within the film industry. In the third iteration of this panel, Anna is joined by three international industry leaders: Kirsty Bell, CEO of the Oscar-winning production company Goldfinch, international film publicity strategist Mia Farrell and Oscar-nominated producer Rebecca Pruzan. Together, they explore the pathways to landing leadership roles, the...

In this festival special, Anna Smith island hops across some of the most unique film festivals of the season, taking listeners from Sea Change festival in Scotland’s Tiree to the London Film Festival before ending in Mallorca to hear about the upcoming Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival 2024. First, Anna reports from this year’s Sea Change Film Festival in the Inner Hebrides. She speaks with filmmaker Jeanie Finlay (Your Fat Friend, Seahorse) and festival-goers like Reclaim The...

Anna Smith speaks to Lily Ahree Siegel, director of Equal Play, a new short documentary that discusses the importance of equal access to school sports for disabled children. Anna is also joined by Lindsey Dryden, director, writer, producer, executive producer, as well as co-founder of FWD-DOC, and Clare Baines, the BFI’s Inclusion Partner, to talk about equal access within the film industry and the bigger issues touched on in Equal Play. First, Clare discusses her personal connection to the...

In this episode, Anna Smith welcomes film critic Corrina Antrobus back to Girls On Film to discuss her brand new book, I Love Romcoms and I am a Feminist: A Manifesto in 100 Romcoms. Anna is also joined by film critic Jo-Ann Titmarsh who shares her highlights direct from the Venice International Film Festival. First up, Corrina begins by discussing two Girls On Film romcom favourites - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and She’s Gotta Have It, which both feature in our pod’s intro jingle. She...

Zoë Kravitz joins Anna Smith to discuss her directorial debut, Blink Twice, while Anna also reports from the 2024 Edinburgh International Film Festival, where she speaks with Daisy-May Hudson about her feature debut, Lollipop. First up, Anna welcomes actor turned writer, director and producer Zoë Kravitz, best known for her roles in ‘The Batman’ and in TV series ‘Big Little Lies’ and ‘High Fidelity’, onto the podcast. With Anna, Zoë discusses the feminist messaging in her slick thriller...

For our 180th episode, Girls On Film gets the festival buzz at Latitude in front of a live audience! First up we hear from host Anna Smith as she boogies to the song ‘Girls On Film’ sung by one of the Latitude headliners, Duran Duran! Plus, Anna had the chance to meet some band members after the show. Also in this episode, Anna is joined by Rachel Ramsay, the co-director of Copa 71, to discuss her brilliant documentary on the scandalously overlooked Women’s World Cup which took place in...

Anna Smith speaks to director Susan Seidelman about her highly anticipated new memoir, Desperately Seeking Something, as well as Rosanna Arquette, who starred in Seidelman's 1985 cult classic, Desperately Seeking Susan. Anna begins by speaking to Susan Seidelman about her memoir and her recollections of working with Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. Susan talks about the explosion of Madonna’s stardom during filming, sharing some of her cherished memories from that time. She reflects on the...

In this episode, Anna Smith speaks to the creators behind Prime Video’s new series, My Lady Jane, including creator/writer Gemma Burgess and writer Meredith Glynn, as well as the executive producer of My Lady Jane, the legendary Laurie MacDonald. Anna begins by speaking to Gemma Burgess and Meredith Glynn about the creation of the series, including the inspiration they found in their shared love of films from the 80s and 90s, and how keen they were to bring the playful tone of those films...

In this episode of Girls On Film, Anna Smith highlights some feminist favourites from Sundance London Film Festival. She catches up with director Shuchi Talati, whose debut feature Girls Will Be Girls follows headgirl Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) as she strives to get As in the classroom and the bedroom, and struggles with a third-wheeling mother (Kani Kusruti). Anna is joined by Shuchi as well as lead actress Preeti Panigrahi as they reflect on women’s filmmaking in India, reveal how they tackled...

Ep 176: Cannes Film Festival 2024, we review Bird, Megalopolis, The Girl With the Needle, and more This episode of Girls On Film comes from Cannes, where Anna Smith speaks to Jane Crowther and Wendy Mitchell about their Film Festival highlights. Anna hosts the very first Girls On Film party at The Members Club, and speaks to some of the guests about their work at the festival and which films they’ve enjoyed. First up, Anna takes us through the soundscape of Cannes and walks the red carpet...

In this episode of Girls On Film, Anna Smith talks about the recent Cinema for Gaza auction with two of the women behind the initiative, Helen Simmons and Julia Jackman, and she reviews some imminent releases with film critic Rhianna Dhillon and film journalist and programmer Cici Peng. First up Anna speaks with Rhianna Dhillon about Italian box-office hit C’è ancora domani or There’s Still Tomorrow. They discuss the representation of domestic violence in this neorealist-style debut from...

In this episode of Girls On Film we give you a flavour of the third Girls On Film Awards, our annual celebration of women in film which this year took place at our new home, Regent Street Cinema in London. We launched the awards to celebrate excellence in women-focused films, and to honour women and non-binary filmmakers. Girls On Film provides an inclusive platform for the voices of diverse women and people of marginalised genders, and we have a mission: to bring about industry-wide...

In this episode Girls On Film is at the 20th edition of Glasgow Film Festival. Anna Smith sits down with Festival Director Allison Gardner, then has an exclusive interview with the director of Love Lies Bleeding Rose Glass, with Oscar-nominated director of The Teacher Farah Nabulsi, and with BAFTA-nominated director of Edge of Summer Lucy Cohen. First up, Director of GFF Allison Gardner picks out some of her festival highlights, from Ava DuVernay’s Origin to Viggo Mortensen’s The Dead Don’t...

This episode features the tenth Oscar winner to appear on Girls On Film. Anna Smith hears from Academy Award winner Olivia Colman who stars opposite Jessie Buckley and Anjana Vasan in the black comedy Wicked Little Letters. She also speaks to the film’s director, Thea Sharrock, and historical consultant Emily Cockayne about bringing this remarkable true story to the big screen. The film follows two neighbours: conservative local Edith Swan (played by Olivia Colman) and rowdy Irish migrant...

As we post this episode, we’re coming up to the third annual Girls On Film Awards 2024. They take place on Tuesday 20 February 2024 at Regent Street Cinema in London. We’ll celebrate the brilliant work made by women in film and will be joined by nominees, industry supporters and listeners. We give awards in 12 categories, and the undisputed climax of the night will be the award for the category 'Female Orgasm on Screen, sponsored by Intimacy On Set' for the second year running. In this...

In today’s episode, Anna Smith talks to members of the the Girls On Film community about Nyad, starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, which tells the remarkable true story of athlete Diana Nyad. An athlete turned journalist, Diana Nyad made an incredible vow when she turned 60. She was determined to become the first person to swim 110 miles from Cuba to Florida, without a shark cage. She was supported by a team including her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll. Directed by Elizabeth Chai...

In this episode of Girls On Film, Anna Smith talks to the creator and showrunner of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Francesca Sloane. Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a series inspired by the 2005 film by Doug Liman and Simon Kinberg. It stars Maya Erskine and Donald Glover as two lonely strangers who land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency, and are given new identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. The eight-part series explores their relationship as they take on each new...

Best actress Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone joins Anna to discuss her powerful performance in Martin Scorsese’s American chronicle crime thriller Killers of the Flower Moon, now streaming globally on Apple TV+. Gladstone’s Mollie Kyle is an Osage Native American, and heir to the oil-rich, Osage-owned land in 1920s Oklahoma that white settlers are desperate to get their hands on. By turns richly emotional and crackling with humour, her nuanced portrayal foregrounds the story of Mollie and her...

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 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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...