London Film Festival to open with focus on women in film

Final preparations are under way for the opening of the London Film Festival which, this year, puts the focus on the role of women in film.

Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep and Helena Bonham Carter will be among the stars on the red carpet later for the gala screening of period drama Suffragette.
Some 240 feature films from 72 countries will screen over 12 days.
Festival director Clare Stewart declared the 2015 programme as "the year of the strong woman".
"I'm thrilled that the opening night film has enabled us to draw attention for what it means for women to be working behind the camera, as well as stoke debate around strong roles for women and girls in front of the camera," Stewart told the BBC.
She described Suffragette as "a film made by British women about British women who change the course of history".
Joining the stars on the red carpet in Leicester Square will be Helen Pankhurst, the great grand-daughter of women's rights activist Emmeline Pankhurst (played by Streep) and Laura Pankhurst, the great great grand-daughter of the suffragette leader.

Stewart said the festival's theme coincided with "an extraordinary year" in terms of the depth and range of roles for women.

Among the strong female roles at the festival are two played by Cate Blanchett.

In Truth, which also stars Robert Redford, she plays CBS journalist and 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes, who risked her career to find the "truth" and expose a story on US President George W Bush.

Set in 1950s Manhattan, Carol sees Blanchett play a woman trapped in a loveless marriage who falls for a younger woman, played by Rooney Mara.

With female roles in the film industry under such scrutiny, the LFF has partnered with Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis to hold a global symposium on gender in media.

"It will look at what the industry can do to take proactive steps," said Stewart. "One of the things that frequently gets commented on is the difference for women actors in terms of pay grades again men and the opportunities for women directors."

The LFF programme features 46 female directors in the features category. "That sounds great, but's that only 20% of the overall programme," said Stewart.

"What's interesting is that once you start looking at the first feature, documentary and short films you see a high representation of women directors which suggests there are barriers for women who are trying to scale up their projects.

"When you are working in the nimble independent sector it is much more equitable."

The festival will close on 18 October with Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs biopic, starring Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet.

Other films include the UK premiere of crime drama Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Lady in the Van, starring Dame Maggie Smith as an elderly woman who lives on writer Alan Bennett's driveway, will have its European premiere.

Trumbo, with Bryan Cranston and Dame Helen Mirren, tells the story of Dalton Trumbo, the Hollywood screenwriter who was blacklisted after refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947.

Also on the bill are Ben Wheatley's High-Rise, starring Tom Hiddleston, The Program, Stephen Frears' film about disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong and sci-fi romantic thriller The Lobster, starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz.

Netflix's Beasts of No Nation, starring Idris Elba as an African warlord, is among the films in official competition, as is Tangerine - a film about two transgender sex workers on the streets of Los Angeles which was shot on iPhones.

Bill Cosby sued by model over alleged sexual assault

A 25-year-old model has sued US comedian Bill Cosby, alleging he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2008.

Chloe Goins claims Mr Cosby drugged and molested her when she was 17.
The civil lawsuit accuses Mr Cosby of "childhood sexual abuse" and demands damages of at least $75,000 (£49,000). Ms Goins is also seeking a jury trial.
Mr Cosby, 78, is facing a series of sexual assault accusations dating back decades. He has denied the claims.
The star is due to testify on Friday in a separate lawsuit brought by Judy Huth, who accused the comedian of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old.

More than 50 women have come forward publicly over the past year with allegations including drugging, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape - all of which Mr Cosby denies.
In most cases, the alleged incidents date back decades, meaning they fall outside the time limit for legal action.
But Ms Goins' allegations do fall within California's statute of limitations, and prosecutors are also now reviewing the evidence for possible criminal charges.
The model told reporters: "Today I recognise that I've taken legal action that many of the other victims of Bill Cosby will never be able to take. This has gone on long enough, it's time Bill Cosby was held accountable for his crimes."
Ms Goins' lawyer Spencer Kuvin said the alleged assault happened before her 18th birthday in May 2008. Cosby's lawyer Marty Singer has previously claimed she was referring to an event at the Playboy Mansion that August.
Mr Cosby's spokesman Andrew Wyatt declined to comment to the Reuters news agency on Tuesday about Ms Goins' lawsuit.

Suffragette star Meryl Streep calls for equality

Meryl Streep says she finds it "infuriating" that box office buzz for a film is often driven by film critics who are overwhelmingly male.

The Oscar-winning actress plays women's rights activist Emmeline Pankhurst in the film Suffragette.
The period drama, which also stars Carey Mulligan, opened the London Film Festival on Wednesday.
Speaking before its gala screening, she bemoaned the "lack of inclusion" of women in enterprises around the world.
"If men don't look around the the board of governors table and feel something is wrong when half the people there are not women then we're not going to make any progress," she said.
Talking about the film industry, Streep said: "A huge part of this business is driven by buzz. I wanted to find out what controls buzz."

Suffragettes in their own words
Watch interviews recorded by the BBC in the 1950s and 60s
She said she had counted the numbers of approved critics and bloggers on the influential Rotten Tomatoes website and found that 168 were women while 760 were men. The New York Film Critics Circle had 37 men and two women.
"Men and women are not the same, sometimes their tastes diverge," Streep said. "The word isn't disheartening It's infuriating. People accept this as received wisdom... we need inclusion."
Meanwhile, activists campaigning for greater support for victims of domestic violence released smoke flares and lay across the red carpet at the premiere in Leicester Square.
The protesters carried banners saying "cuts kill" and "dead women can't vote".
The red carpet was temporarily blocked but the event later resumed with some women escorted away by security guards.

'Not funny or romantic'

Suffragette, written by Abi Morgan, tells the story of young East End laundry woman Maud Watts (Mulligan) who becomes an activist fighting to gain women the vote.
Set in 1912-13, it shows how the women in the suffrage movement attacked property and bombed post boxes to make their voices heard.
The cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson.
Morgan, who wrote The Iron Lady in which Streep played Margaret Thatcher, said the film had been "hard" to get made because it was fronted by "an ensemble of women" who were "not being funny or romantic".

Mulligan said: "It's a film to mark the achievement of what these women did and what they gave to us, but it also highlights where we are in the world. We still live in a society that's sexist."

Director Sarah Gavron said the idea of making a biopic of Emmeline Pankhurst had been considered, but that she deliberately didn't want to tell the story of "an exceptional woman".

"What we were interested in is the story of the ordinary woman, the woman with no platform, no entitlement, the working class woman who is so often at the vanguard of change who rarely gets talked about.

"We thought that to follow that woman would make it connect with women all over the world today."

Rihanna opens up about Chris Brown assault

Pop star Rihanna says she feels she has been "punished over and over" by the attention surrounding her assault at the hands of ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.

The singer has opened up about the repercussions of the 2009 incident in an interview with Vanity Fair.
Pictures of her bruised face surfaced after the assault in Brown's car.
Asked about becoming "a poster child for victims of domestic abuse", she said she felt forced to relive the "very serious" incident by the media.

She told the magazine: "Well, I just never understood that, like how the victim gets punished over and over. It's in the past, and I don't want to say, 'Get over it,' because it's a very serious thing that is still relevant; it's still real.

"A lot of women, a lot of young girls, are still going through it. A lot of young boys too. It's not a subject to sweep under the rug, so I can't just dismiss it like it wasn't anything, or I don't take it seriously.

"But, for me, and anyone who's been a victim of domestic abuse, nobody wants to even remember it. Nobody even wants to admit it.

"So to talk about it and say it once, much less 200 times, is like… I have to be punished for it? It didn't sit well with me."

Brown was sentenced to five years of probation following the assault. But the pair got back together in 2012, and Rihanna told Vanity Fair she thought she could change him.

"I was that girl who felt that, as much pain as this relationship is, maybe some people are built stronger than others," she said. "Maybe I'm one of those people built to handle [things] like this.

"Maybe I'm the person who's almost the guardian angel to this person, to be there when they're not strong enough, when they're not understanding the world, when they just need someone to encourage them in a positive way and say the right thing.

'You're the enemy'

"I was very protective of him. I felt that people didn't understand him. Even after… But you know, you realise after a while that in that situation you're the enemy.

"You want the best for them, but if you remind them of their failures, or if you remind them of bad moments in their life, or even if you say I'm willing to put up with something, they think less of you - because they know you don't deserve what they're going to give.

"And if you put up with it, maybe you are agreeing that you [deserve] this, and that's when I finally had to say, 'Uh-oh, I was stupid thinking I was built for this.' Sometimes you just have to walk away."

She told the magazine she does not hate Brown and would "care about him until the day I die". But she added: "We're not friends, but it's not like we're enemies. We don't have much of a relationship now."

BBC argues case for popular shows like Strictly

The BBC is expected to argue the case for popular shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Sherlock as it responds to a government green paper on its future

The broadcaster will argue the public "wants and expects the BBC to deliver entertainment," amid suggestions it is too focused on ratings.
It will also make a case for the popular music stations Radio 1 and 2, saying they play a greater variety of music than commercial rivals.
The response is due at 10:00 BST.
It comes as the government closes a public consultation into the renewal of the BBC's charter, which raised several key questions:
What is the overall purpose of the BBC?
What services and content should it provide?
How should the BBC be funded?
How should the BBC be governed and regulated?
When the green paper was launched in July, culture secretary John Whittingdale said hard questions" would be asked about the size and ambition of the BBC and said a decision had to be made on whether the corporation should try to do "all things" or become more "precise"

More than 80,000 people have responded, he told the Conservative Party Conference earlier this week.

The BBC's own response is expected to be more than 100 pages long, and will include plans for a radical programme of reform; including greater efficiency and a drive to increase profits from the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.

It will counter the suggestion that the BBC should pull back from "crowd-pleasing" shows, saying: "Competition on a Saturday night has been part of the TV landscape for generations and drives up quality - with the viewer being the winner".

The document will also show that 49% of Radio 1's playlist is comprised of artists without a top 10 single, while for Capital FM it is just 12%; and that 27% of BBC One's primetime output is factual, compared to 12% on ITV.

The corporation is also expected to ask for the government to wait 11 years, rather than 10, before debating the BBC's charter again - thus removing discussions from the election cycle.