Hello December

1 Dec

It’s finally here! The end of 2020! It’s been one hell of a year but we are determined to end it on a wonderfully feel-good festive note. December is a time for cosying up in blankets with a hot drink and a Christmas favourite playing on the telly. So grab yourself a cup of tea and have a see what the RP team are recommending for you this December.

WHAT ARE WE UP TO?

It’s scary for us to say this out loud, but we’re already planning Women X 2021! Yes, that’s right. Our film festival is returning next year for three days of films, workshops, panels and fun! You can submit your short film from today via FilmFreeway. Short films must be under 20 minutes in length and must be director, producer or wrote by a woman or non binary film maker. It’s just £5.00 to submit and we’re accepting films until end of June, so don’t worry you have time!

We’re also launching our mentoring service RP: Evolve where we’ll be working with female or non binary film makers for 12 weeks to help take their script to a production plan. We created this because there are many courses and workshops out there, but we wanted something more personalised and proactive. Applications will be opening later this month here before we start our work in January!

We have rebranded our blog, so you can know call it RP: Editorial we’ve always used our website to promote female and non binary filmmakers, in fact since we launched our site in 2016 we’ve interviewed over 90 film makers! We’ve had some fantastic articles feature recently including Desirée’s piece An Ode to Shiv Roy all about Sarah Snook’s character in Succession, as well as insights into Josephine Decker’s Shirley and Miranda July’s Kajillionaire from Emily. Plus we covered Sheffield Short Film Festival too! As well as some thought pieces from Larissa and Beth on navigating creative careers during a pandemic.

We have also had some new podcast episodes go out including an episode on everyone’s Autumn obsession, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Neha’s favourite sitcom, New Girl and our thoughts on the haunting HBO documentary series The Vow. You’ll be able to catch more of our episodes this December, including some festive episodes, so if you’re not following us yet, fix it!

Lastly, some of our team got together on zoom to host a Christmas Crafternoon for one of our favourite charities Mind. Our paper snowflakes may have fallen apart, our film themed baubles may have looked terrifying and our Christmas tree cards? Well the less said about them the better. But we did have a lot of fun and donated £50.00 to Mind in the process too.

Films

Small Axe - BBC
The BBC are currently showing multiple films created and directed by the amazing Steve McQueen - Mangrove, Lovers Rock, Red White and Blue, Alex Wheatle, and Education. The collection is called Small Axe and the first to air was the fantastic Mangrove which I managed to catch at this year’s LFF and highly recommend. There’s such amazing talent involved in the films including Letitia Wright, John Boyega and Micheal Ward amongst many others. Myself and Emily are loving them and can’t wait to watch them all. You can watch and find out more here.

The Midnight Sky - Netflix
Dropping on Netflix on the 23rd December is The Midnight Sky, directed by and starring George Clooney, as well as Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, and Sophie Rundle. Neha said this feels like a space movie meets a disaster movie which if you ask me sounds like a treat! Set yourself a reminder here.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom - Netflix
We are so excited for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom which hits Netflix on 18th December! Based off August Wilson’s play, the film follows “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey in Chicago as tensions rise with the white management. This is sadly Chadwick Boseman’s last film so definitely check this out to watch him do what he does best. The film also stars the ever amazing Viola Davis - as Neha says, this is an absolute no brainer so get it on your watchlist.

The Mole Agent - Dogwoof
I managed to watch this as part of Leeds International Film Festival 2020 and I honestly enjoyed it so much! The Mole Agent is a documentary with a spy movie twist set in Chile and it begins with an ad looking for elderly men to apply. It turns out the job is to be a spy and go into a care home to check up on one of the women living there as her family suspects she is being mistreated. It’s extremely heartfelt, and Sergio is a joy to watch - it becomes a unexpectedly compassionate story focusing on the wonders of human connection.

8 Women - MUBI
François Ozon’s 8 Women is a musical murder-mystery film, so if you need another reason to watch it then that’s on you! Lilia describes this film as a kitschy visual delight, with lavish song and dance sequences that are random and jarring in the best way possible. The cast includes the amazing Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Deneuve along with many other brilliant actors. It’s a rollercoaster of a film and the perfect remedy to the Lockdown 2 blues. Catch the film screening on MUBI now.

Happiest Season - Hulu (U.S) Sky On Demand (U.K)

A film that has been much anticipated by our founder Caris Rianne who is a huge fan of Clea Duvall. Happiest Season is an LGBTQ Christmas film, a rarity! Starring Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis and a wonderful supporting cast, this film has been the topic of discussion in our team. Lauren’s favourite part was Aubrey Plaza and she’s not alone as many fans believe the film should have featured her relationship with Kristen Stewart more! Needless to say, with cinemas remaining closed in many parts of the UK, we’re happy to have a new Christmas release to watch a home!

TV SHOWS

The Undoing - SKY
Emily has been watching and loving The Undoing which is currently showing in the UK on Sky. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, the show is a wonderfully mysterious psychological thriller with Kidman playing a successful therapist dealing with various disasters. It’s definitely a show to add to your radar if it isn’t there already, being likened to Big Little Lies and The Night Of it’s not one to be missed. Plus, that hair!

The Crown - Season Four (Netflix)

The highly acclaimed royal drama returned last month, this season the focus is on the introduction of Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher, both played effortlessly by Emma Corrin and Gillian Anderson. Caris has been hooked on season not just for the storylines but for the costume design! Diana’s statement pieces have been re-invented included that wedding dress and long long veil.

Podcasts

All these podcasts can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or various other podcast platforms - check the link in each paragraph to find exactly where to listen.

The Dream - Witness Docs
Ashton is back with her regular podcast recommendations! Her first for December is The Dream which has two series looking at multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes and the wellness industry in America. Legally there is very little regulation which is terrifying and there are heartbreaking moments when hearing how people have been used by the people running the MLMs. It’s an eye opening podcast and both Ashton and Caris have now got the bug for MLM deep dives, which is influencing our next script….!

Fake Heiress - BBC Radio 4
Another podcast recommendation from Ashton is Fake Heiress - if you’re a fan of Shonda Rhimes, get listening because she is exec producing a Netflix drama called Inventing Anna which is based off the true story. The cast look amazing so if you want to know the story beforehand, including hearing from real people involved, then definitely check out this podcast.

Music

Good News - Megan Thee Stallion
Good News is Megan Thee Stallion’s much-anticipated debut studio album, following a string of successful mixtapes. Lilia describes it as political, personal and unapologetic - Meg directly references the murder of Breonna Taylor. If you’re a fan of Meg, you’d know that the journey to this album has not been easy. Between the general pressures of being a young Black woman in the industry and the infamous dispute with her original record label, Meg has had more set-backs than most in the rap business. But Good News was well worth the wait; Megan Thee Stallion is unmatched in her flows and clever word-play.

Books

I will be linking to the publishers or author’s website for each book - if you can, please consider buying these books (and others) from your local independent bookshop to support them!

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
I know this book has been everywhere because of winning the Booker Prize in 2019 but I’ve just finished it and have to shout about it! It’s definitely worth the hype surrounding it - it’s brilliantly written and as someone who loves books about various characters who connect in different ways, I honestly loved it. I can’t wait to read more of Bernadine Evaristo’s work. The book follows some amazing characters who feel so real which is a massive feat considering each person only has one section focusing specifically on their own perspective. If you haven’t yet gotten your hands on a copy, you can find out more about Girl, Woman, Other here.

Joy At Work by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein

Caris like many of us became enchanted by Marie Kondo with her Netflix show, but this book is also a great treat! Released earlier this year Joy of Work does what it says on the tin, help you simplify and organise your work life for more…joy! Caris found some great lessons within these pages on not just how to tidy your desk but also better manage your work load, emails and whether you really have to attend all of those meetings…here.

Other

Overcooked! and Overcooked! 2 - Nintendo
These games are an absolute JOY to play! I like to describe them as enjoyably stressful - they really do take your mind off everything else because if you don’t focus you’ll definitely burn the food you’re making. I’ve played both single player and multiplayer and it’s super fun either way. I do love playing with friends however as it really does make you all work together and shout at each other to chop that damn tomato before we run out of time! I highly recommend them, especially if you’re looking for some games to play with your household.

The Sims 4 - Snowy Escape

If you follow Caris on Twitter you’ll know she loves The Sims. With this expansion pack you can take your sims to Mount Komorebi for a ski holiday. With The Sims now being 20 years old, you do have to admire the continuous development for their fans. Available on Origin!

We just want to give a huge thank you to you, our audience, for supporting us this year. Whether you read our articles, watched our films, attended our festival, listened to our podcast, told a friend about us - thank you! It truly means the world to us. We hope you find something you enjoy on this list and we encourage you to support small businesses wherever possible when buying gifts this Christmas! And of course, as ever, thank you to our team for these recommendations.

We see that there’s a lot of pressure this year to ‘make up for things’ by having a big Christmas, just remember to look after yourself this time of year, we know it can’t be easy for everyone, better days are ahead but don’t pressure yourself!

Let us know if you have any recommendations and tell us what you’ve been loving over on our social media platforms. You can keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for our latest updates.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Stay safe, look after each other and keep well

Written by Sophie Duncan

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Rianne Pictures https://www.riannepictures.com