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 Frame’s Melanie Iredale about their time at Scotland’s only annual festival dedicated to powering women in film.

Next, she heads to the BFI London Film Festival to meet actor Deba Hekmat and writer Helen Simmons, whose film Last Swim has its premiere at this year’s festival. This coming of age drama tells the story of Ziba, a young woman who celebrates her A-Level results with friends while grappling with a personal secret. With Anna, Deba discusses the authenticity of the film’s dialogue, how it captured Gen Z sensibilities almost perfectly, and how she resonated with the character of Ziba. Helen reflects on working with a translator to capture an authentic Farsi that is spoken by Ziba and her mother in Last Swim, as well as speaking about the lack of representation of driven and intelligent young women in film. Anna also catches up with some friends of the podcast when she is out and about at LFF.

Finally, it’s off to Spain for a preview of the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival. Anna sits down with festival director Sandra Lipski to discuss some of her feminist festival highlights. Sandra gives us an insight into the 2024 lineup, including the festival’s plan to welcome five time Academy Award-nominee Annette Bening to Mallorca's sunny shores.

Films Mentioned:
Last Swim (2024)
Black Box Diaries (2024)
Anora (2024)
Conclave (2024)
All We Imagine As Light (2024)
Twiggy (2024)
The Extraordinary Miss Flower (2024)
Las chicas de la estación (2024)
The Grifters (1990)
The Outrun (2024)
Endurance (2024)
Emilia Perez (2024)
Your Fat Friend (2023)
Widow Clicquot (2024)
Hoard (2024)

Principal Partners: Vanessa Smith and Peter Brewer
Our partners for this episode: Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival

You can buy tickets for Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival from the 17th October 2024 via this link: https://www.evolutionfilmfestival.com/tickets

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Host: Anna Smith
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Producer: Charlotte Matheson
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