Seventh Row Podcast

In this episode, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith discuss the Japanese hidden gem My Small Land, the first feature film from Emma Kawawada. We fell in love with the film at the Berlinale earlier this year, and are excited that it's finally getting a Canadian release this week.

My Small Land, is the story of a Kurdish teenage girl, Sarya (Lina Arashi) who is an immigrant in Japan. She grew up just outside of Tokyo and has no memories of her home, which was colonised Kurdish territory in Turkey. Sarya ends up in an impossible situation when her family loses their work visas, and travel permission, and she suddenly becomes responsible for her younger siblings with no way to earn money legally. My Small Land follows in the tradition of social realism, and the style of filmmaking owes much to Kore-eda's small scale character dramas.

My Small Land will be screening at TIFF in Toronto from November 9 to 16 and in Charlottetown PEI until November 8. The film has also screened at VIFF in Vancouver and the Montreal Cinematheque. Watch for it on VOD soon if it's not coming to your city.

After a six-month hiatus, the Seventh Row podcast is back and revamped. We won't be publishing weekly, but we will regularly release episodes every time there's a film or topic we really, really care about.

Here's a preview of what's coming in November and December — many of which are members only episodes.

We also announce our next podcast season due out in 2023. We've been hard at work researching and preparing for this since May (hence the hiatus).

To become a member for exclusive access to all of our episodes, including all of our in-between season episodes, go to http://seventh-row.com/join

On today's episode, we look back at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival: both its many institutional failings when it comes to encouraging and promoting diversity and bunch of great films by women that we watched from the programme.

This episode of the podcast features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney and Executive Editor Orla Smith

Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition.

Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.

On this episode:

• Intro (0:00)
• How Kelly Reichardt's Showing Up fared at Cannes 2022 (2:40)
• The Cannes Film Festival's backwards approach to diversity (11:10)
• The award winners (18:17)
• What we thought of Cannes films we saw (27:12)
• Closing thoughts (1:00:25)

Show notes

• View the history of women directors at Cannes
• Read Alex's review of Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)
• Read Alex's review of Under the Fig Trees (Erige Sehiri)
• Read Alex's review of Everybody Loves Jeanne (Céline Devaux)
• Read Alex's review of Plan 75 (Chie Hayakawa)
• Read Alex's review of Falcon Lake (Charlotte Lebon)
• Read Orla's review of Aloners (Hong Seong-eun) from TIFF 2021

Related episodes

• Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes
• Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022
• Women at Cannes Ep. 3: Céline Sciamma at Cannes
• Women at Cannes Ep. 4: Naomi Kawase at Cannes
• Ep. 126: Run Woman Run: An Indigenous coming of age after 30 film
• Ep. 122: Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World
• Ep. 121: Ninjababy & Obvious Child: Unwanted pregnancies in romantic comedies
• Ep. 119: Mike Leigh's Naked
• Ep. 118: The Souvenir Part I and II
• Ep. 43: Normal People and On Chesil Beach (Members Only)
• Bonus 23: Sundance 2022: Fiction films (Members Only)

Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

On today's episode of the podcast, we discuss Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase who has been programmed at the Cannes Film Festival more than almost any other director this century, and why she's one of the best and most under-appreciated filmmakers.

This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and special guest Milly Gribben.

Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition.

Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.

On this episode:

• Intro (0:00)
• Who is Naomi Kawase? (11:45)
• Our introductions to Naomi Kawase (15:57)
• The themes in Naomi Kawase's films (26:00)
• Sound and sense of place in Kawase's films (47:15)
• Why are men so mad at Naomi Kawase? (51:48)
• Why Cannes hasn't always been the best launchpad for Naomi Kawase (1:04:50)
• Closing thoughts (1:07:47)

Show notes:

• View the history of women directors at Cannes
• Watch Naomi Kawase's TED Talk on her approach to cinema
• Read Lindsay Pugh's review of Sweet Bean on her website Woman in Revolt
• Read Lindsay's interview with Sweet Bean actress Kirin Kiki
• Read Alex's profile interview with Agnieszka Holland
• Read Orla's interview with Ammonite director Francis Lee

Related episodes:

• Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes
• Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022
• Women at Cannes Ep. 3: Céline Sciamma at Cannes
• Ep. 80: The Babadook and Prevenge: Motherhood in horror (Members' Only)
• Bonus 16: Watching Lena Dunham's Girls in 2021 (Members' Only)
• : Water Lilies and Jennifer's Body: Girlhood and compulsory heterosexuality (Member's Only)

Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

In 2020, we wrote an ebook called Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma, after Sciamma's fourth feature (and first Cannes Competition film), Portrait of a Lady on Fire, was released. We were surprised and delighted to see Sciamma gaining a huge following after years of being so underappreciated.

On this episode, we talk about Sciamma's greatness and how the industry was slow to catch up with it. We also fall into a long conversation about the wider pattern in the film industry of recognising female writer-directors for their writing rather than their directing, and why these fields are seen as so gendered.

This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Contributing Editor Lindsay Pugh

Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition.

Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.

On this episode:

• Who is Céline Sciamma? (4:51)
• How Sciamma's films have been misunderstood throughout her career (13:52)
• How Portrait of a Lady on Fire differs from Sciamma's earlier films (19:1)
• Sciamma's precision (32:06)
• How the film industry sees women as directors versus screenwriters (35:54)
• How has Portrait impacted Sciamma's career going forward? (53:55)

Show notes

• View the history of women directors at Cannes
• Read Lindsay's review of Portraits of resistance at Woman in Revolt
• Read Alex's interview with Sciamma's regular editor, Julien Lacheray
• Read Alex's in-depth conversation with the women behind Mouthpiece - Patricia Rozema, Amy Nostbakken, and Norah Sadava
• Read Alex's interview with director Andrew Haigh on the 10th anniversary of Weekend

Related episodes

• Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes
• Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022
• Ep. 128: Petite Maman and Céline Sciamma's temporary utopias
• Ep. 96: Water Lilies and Jennifer's Body: Girlhood and compulsory heterosexuality (Member's Only)

On today's episode, we look back on the career of one of our favourite filmmakers, Kelly Reichardt (First Cow, Certain Women), and ask why it's taken until her 8th feature, Showing Up, for her to get a slot in the Cannes Competition. Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition. Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.

Find out what we know so far about Kelly Reichardt's new film, Showing Up.

On this episode:

• About our Kelly Reichardt ebook, Roads to Nowhere (4:22)
• Who is Kelly Reichardt? (5:52)
• Why 2022 is The Year of Kelly Reichardt (9:02)
• Kelly Reichardt's history with Cannes and other festivals (10:36)
• Why we love Kelly Reichardt (28:42)
• Reichardt's explorations of capitalist systems (37:15)
• The finances of a Kelly Reichardt film (41:46)
• Kelly Reichardt is a comedic filmmaker! (59:14)
• Showing Up and Reichardt's collaborators (53:41)

Related episodes:

• Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes
• Ep. 90: Jeanne Dielman and Les Rendez-vous d'Anna: A Chantal Akerman mother's day (Members' Only)

Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

We kick off our #WomenAtCannes podcast season with an episode on the history of women at Cannes. We examine how Cannes works and uncover a number of surprising stats. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Associate Editor Brett Pardy.

Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition.

Sign up for updates on the podcast and other news about women directors at Cannes this year.

On this episode:

• How Cannes works (2:55)
• Running the numbers on women at Cannes (10:47)
• Chantal Akerman and Agnès Varda at Cannes (21:10)
• The importance of the Cannes sidebars (23:37)
• Learn more about the Women in the Cannes Competition Box Set (33:14)
• How Cannes markets itself (34:46)
• Cannes awards (38:05)
• The lack of intersectionality in this conversation (42:45)
• A case study on Cannes 2021 (46:58)
• Conclusion (55:39)
• Coming soon (1:00:25)

Related episodes:

• Bonus 28: Portraits of female artists: Part 2 (Members' Only)
• Ep. 114: Mia Hansen-Løve's Things to Come and Bergman Island (Members' Only)
• Ep. 102: Cannes 2021 (Members' Only)
• Ep. 90: Jeanne Dielman and Les Rendez-vous d'Anna: A Chantal Akerman mother's day (Members' Only)

Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

Cannes 2022 kicks off on May 17, so let's celebrate the wonderful work by women who have been at Cannes this year and in the past.

Join us for a podcast season starting May 11 on women directors in the Cannes Competition, and get the Box Set of books on women directors at Cannes.

The film world has responded to COVID with a surprising indifference. In this episode, we look at the current gold standard of pandemic depiction, examine several half-hearted engagements with COVID, and consider the future of COVID in movies. This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Associate Editor Brett Pardy

Show notes and related episodes:

• Follow airborne transmission expert Dr. Linsey Marr on Twitter
• Read Per Morten Mjølkeråen's interview with Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn director Radu Jude
• Read Brett's review of 76 Days from TIFF 2020
• Read Alex's review of Both Sides of the Blade
• Read Orla's interview with Searchers director Pacho Velez
• Read Alex's review of Young Plato
• Read Orla's review of Mija
• Read Orla's review of The Mission
• Bonus 27: Empathy on film
• Bonus 25: This is Going to Hurt and physician mental health
• Bonus 23: Sundance 2022: Fiction films
• Ep. 125: Berlinale 2022
• Ep. 116: Virtual film festivals: Taking stock of their past, present, and future
• Ep. 84: Berlinale 2021, Part 2: The Competition

Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.

As authors of the ebook Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma, the first book to be written about the French director, we had to talk about her new film, Petite Maman, on the podcast.

This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and Contributing Editor Lindsay Pugh.

On this episode:

• Why we love Céline Sciamma and Portraits of resistance (1:45)
• Related episodes (2:49)
• Petite Mamam summary (5:07)
• Lindsay's history with Céline Sciamma's films (6:37)
• Céline Sciamma's precise attention to detail (9:02)
• Why we like this film - a non-saccharine view of childhood (11:03)
• Petite Maman's relationship to Sciamma's prior films (19:59)
• Absences and goodbyes (26:26)
• Time in the film (31:00)
• The house's space (35:38)
• The fantasy element (39:29)
• How Sciamma portrays and directs children (45:15)
• Temporary utopias (47:00)
• What would kids think of the film? (59:47)
• Empathy in the film (1:01:30)
• Conclusion (1:04:02)

Show notes:

• Read Alex's full review of Petite Maman from Berlinale 2021
• As we discuss in the episode, Petite Maman builds upon the themes we discussed in Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma, the first ever book about French filmmaker Céline Sciamma, her process, her body of work. Portraits of resistance contains interviews with the cast and crew, as well as essays on the film and Céline Sciamma's career. You can purchase the book for $26.99 Canadian or become a Seventh Row member for $39.99 Canadian per year and choose Portraits of resistance as the free ebook you receive for joining.

Related episodes:

• Ep. 96: Water Lilies and Jennifer's Body: Girlhood and compulsory heterosexuality (Member's Only)
• Ep. 90: Jeanne Dielman and Les Rendez-vous d'Anna: A Chantal Akerman mother's day (Member's Only)
• Ep. 84: Berlinale 2021, Part 2: The Competition (Member's Only)
• Ep. 30: Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.