Free Thinking Folgen

Glenda Jackson (May 1936-June 2023) starred in many plays and films. One of those was Sunday Bloody Sunday where she plays part of a love triangle in John Schlesinger's follow up to his Oscar winning Midnight Cowboy. The plot written by Penelope Gilliat centres on an artist who has relationships with a female job consultant and a male doctor. Was the 1971 film ahead of its times? Matthew Sweet re-watched it with guests including Glenda Jackson, playwright Mark Ravenhill, film historian Melanie Williams and BFI National Archive curator Simon McCallum. They discuss the different elements of the film, including the score, which features the trio Soave sia il vento from Mozart's opera Così fan tutte, the very precise decor and evocation of late 60s London and filming inside a Jewish synagogue. This programme was recorded in July 2022.Producer: Fiona McLeanSunday Bloody Sunday is available on Blu-rayYou can find Matthew Sweet discussing other classics of British Cinema in the Free Thinking archives including:British New Wave Films of the 60s - Joely Richardson and Melanie Williams evaluate the impact and legacy of Woodfall Films, the company behind Look Back in Anger, A Taste of Honey and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09ysnl2An extended interview with Mike Leigh, recorded as he released his historical drama Peterloo, but also looks back at his film from 1984 Four Days in July https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000tqwEarly Cinema looks back at a pioneer of British film Robert Paul and at the work of Alice Guy https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dy2bPhilip Dodd explores the novel and film of David Storey's This Sporting Life with social historian Juliet Gardiner, journalist Rod Liddle, writer Anthony Clavane and the author's daughter Kate Storey https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09j0rt6Samira Ahmed convenes a discussion about British Social Realism in Film https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pz16k

What exactly is a portrait? As the National Portrait Gallery re-opens and Sheffield Documentary Festival begins, Shahidha Bari talks to the gallery's Chief Curator Alison Smith, film-makers Kim Longinotto and Franky Murray Brown about their film Dalton's Dream, photographer Johny Pitts, whose project Home is Not a Place moves to the Photographers’ Gallery in London and New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza Ruiz about an oral history project with 1970s feminist artists.Producer: Sofie VilcinsYou can hear music relating to an image held in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery every day on BBC Radio 3's Breakfast programme next week and an episode of the weekly curation of Words and Music inspired by portraits is broadcast on Sunday June 18th and then available on BBC Sounds for a month. On BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds a series called Close Encounters presented by Martha Kearney invites ten leading figures of today to the newly refurbished National Portrait Gallery to champion a favourite picture from the Gallery's collection. The NPG re-opens after refurbishment on June 22nd 2023. The NPG has linked up with Creative Southampton to open a show at Southampton City Art Gallery and Museums: which is a follow up to a project run by the NPG with Sheffield Galleries. Joshua Reynolds' birth on July 16th 1723 is being marked by an exhibition in the city of his birth at the Box Plymouth which runs until October 29thJohny Pitts' work has been on show in Sheffield, Edinburgh and is now opening at the Photographers Gallery London this June. The Sheffield Doc Festival runs June 14th to 19th premiering a host of films, tv and podcasts which will be coming your way soon. The screenings include Dalton's Dream on 15th June, by Kim Longinotto and Franky Murray Brown, which tracks the journey of the first non-British and Black man to win X-Factor UK and the new life which follows Blood & Fire: Our Journey Through Vanley Burke's History runs at Soho House in Birmingham until Nov 4th 2023

Edinburgh GP Gavin Francis has been reading the writings of Thomas Browne (1605 -1682), who travelled to Padua and Leiden to qualify in medicine and then wrote on topics including religion, burial and examples of false understanding of science at the time. A Fortunate Woman - a depiction of a country doctor working now - takes inspiration from A Fortunate Man published in 1967 by John Berger and photographer Jean Mohr. Author Polly Morland joins Gavin Francis and New Generation Thinker Matt Smith from Strathclyde University, who is working on a history of health and medicine and who researches mental health, to discuss with Rana Mitter how our ideas have changed.Producer: Julian SiddleYou can hear Gavin Francis discussing Ancient Wisdom and Remote Living in a previous Free Thinking episode available on BBC Sounds and as the Arts & Ideas podcast https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000q3by There's more about Thomas Browne in an episode devoted to his writings https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02tw4xw Matt Smith discusses Ritalin in an episode about Resting and Rushing https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bp2c and an Essay for Radio 3 looks at The Magic Years, a manuscript found in the American Psychiatric Association archives, written when the eradication of mental illness was believed possible https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08j9x3c Ways of Talking about Health looks at new research from UK universities https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000q12w Mental Health hears from Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith and New Generation Thinker Dr Sabina Dosani https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016ynv