Anna Smith is an English film reporter, former chair of the London Film Critics' Circle, and host of the Girls on Film podcast. She has contributed to the BBC, Sky News, Time Out , the Guardian and The Film Review . [1] [2]
Anna Smith is an English film reporter, former chair of the London Film Critics' Circle, and host of the Girls on Film podcast. She has contributed to the BBC, Sky News, Time Out , the Guardian and The Film Review . [1] [2]
Smith studied journalism at the University of Wales Cardiff, worked on various magazines in the 1990s, including being launch editor of Wax , a dance music magazine, and started to do film reviews while assistant editor of Minx . After Minx closed in July 2000, Smith focussed on freelance film writing. [3] [4] [5]
Smith was chair of the London Film Critics' Circle in 2014, and President of their Critics' Circle. [6]
Smith started the Girls on Film podcast in 2018. [7] Guests have included Caitlin Moran and Coky Giedroyc, [8] Kitty Green, [9] Haifaa al-Mansour, [10] Gurinder Chadha [11] and Brie Larson. [12]
Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002 sports comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha from a screenplay by Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, and Guljit Bindra. The film stars Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher, Juliet Stevenson, Shaznay Lewis, and Archie Panjabi. In Bend It Like Beckham, Jesminder Bhamra (Nagra) and Jules Paxton (Knightley) chase careers in professional football despite their parents' wishes.
Gurinder Chadha, is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in England. The common theme among her work showcases the trials of Indian women living in the UK and how they must reconcile their converging traditional and modern cultures. Although many of her films seem like simple quirky comedies about Indian women, they actually address many social and emotional issues, especially ones faced by immigrants caught between two worlds.
Catherine ElizabethMoran is an English journalist, author, and broadcaster at The Times, where she writes three columns a week: one for the Saturday Magazine, a TV review column, and the satirical Friday column "Celebrity Watch".
Bride and Prejudice is a 2004 romantic drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha, director of Bend it Like Beckham (2002) and other films. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. It was filmed primarily in English, with some Hindi and Punjabi dialogue. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 6 October 2004 and in the United States on 11 February 2005. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers, known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress. Known for her supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, she has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and blockbusters. Larson is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.
Paul Mayeda Berges is an American screenwriter and director, notably as co-writer of 2002's Bend It Like Beckham.
Bhaji on the Beach is a 1993 British comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha and written by Meera Syal.
Haifaa al-Mansour is a Saudi Arabian film director. She is one of the country's best-known as the first female Saudi filmmaker.
Mary Rose Helen "Coky" Giedroyc is an English director known for her work on Women Talking Dirty, The Virgin Queen, The Nativity, and Penny Dreadful.
Alison Brie Schermerhorn is an American actress. Her breakthrough came with the role of Trudy Campbell in the drama series Mad Men (2007–2015), which won her a Screen Actors Guild Award. She gained recognition for her role as Annie Edison in the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2015) and voicing Diane Nguyen in the animated comedy series BoJack Horseman (2014–2020). For playing Ruth Wilder in the comedy-drama series GLOW (2017–2019), she received nominations for two Golden Globes and two Critics' Choice Awards.
John Niven is a Scottish author and screenwriter. His books include Kill Your Friends, The Amateurs, and The Second Coming.
Wadjda is a 2012 Saudi Arabian drama film, written and directed by Haifaa al-Mansour. It was the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and the first feature-length film made by a female Saudi director. It won numerous awards at film festivals around the world. The film was selected as the Saudi Arabian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It successfully earned a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the 2014 BAFTA Awards.
Room is a 2015 drama film directed by Lenny Abrahamson and written by Emma Donoghue, based on her 2010 novel of the same name. It stars Brie Larson as a young woman who has been held captive for seven years and whose five-year-old son was born in captivity. Their escape allows the boy to experience the outside world for the first time. The film also stars Joan Allen, Sean Bridgers, Tom McCamus and William H. Macy.
The Glass Castle is a 2017 American biographical drama film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Cretton, Andrew Lanham, and Marti Noxon. It is based on Jeannette Walls' 2005 best-selling memoir of the same name. Depicting Walls' childhood, where her family lived in poverty and sometimes as squatters, the film stars Brie Larson as Walls, with Naomi Watts, Woody Harrelson, Max Greenfield, and Sarah Snook in supporting roles.
Mary Shelley is a 2017 romantic period-drama film directed by Haifaa al-Mansour and written by Emma Jensen. The plot follows Mary Shelley's first love and her romantic relationship with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, which inspired her to write her 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. An international co-production, the film stars Elle Fanning as Shelley, with Maisie Williams, Douglas Booth, Bel Powley, and Ben Hardy in supporting roles.
Viceroy's House is a 2017 fictional film directed by Gurinder Chadha and written by Paul Mayeda Berges, Moira Buffini, and Chadha. The film stars Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi, and Michael Gambon. It was selected to be screened out of competition at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.
How to Build a Girl is a 2019 coming-of-age comedy film directed by Coky Giedroyc, from a screenplay by Caitlin Moran, based on her 2014 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Johanna Morrigan, an aspiring music journalist in 1990s Wolverhampton. It stars Beanie Feldstein, Paddy Considine, Sarah Solemani, Alfie Allen, Frank Dillane, Laurie Kynaston, Arinzé Kene, Tadhg Murphy, Ziggy Heath, Bobby Schofield, Chris O'Dowd, Joanna Scanlan and Emma Thompson.
Beecham House is a short-lived British historical drama television series set in 1795, co-created, directed and produced by Gurinder Chadha. The six-part series was announced in August 2018 and was broadcast between Sunday 23 June 2019 and Sunday 21 July 2019. The series, set in Delhi during the Mughal period, depicts the lives of the Beecham family in their newly bought house. The family is headed by John Beecham, a former soldier with the East India Company who is "determined to make the house his safe haven".
The Perfect Candidate is a 2019 Saudi Arabian drama film directed by Haifaa al-Mansour. It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival. It was also selected as the Saudi Arabian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
