October is a pretty busy month for us here at Rianne Pictures - we are keeping very busy with our upcoming festival, Women X, whilst also trying to look after ourselves and not burn out. This month is also Black History Month UK, and October 10th is World Mental Health Day - check out the links to find out how you can learn more, do more, and get involved. Of course, it’s also Halloween so get your list of scary films ready to marathon on the 31st! We some fab team recommendations this month so keep reading to find out more!

What Are We Up To?

It’s finally happening - our film festival takes place on Saturday 24 - Sunday 25 October! You can buy tickets to our upcoming film festival Women X, celebrating women and non binary creators. We announced our film selection last month which features a selection of fantastic short films from the UK and various countries around the world! We have five strands of short films and documentaries, as well as panels featuring brilliant speakers and workshops which are worth checking out if you're in need of some inspiration.

You can buy a digital pass for £5.00 giving you full access to the weekend’s activities or a digital plus pass for £8.00 and we’ll send your a festival pack in the post! (UK only sorry - we can’t afford all that postage!)

Our writing team covered Glasgow Short Film Festival recently, reviewing some of the exciting shorts that they had on offer. You can read all about them over on the blog. We also had some great articles on Bi Visibility Day including our founders own take on Brittany Pierce and the bisexual representation in Glee, yes we let her write a Glee piece in 2020. In October we have some exciting interviews coming up, along with some great articles on life post lockdown and our Halloween series!

The podcast gang did a great episode on Heist Films and the lack of women involved in them along with a special episode on Bisexual Representation. In October we have an episode on Jessica Chastain, Black representation in the UK in film and of course…a Halloween special!

Our Team’s Top Picks

Film

BFI London Film Festival 2020 - October 7-18
Myself and Caris have industry accreditation to this year’s BFI London Film Festival (first time for both of us!) and we honestly can’t wait to get stuck in to the programme! There are some greatly anticipated films screening including Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, Steve McQueen’s Mangrove, and Francis Lee’s Ammonite, amongst many, many others. You can still get tickets and check out the programme at the LFF website here.

American Utopia - HBO
The concert film American Utopia is due to air on HBO on the 17th October after it premiered at Toronto International Film Festival last month. Courtney is super excited to see how David Byrne’s tour translates to a concert doc, especially as it is directed by Spike Lee!

The Walrus and The Whistleblower - Bunbury Films
Topically similar to Blackfish, Canadian documentary, The Walrus and The Whistleblower follows Phil Demers who used to be a trainer at Marineland. He became a whistleblower about the animal abuse there and the doc shows his fight. Alina loved the film and has said the cinematography is beautiful - it also won the audience award at Hot Docs (one of my favourite festival names). We are unsure when it will be available to watch in the UK but check out more about it here and add to your watchlist!

The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Netflix
Set your Netflix alert for The Trial of the Chicago 7 which is coming to the streaming site on October 16th. Aaron Sorkin's latest film follows the Chicago Seven who were a group of anti-Vietnam War protesters who, in 1969, were charged with conspiracy. Neha is greatly looking forward to the legal drama which stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Rylance amongst many other big names.

TV Shows

Chewing Gum - Channel 4
If you loved I May Destroy You and are a fan of Michaela Coel (which you definitely should be) then check out her earlier show, Chewing Gum, which is currently available to watch on Channel 4 on demand and Netflix. Set in London, the show follows Tracy (Coel), a shop assistant who wants to discover more about sex and the world around her in general. It’s a brilliant, hilarious, genius show and Neha and myself are big fans.

Eastenders - BBC One
I’m sure soaps don’t need much promotion (I see no signs of the main ones ever cancelling) but Pearl recommends watching Eastenders right now as there is a fantastic storyline about domestic abuse and how lockdown has led to an increase. It’s an important topic to cover and soaps can be a great way to raise awareness of such issues. You can watch Eastenders most weeknights on BBC One.

Ghosts Series 2 - BBC One
Starring two of my favourite British actresses, Lolly Adefope and Charlotte Ritchie, Ghosts follows a young couple who unexpectedly inherit a huge country house haunted by those who died there over the last hundreds of years. Alison (Ritchie) has an accident which means she can now see and hear the ghosts. It’s a super fun little show made up of half the Horrible Histories cast and the second series has just started! Myself and Ashton adore it and highly recommend. You can catch series 1 on BBC iPlayer (series 2 will be available in full here once all episodes have aired).

Cursed Films - Shudder
A rather Halloween appropriate pick is Cursed Films, a docuseries exploring some of the most famous tragedies that happened on the sets of various horror films and the curses people believed caused them. The stories can be heartbreaking but Beth also found them intriguing and felt like she really learned a lot about the importance of safety precautions on a film set! You can find the series on Shudder.

Community - Netflix
I’ve been having a little throwback and started rewatching Community which I watched the first 5 seasons of a few years ago. I decided to rewatch it all and I’m now on season 6 which I’m loving! It’s a very offbeat, fun show which is a great source of escapism for me. I’m probably preaching to everyone who has already watched it, but if you haven’t then I definitely recommend trying it if you fancy some light entertainment.

The Boys Season 2 - Amazon Prime

2020 is the first year since 2009 that no Marvel superhero film has been released! If you need something to fill the void, Caris recommends The Boys on Amazon Prime. Set in a world where superheroes are A list celebrities and there are a team of men (The Boys) determined to reveal the corruptness of them, it’s a show for those who love superheroes and for those who are also maybe a bit fed up of them. The second season is releasing an episode every week and there’s some incredible new characters to keep the momentum from the first season going.

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark - Sky Go

True Crime documentaries have been thrown at us in an abundance over the past few years, some have been good, bad and down right weird. Sometimes it’s hard to remember if Tiger King actually happened. But Caris has started watching I’ll Be Gone In The Dark and has been enchanted by it. The difference with the show is that as much as it tells the story of the Golden State Killer it also encapsulates the journey of Michelle McNamara as she writes a book about and investigates the serial killer, who was finally brought to justice shortly after her death. It’s thrilling, disturbing and heartbreaking.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

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!

The StoryGraph - Book Logging Website
I’m a huge reader and I’ve never been a fan of Goodreads - it’s clunky, not user friendly and it’s owned by Amazon and I’m actively trying to avoid using Amazon and it’s related products etc. I found out about The StoryGraph which is currently in beta but still already better than Goodreads, and you can transfer your info etc. over! It was founded by avid reader Nadia Odunayo and you can tell it’s being built with passion! It has brilliant ways of searching for books tailored to what you like and also taking into account what you don’t like. I highly recommend setting up an account and trying it out.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
I love a cheesy, happy queer YA novel and a truly fab one I read in September was You Should See Me in a Crown. The protagonist is Liz Lighty (best character name I’ve heard in a while) who has to run for prom queen to try and win a college scholarship in her midwestern town full of prom fanatics. It’s a feel good, angsty, high school story with fantastic Black queer female representation! Read more about it here.

Black Futures edited by Kimberly Drew & Jenna Wortham
Preordering books is a great way to support authors and their new works and Desirèe has recommended checking out a wonderful upcoming book, Black Futures! Edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, Black Futures is a collection of works (poetry, images, essays, and so much more!) answering the question of what it means to be Black and alive. Contact your local independent bookshop to preorder and check it out here.

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 Echo Chamber Podcast
The Echo Chamber is a podcast that Neha has been loving recently! It’s by and for Black Britons, hosted by the excellent Jade and Ez, who share their perspectives as Black working class women in Britain. It’s a fun podcast which we highly recommend - it also has one of my favourite podcast cover arts! You can find out more here.

The Night Driver - The Australian
If you’re looking for a new true crime podcast, Lauren’s got you covered - The Night Driver from The Australian discusses the disappearance of Janine Vaughan, a woman who gets into a car in front of her friends after a night out and she’s still never been found after 19 years. You can find out more about it here.

Latinx Lens
Rosa Parra and Catherine Gonzales have a brilliant podcast called Latinx Lens, where they discuss Latinx representation in film and television. Alina has been loving the podcast and finds it incredibly interesting to hear about Latinx representation from two Latinas. They’ve had episodes dedicated to icons like Rita Moreno and Edward James Olmos as well as reviewing new films! Check out the podcast here.

Bunga Bunga - Wondery
Ashton is currently listening to Bunga Bunga, a podcast about Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi, who became one of the most powerful men in the world. The narrator brings hilarious twists to it and Ashton is looking forward to finding out how the words “Bunga Bunga” were enough to take him down…

Dare To Lead - Brené Brown

Earlier this year Brené Brown launched her first podcast Unlocking Us which Caris has been obsessed with. If that wasn’t enough, she’s now launching a second show called Dare to Lead based on her book launching on October 19th which is funnily enough Caris’ birthday too! The show will be available for free on Spotify.

I hope something on this list catches your attention and you find yourself a new favourite! We love sharing our recommendations and if you have any for us, let us know on any of our social media platforms. As always, a big thank you to our whole team for their fab recommendations!

Keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for our latest updates. Let us know what you’re looking forward to this month!

Stay safe, look after each other and keep well

Written by Sophie Duncan

Hello October

What Are We Up To?

Our Team’s Top Picks