Celebrating the Art of Film. The Garden Cinema is an independent art-house cinema in Central London. We invite directors, producers, actors, and film commentators to talk about the films we show. Most of our podcast episodes are recorded post-screening, and with a live audience. We welcome recommendations! Our first few episodes feature Garden Cinema founder Michael Chambers.
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Actress Priya Kansara and Kulraj Phullar discuss Polite Society
28:36
28:36
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28:36
Nida Manzoor, creator of the BAFTA, Peabody, and Rose d’Or award winning sitcom We Are Lady Parts, made her feature directorial debut with Polite Society. This exuberant feminist action comedy, turns genre etiquette on its head whilst examining the complexities of navigating life as a British-Pakistani teenager. Actress Priya Kansara who plays the…
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Political muralism, Chilean street art, and UK Latino culture with Chile Estyle director Pablo Aravena
31:16
31:16
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31:16
Young people took to the streets with political muralism all over Chile in the late 60s, at the same time that young people in New York were starting modern graffiti, and May 68 took place in Paris. Chile Estyle is a documentary film which explores the past and present of Chile's unique street art tradition, which comes from a remix of political mu…
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Caméra d'Or winner director César Díaz on Our Mothers and Guatemala's recent history
28:32
28:32
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28:32
Ernesto (Armando Espitia) is a young Guatemalan anthropologist tasked with identifying the bones of the people killed by the military government in the 1980s. One day, while hearing the account of an old woman, he thinks he has found a lead that might guide him to his father, a 'guerrillero' who went missing during the war. Meanwhile, his mother Cr…
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Another Reality screening: Genre cinema in the Arab world
37:23
37:23
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37:23
AWAN partnered with The Arab Film Club to present Another Reality: Genre Shorts by Arab Women Filmmakers, here at the Garden Cinema, a programme curated by Sarah Agha. AWAN is the UK’s only contemporary multi-arts festival dedicated to showcasing inspiring works from Arab female artists. Sarah discusses the shorts with their respective directors, a…
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A film imploring us to look on to the other side of the wall - Sophie Monks Kaufman & Joe Miller on The Zone Of Interest
36:00
36:00
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36:00
Journalist and critic Sophie Monks Kaufman discussed the The Zone Of Interest with the Garden Cinema's Joe Miller. Sophie and Joe talk in-depth about all the inception of the film, the cinematography, the many layers and themes the film evokes, history, resonance, resistance and the dehumanisation of others.…
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SCALA!!! chat with directors Jane Giles & Ali Catterall
36:38
36:38
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36:38
...OR, THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE RISE AND FALL OF THE WORLD'S WILDEST CINEMA AND HOW IT INFLUENCED A MIXED-UP GENERATION OF WEIRDOS AND MISFITS A feature-length big screen documentary telling the riotous inside story of the infamous sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll repertory cinema which inspired a generation during Britain's turbulent Thatcher years. Jou…
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Visionary storytelling in the Black diaspora: Irenosen Okojie on Black To The Future
28:11
28:11
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28:11
We discuss new forms of storytelling, genre, Afrofuturism and conversations around storytelling amongst the Black diaspora with writer Irenosen Okojie who curated the Black To The Future festival. We are very pleased to be showing two of the programme's films here at the Garden Cinema. We strive to expand the reach of the films we show and look for…
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The Old Oak - Lead actor Dave Turner and Steve Topple discuss Ken Loach’s latest (and last?) film
30:50
30:50
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30:50
Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, tells the story of Syrian refugees relocated in a old mining village in the Northeast of England, amidst poverty, resentfulness and anger. As ever, Loach’s message is one of compassion and hope. Dave Turner who plays the lead character of TJ Ballantyne, the pub landlord, joined us at the Garden Cinema for a chat with journa…
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Chile50 - Chicago Boys and the neoliberal experiment in Chile - Discussion with Roberto Navarrete and John McEvoy
52:49
52:49
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52:49
Alborada teamed up with the Garden Cinema to show the documentary Chicago Boys, which explores the The film tells the story of the Chicago Boys, a group of Chilean economists who studied at the University of Chicago, under Milton Friedman returned to their country after Augusto Pinochet's coup to become the main architects of the neoliberal economi…
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BAATO - Q&A with Lucas Millard about his doc on encroaching industrialisation in Nepal
30:06
30:06
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30:06
Every winter Mikma and her family travel by foot from their village deep in the Himalayas of Nepal to sell local medicinal plants in urban markets. This year, construction of a new highway to China has begun in their roadless valley, and things are never going to be the same. The documentary film Baato, distributed by Tull Stories is at once a sens…
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Masculinity and femininity, South Norwood and Tina Turner - Chat with the Pretty Red Dress team
36:30
36:30
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36:30
We were joined by director Dionne Edwards, producer Georgia Goggin and editor Andonis Trattos, the team behind Pretty Red Dress, a BFI-distributed gem of a film currently on here at the Garden Cinema for a post-screening chat with our audience. Join us to delve behind the scenes of this wonderfully nuanced and upbeat film, as we chat about filming …
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AMANDA - A chat with Carolina Cavalli about her debut feature
28:36
28:36
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28:36
Writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly comic feature debut, which received its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, is a deliciously satirical character study of a twentysomething looking for purpose… and maybe also a friend. We had the opportunity to chat with Carolina over zoom about the film, her previous work, her time studying i…
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Arab women filmmakers - a panel chat about contemporary Arab film
40:49
40:49
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40:49
We chat to a panel of producers, actors and directors about the current film scene in the Arab world, what is means to be an "Arab film", what the sources of funding tend to be, the topics and genres that appeal most internationally, the intricacies of subtitling and other issues our audience asked about. The event was held as a launch night for th…
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Bella Ciao - Song Of Rebellion - the origins, power and international appeal of the anthem - Liberation Day
42:05
42:05
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42:05
To mark Italy's Liberation Day, we screened documentary Bella Ciao - Song Of Rebellion. The documentary traces the origins of the revolutionary song, the myths around it, its international appeal and use, its potential commercialisation. Directors Paul Russell and Andrea Vogt joined us to chat about making indie films, Bella Ciao and the deeply mov…
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Teenage rebel Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) returns to his upper-crust English public school, caught between the sadistic older boys known as the Whips and the first-year students, known as Scum, who are forced to do their bidding. The petty thefts and anti-social behavior of Travis and his two henchmen, Johnny (David Wood) and Wallace (Richard Wa…
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Memory, confronting the past and rediscovering Naples in Mario Martone’s Nostalgia
20:05
20:05
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20:05
We chatted to Italian director Mario Martone about his latest feature film, Nostalgia, which stars one of Italy's most famous working actors, Pierfrancesco Favino, sporting am eerily accurate Arabic accent. We delve together into the film's esoteric and spiritual dimensions, its gorgeous and loving portrait of Naples and its depictions of the city…
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”I’m very proud of her”: Curator John Marchant on Nan Goldin - All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
12:30
12:30
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12:30
Curator, artist and Brighton-resident John Marchant joined us here at the Garden Cinema for a discussion following our screening of Laura Poitras's All The Beauty And The Bloodshed. The film tells the story of photographer Nan Goldin's tireless campaign to expose the crimes of the Sackler family and the part they played in the opioid crisis in the …
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”He put people through absolutely grim endurance tests” - The Shining: BFI Classics writer Prof. Roger Luckhurst on the film
39:54
39:54
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39:54
We gathered here at the cinema after our screening of The Shining, as part of our Jack Nicholson season, with Professor Roger Luckhurst who wrote The Shining: BFI Film Classics. Roger shares with us gossip and tales from behind the scenes, tells us about the film's negative reception at the time and the differences with the novel and gives us some …
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Bar chat: Cityscapes, sweeping shots and an aimless Jack Nicholson in Antonioni’s The Passenger
25:01
25:01
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25:01
We gathered in the Garden Cinema den with our regular group of City Lit film students to discuss and share anecdotes about Antonioni's The Passenger, screened as part of our Celebrating Jack Nicholson season. The Passenger was one of our most popular members' suggestions. Grab a drink and listen in!By The Garden Cinema
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Dr Lucy Bolton on Davis vs Crawford, the ”crazy old lady trope” and the legacy of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
39:15
39:15
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39:15
Join us in the Garden Cinema Den for our post-film chat. Following our screening of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, as part of our Hollywood on Hollywood season, we all huddled around a drink in the den to chat about the film and listen to Dr Lucy Bolton share with us the gossip, highlights from and insights into the shoot. We chatted about the fil…
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Daoism on film, connection with the land and Chinese indie cinema - Return To Dust with Dr Kiki Tianqi Yu
9:22
9:22
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9:22
We held a Q&A with Dr Kiki Tianqi Yu following one of our screenings of Return To Dust. The film film follows Ma and timid Cao who have been cast off by their families and forced into an arranged marriage. Uniting with Earth’s cycles, they create a haven for themselves in which they can thrive. Dr Kiki Tianqi Yu talks about the film's depiction of …
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Migration & budget filmmaking: Film talk with Nana Mensah
15:47
15:47
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15:47
We are joined by writer/director/actress Nana Mensah. Mensah's first feature film, the award-winning Queen Of Glory, will be screening at the Garden Cinema on 26 November. The film follows the trials and tribulations of Sarah Obeng, the brilliant child of Ghanaian immigrants, who is quitting her Ivy League PhD program to follow her married lover to…
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Tabloid and state collusion, press freedom and awful cardigans: The Lost Honour Of Katharina Blum
18:21
18:21
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18:21
This week, we welcomed a group of screenwriting and film students from City Lit to watch The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, directed by Margarethe von Trotta and Volker Schlondorff and based on the book by Heinrich Boll. Blum a young woman living in West Germany in the 70s finds her life falling into ruins after she falls prey to a vicious smear ca…
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The pessimism of Film Noir, the optimism of Mike Leigh and the essence of comedy with Darren Richman
34:22
34:22
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34:22
"Over 12 half-hour episodes, we're seeing a man have a nervous breakdown". This week, we talk to journalist Darren Richman about some of his favourite genres and filmmakers. We discuss the pessimism of Film Noir and the optimism of Mike Leigh, the nature of comedy from Faulty Towers to the Coen Brothers and debate whether or not there is such a thi…
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A Life On Set - 60 years advising the industry’s biggest directors, from Huston to Zeffirelli
51:58
51:58
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51:58
This week, we speak to Angela Allen who has worked on the film sets of many celebrated films, including The Third Man, The African Queen and The Dirty Dozen, for nearly six decades, overseeing continuity, supervising scripts and advising directors. Angela shares with us anecdotes and personal stories from her time on and off the set. This podcast e…
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Revisiting the power of the big screen with MUBI
14:53
14:53
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14:53
We discuss the pleasure and power of the cinema experience and which films are better on the silver screen with MUBI's podcast host, journalist Rico Cagliano. We talk to Rico about the MUBI podcast seasons, cinemas he's researched and visited and share anecdotes about films that should be watched on a big screen, such as Lawrence Of Arabia and Wing…
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Almodovar and the versatility of Penelope Cruz with José Arroyo
33:34
33:34
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33:34
We talk about the films of Almodovar, his depiction of the Spanish civil war, Spanish cinema and Penelope Cruz with Film Professor José Arroyo, who has written extensively about the Spanish director and has interviewed him a number of times. We invited him to mark our upcoming Penelope Cruz season, to talk more generally about the actress, Almodova…
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Julian Assange’s father’s quest for justice in Ithaka
19:20
19:20
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19:20
We chat about the journalist's father and fiance's campaign to secure his release from Belmarsh prison and its depiction in feature documentary Ithaka with director Ben Lawrence. Speaking to us from his home in Australia, the filmmaker tells us more about his latest film, which follows the pair as they campaign to secure Assange's release. The film…
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Marlene Dietrich and the lasting power of stars with Dr Lucy Bolton
38:59
38:59
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38:59
We chat about Marlene Dietrich, her close working relationship with Josef Von Sternberg, the changes in her persona that came with her shift to Hollywood, comparisons with Mae West and Greta Garbo, and the enduring power of stars with Dr Lucy Bolton. Lucy is a Reader in Film Studies at Queen Mary University and her fields of research include film s…
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Documentary filmmaking and factual content with Dan Chambers
35:39
35:39
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35:39
We discuss what makes a good documentary, the rise of true crime and streamers and indulgent filmmaking with producer and commissioner Dan Chambers. Dan is a producer and commissioner, and is the co-founder and creative director of Blink Films. He was previously Director of Programmes at Channel 5 and has decades of experience in making, producing …
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All My Friends Hate Me with scriptwriting duo Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton
43:48
43:48
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43:48
We chat to Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton, the scriptwriting team behind the feature film All My Friends Hate Me. The writers met as school and have been performing sketches and double acts since then. They created the hilarious "web film" High Renaissance Man and had previously collaborated with director Andrew Gaynord on such comedy hits as Stath Le…
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The Quiet Girl with director Colm Bairéad
22:59
22:59
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22:59
We chat to Colm Bairéad at the Curzon offices about his first fiction feature film, The Quiet Girl, which is based on the short story Foster by Claire Keegan. We discuss the understated and restrained qualities of the film, his reasons for choosing to adapt Keegan's novel, and the "growing confidence" of Irish language filmmaking. We also debate th…
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The French Golden Age of Cinema with Pr Ginette Vincendeau
31:33
31:33
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31:33
We chat about the work of directors, such as Jean Vigo and Marcel Carné, their aesthetic considerations and the stories they chose to tell, as well as the lasting legacy of that era with Professor Ginette Vincendeau. Ginette is a Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London, and a regular contributor to Sight & Sound. Ginette has written exte…
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Cannes Award Winner Murina with director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic
38:33
38:33
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38:33
We chat to Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic whose new film ‘Murina’ won the Camera d’Or at Cannes last year. She discusses how the film tackles such emotional subjects as adolescence, cultural heritage, and family relationships in a patriarchal society. She’s interviewed by Michael Chambers, owner/manager of the cinema, and by Abla Kandalaft, a journali…
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