hello from new york. i'm tom brook and welcome to talking movies. in today's programme, highlights from one of the most prestigious cinema events in north america, the 62nd annual new york film festival. it was two weeks of powerful cinema. a new film from pedro almodovar starring julianne moore and tilda swinton. the film is about bearing witness. that reliance on fellowship, i think, is something really important. also on offer, veteran british film—maker mike leigh's new picture, hard truths, in which he collaborates once again with marianne jean—baptiste.

festival goers thought she gave a brilliant portrayal. a consummate character actress, and she's great. and heartening news: young people have become the new lifeblood of film festivals. we see that, over the course of the whole year, 60% of our audience members are under 45 and 50% are under 35. it's been a busy time for film festivals. in recent weeks, we've had venice, toronto, telluride, new york and london. these film events have provided us with some powerful cinema, but we're going to focus on some of the highlights from the new york film festival, and we begin with a bit of an overview. it's autumn in manhattan, and, for movie lovers, a top destination was the new york film festival. like, everybody has a genre that they enjoy, and here at the new york film festival, it kind ofm _ it covers everything. the new york film festival is a well—curated, classy affair.

over two weeks, more than 70 full—length feature films from 2a different countries were shown. it brought in lesser—known directors and big—name stars. many of the films, indirectly or directly, reflected some of the tensions and tumult at large in the world today. whoo! that's it, el! you're doing great. the new york film festival opened with nickel boys, an adaptation of a pulitzer prize—winning novel telling the story of two young black men held in an abusive, racist reform school in 1960s florida. visually ambitious, it's a story that unfolds in the point of view of the main characters. the camera is showing what they see and experience. maybe you can look poetically at a time period from a person of colour�*s eyes, that hasn't been visualised poetically from the centrality of the black experience. some admirers view nickel boys as pushing the boundaries of cinema, but the opening night cloud was divided.

——of cinema, but the opening night crow was divided. the reaction to the film was all over the map, from people who absolutely loved it, to people who absolutely despised it. it was a daring choice for a... and an unconventional choice for a first opening—night film, cos it's not what i would call a crowd—pleaser. with nickel boys launching the festival and steve mcqueen�*s world war ii epic, blitz, shown on the last night, a milestone was reached as it marked the first time the new york film festival opened and closed with the work of a black film—maker. and one of america's most celebrated black figures was also part of the festival withjimmy, an impressionistic film which showed the late, prolific author and civil rights activist james baldwin in paris, where he lived for several years beginning in 1948. we took the film—maker to baldwin's former home in new york, not far from the film festival. you accompany someone as they're. .. ..uncovering themselves in a place outside of their own, finding pieces of themselves in a foreign place

that they couldn't find in their own home. vietnam was represented in the festival with viet and nam, the story of two lovers, coal miners. it's not intended as a gay love story, but, as the director told me, as an impressionistic representation of vietnam in the past, present and future, but especially the trauma of the country's past. i understand that the film was banned in vietnam. why was that? nobody can know clearly except that the cinema department says that the film is a dark and negative portrayal of the country. that's the only reason we know. on the opening weekend of the new york film festival, it rained. but that didn't deter festival—goers, many of them young people. young people have become the new lifeblood for film festivals in new york and london, and they definitely want to embrace the long—established artform of cinema. i think a lot of young people are engaging more with media

that a lot of people think is kind of outdated, but... or i think there's kind of this insinuation that film is dying, and that's just not true. for the individuals involved in the running of the new york and london film festivals, it's good news that young people are coming to their venues. in our own surveys, we see that, over the course of the whole year, 60% of our audience members are under 45 and 50% are under 35. and so for that, those numbers are, like, terrific for us in terms ofjust even our year—round numbers, much less the new york film festival. similar increases are also being seen by the british film institute, which also runs the future film festival, the uk's largest film festival for young people. we are seeing our audiences under 30, under 25 really rising. i think this year, half of our bookers for the london film festival are booking for the first time and are under30. this upsurge in young people's numbers didn't

come from nowhere. these institutions have worked assiduously to cultivate new young audiences. keeping prices low and thoughtful curation are key. offering something unique to the cinema—going experience can really bring in young people. we recently played bela tarr's satantango at the bfi imax, 7.5 hours, starting at 11pm through to the morning, but we had over 200 people in the imax, mostly a young audience. so i think it's almost like pinching your skin and how much can you kind of feel your cinema experience. mumbai has never looked quite so striking as it does in the indian drama all we imagine as light. this film has got a lot of international recognition in recent weeks, and it's certainly brought indian arthouse cinema back into the conversation in the west. emma jones has been finding out more. emma: this is a type of story

from india some viewers may feel they've never seen before. the intertwining lives of two women working at a mumbai hospital. delicately, director payal kapadia traces the scenario they face. prabha, abandoned by a husband who went to europe after their marriage, while her younger flatmate, anu, a hindu, loves a muslim man. with women in india, they could be financially independent, but there is still not a lot of autonomy with what they choose to do with their personal life. and it sort of infantilises women to do this, that you could be a 25—year—old warmer who makes her own money, who provides for her family back home, but still cannot decide who to be with or who to marry. for me, this...this is what the film is also about. it's still considered audacious foran indian director to explore financial independence and sexual desire in women. all: thank you. and the joy of the film's makers at its world premiere at cannes might partly have been down to being history—makers.

this was the first indian film in competition at cannes for 30 years, the first by a woman, and kapadia became the first indian film—maker to wind the prestigious grand prix. some critics have wondered if there has been a subtle prejudice in the west against india's storytelling, but kapadia thinks the country's own size may be a barrier to films reaching international audiences. i don't think i would call it a prejudice. i think in india, we have a very self—contained ecosystem of film—making. every state has its own film industry. own language, with the films from that language being made, audiences that want to watch those films. so i think the indian film industry is quite self—contained in that sense. this film has been a hit wherever it's played, weather that's cannes, new york or here in london, where it recently featured as part of the bfi london film festival. so it was something of a shock, possibly even a controversy, to learn that all we imagine

as light hasn't been selected as india's entry for the oscars this year. india's choice for its oscar film submission is laapataa ladies by kiran rao, a hindi language comedy about two brides who accidentally swap husbands during a journey. all we imagine is a european co—production. the film offers viewers a whole new sense of one of india's greatest cities, mumbai, filmed during monsoon season. i didn't want to shoot any, like, landmarks that you recognise of mumbai. for me, the main... one of the main landmarks is the local train. it's what people need to see every day to get to work. so this was one of the main motifs in the film. and also mumbai only has two seasons: monsoon and not monsoon. so in the monsoon, the light is very particular and i wanted to sort of shoot that light. this film, with its subtle eroticism and sentimental, yet heartbreaking performances and dream—like narrative, may yet be judged too good

to forget during awards season and may give india an international arthouse hit. tom: the new york film festival exists in a bit of a bubble, but the harsh realities of the outside world were never far away. the heightened tensions in the middle east were certainly on the minds of festival—goers, and one festival documentary brought home what life has been like for some palestinians living on the occupied west bank. chanting: one, two, three, four! _ occupation no more! pro—palestinian protesters greeted festival—goers on the first night of the new york film festival, although one of the most discussed festival films actually directly addressed palestinian grievances. called no other land, it chronicles the efforts of the israeli military to demolish homes and evict palestinians in the occupied west bank. it's made by an israeli palestinian film collective. two men in that collective,

yuval abraham, an israeli journalist, and basel adra, a palestinian lawyer who's lived on the land since childhood, are key figures in the documentary. basel adra told me what was in the film. real scenes from our daily life under occupation, like the houses�* destructions by israeli bulldozers, and people's stories, like, when their home got demolished, how they. . . how they handle it and people lose their life, also, for trying to have some of their life requirements. there is little political rhetoric in this film. it's a story of individual villagers�* suffering, but it is not politically neutral. in the documentary, the israeli military comes across as a brutal, heartless occupying force. that was the aim of the israeli palestinian film collective that put the documentary together. we are a collective, so it's three israelis and two palestinians and we filmed it over five years together. so we really... you know, we really captured this process of forced transfer. and we also filmed ourselves.

so the story, like... the story, is also about our own activism and our own sort of, er, core resistance and work. thank you for your brilliant film. - the documentary has won praise for its film—making. critics and film programmers have been impressed, particularly because it portrays a bond between a palestinian and an israeli. it tells the story of the relationship between two of the film—makers, the, um... ..the palestinian lawyer and activist, and the israeli journalist. and it's a relationship that has some real complexity in it because the... ..the israeli has a freedom of movement... ..that the palestinian doesn't, you know? and it...it really illustrates this two—tiered system of justice there. at the new york film festival, the documentary elicited a strong emotional response. it was very painful and difficult to watch. it was hard to sit through, to be honest.

but some festival—goers thought the documentary was a little imbalanced. i worry a little when i see i a story like this, especially when i think that the criticism against israel after— the october events, - in my opinion, has been a little bit, er... ..biased and a little bit ignorant of history. - so at times i wouldi worry a little that... ..that it just fuels - a one—sided, er...view. no other land is not a film that will please the israeli authorities. so far, its presence has been limited to festivals, but there is talk that it could secure an oscar nomination. if it does, this film and its criticism of israel will reach a much bigger global audience. the acclaimed, much—loved spanish film—maker pedro almodovar was here in new york with his first full—length english language film.

it's called the room next door, and it stars tilda swinton and julianne moore. it deals with heavy subject matter, illness and end—of—life decisions, but it's beautifully made and strangely uplifting. the film is set here in new york and it was shot partly here and in spain. emma jones went to meet the director. emma: being close, in the room next door, so to speak, as a terminally ill person chooses the time of their dying, is the subject of almodovar�*s latest film. tilda swinton plays martha, a journalist with incurable cancer... argh! ..and julianne moore is the friend, ingrid, who's asked to accompany her on what martha wants to be her final journey. i'll sleep with my door open and the day that you find it closed is the day it's already happened. told with almodovar�*s usual trademark flourishes of colour and dark humour, the story confronts the certainty of death, something that, in real life, the 75—year—old director says

he's wrestling with. i think of death almost every day. i don't really accept it... ..with my mind. it's difficult for me to... even we have examples every day. thousands of examples, i mean. but, no, i have a... ..problem with mortality. yet it's the rewards of this life that are coming his way for the film. already shown at the venice film festival, the room next door won the prestigious golden lion, often a harbinger of what will be nominated at the oscars, and almodovar already has two of those. yet it's the first time he's worked in the english language in his 50—yearfilm career. withjulianne moore and tilda swinton, they really helped me a lot with the language, and also they were very easy to direct. so, um...no, the problem, it was not the language. this movie, based on sigrid nunez�*s book, what are you going through, is released at a time many

nations are debating legalising assisted dying, and almodovar already used his appearance at venice to publicly call for regulated euthanasia to be available worldwide. the room next door, swinton says, is any place where your friends show up to witness your experience. what i was so grateful for when i first read the screenplay was an opportunity to just not look away from the fact that it's not only unlucky people who die, it's not only unlucky people who lose loved ones, and, um... ..and that maybe one of the best resources we can rely on in these moments is real, deep friendship, real, old bonds that will see us through. and, you know, the film is about bearing witness. that reliance on fellowship, i think, is something really important to massage in the culture and remind people that they don't have to face things alone. i'm learning from her, and you should too. i but getting to portray a close and complicated female

friendship on screen, such as this one, is still unusual, according to julianne moore. what we don't see is l a relatively fiction—free relationship between two female friends, you know? _ so... and that's something . that i think many of us, certainly female people, experience in our lives —j the profound friendship that - we've shared with other women. the kind of person who—whol witnesses you, who validates you, who's your companion. um, i mean, it's a... that's what's unusual about it. and i think that tilda - and i absolutely relished these roles because of that. birdsong. do you hear that? the room next door takes time to enthral, but by its conclusion, it is a masterpiece in storytelling, as well as in its performances. almodovar was given a lifetime achievement golden lion five years ago. now that looks premature, as this director is at his peak. there was a british presence at the new york film festival

this year, and that included an elder statesman of the uk film industry, 81—year—old mike leigh. look at you! fix your face! you're dealing with the public, handling people's food. stop, please. oh, you can pipe down and all, standing there like an ostrich. the belligerent pansy mouthing off at everyone in sight could well be one of mike leigh's more memorable screen creations. hard truths is a portrait of her, a troubled woman, and her london family. i've been harassed by people all day! i'm sick to death of it! mike leigh has a career spanning six decades. he's a majorfigure in british cinema. it is pansy who dominates the screen in hard truths, his 15th feature film. to me, she's a multifaceted, fascinating, worrying person and ijust felt it was good to investigate such a character, really.

she is incredibly articulate at times and expresses thoughts that maybe many of us share, but also she's quite depressed and in a dark place, isn't she? yes, and that's the complexity, really. and, i mean, it's not for me to explain the film, because in the end it's for you, the audience, to relate to her however you want or can. mike leigh's trademark has been in bringing realism to the screen through his unique improvisational approach to crafting his screenplays through exploration with his actors. this seven—time oscar nominee has made memorable movies. vera drake, mrturner, and secrets and lies, to mention just a few. in secrets and lies, released in 1996, mariannejean—baptiste played an optometrist searching out her biological mother. the actor has reunited with leigh to make hard truths. she credits him with having had a major impact on her acting.

oh, gosh, i worked with him quite soon after leaving drama school, and so i think he's influenced the way that i approach all of my work. obviously, you know, on a conventional film, you're not going to get six months of rehearsal or three months of rehearsal. but he... very early on, he said to me when we were rehearsing, "always seek the particular," and i have. i've always tried to, whenever i'm approaching any work, always trying to find out the detail, creating a backstory, a history for that character. why are you so angry? why can't you enjoy life? i don't know! what stands out in hard truths is the brilliance of marianne jean—ba ptiste's performance. many people think it will bring her an oscar nomination. you must have been very pleased with her performance. 0h... a consummate character actress. i mean, she's great. i mean, and i wanted... obviously we haven't worked together since we famously made secrets and lies a long time ago, and i've wanted to work with her for a long time,

and itjust paid off. she's a brilliant spirit, character actor, and she's got a great sense of humour, which helps, and she's created this extraordinary characterisation. i'm so lonely. although mike leigh appears to be enjoying success with hard truths, it wasn't easy to get the film made. even with his outstanding record, finding backing for his uniquely authentic brand of british cinema is, he says, now tougher than ever. this is his first film in six years. well, that brings our look back at some of the highlights from this year's new york film festival to a close. the festival lived up to its promise of bringing new yorkers some of the very best from the year in cinema. true, it didn't have many crowd—pleasers, but it displayed a ferocious commitment to cinema as an artform. to outsiders, it may have the appearance of being an elitist showcase, but most fans and participants and journalists beg to differ — myself included. this year, the new york film festival gave us a very

inclusive celebration of contemporary cinema. so for me, tom brook, and the rest of the talking movies production team here in new york city, it's goodbye as we leave you with the festival movie jimmy, in which we see james baldwin enjoying his adventures in paris.

hello. we had a real mixture of weather to start off the weekend. across east anglia, south—east england, a lot of cloud, an odd spit of drizzle. we had a weather front that brought some rain to northern ireland and scotland, delivering 22mm into the highlands, the wettest place in the uk, but then we had this slice of sunshine stretching from east scotland down towards south—west england where we had eight and a half hours of sunshine in camborne in cornwall and 18 celsius heat in dorset in bournemouth. and looking at the weather picture at the moment, weak weather fronts are moving south—east, just a lump of cloud by the time it reaches east anglia. that cloud keeping temperatures up at around seven degrees or so. otherwise, it is going to be quite a cold start to your sunday morning with temperatures three to five degrees pretty widely. it might be chilly, but it is going to be a lovely start to your sunday morning as well. now, we'll keep the sunshine all day across england and wales, but for scotland and northern ireland, a weather front is on the way through the afternoon,

bringing cloud and rain in. it is also going to turn quite windy, with gusts running into the 40s of miles an hour. our temperatures on sunday afternoon running close to average this time of year, ranging from around 11 to 15 degrees, north to south. now, that rain across northern areas of the uk through sunday night pushes southwards while weakening those fronts again, moving in towards higher pressure. and so as we look at the forecast for monday, it is going to be quite a dull and damp day for england and wales, some mist and fog patches up over the high ground, a bit of drizzle to start the day for scotland and northern ireland, with extensive cloud, but it should turn at least a little drier and perhaps a few bright spells around. a bit milderfor northern areas, temperatures coming up to 15 in belfast and glasgow but not a great deal of sunshine around. now, into tuesday, high pressure starts to move in across the uk, it is quite weak, initially, and there is going to be extensive cloud beneath that area of high pressure so for tuesday, a great day, a few spots of morning drizzle, the afternoon, one or two brighter spells but, predominately, it is a cloudy looking day on tuesday, temperatures iii to 16 degrees and so on the mild side of things for the time of year.

that area of high pressure continues to build across the uk through wednesday and thursday so there should be a few more breaks in the cloud developing, particularly close to the centre of the high pressure towards england and wales, so the weather turning a bit brighter. across northern areas in the uk later in the week, it is set to turn colder, we might even see some rain or wintry showers across the far north of scotland.

live from washington, this is bbc news. iran downplays israeli airstrikes on its military sites, as the us and other countries call for both sides to avoid further escalation.

israeli forces withdraw from a hospital in northern gaza, a day after storming it. the world health organisation warns of a "catastrophic" situation at gaza's medical facilities. we cannotjust sit around and complain. no, we've got to do something! former first lady michelle obama attacks donald trump in a fiery pitch for kamala harris in michigan as trump hits the other battleground state of pennsylvania. and polls open in japan's snap general election, seen as a crucial test for the country's new prime minister, shigeru ishiba. hello, i'm azadeh moshiri. we begin with reaction to israel's air strikes on iran. it's an attack world leaders have been bracing themselves for. while iran is downplaying the scale of the strikes, saying they caused limited damage, its army said the raids killed four of its soldiers.

israel, on the other hand, says three waves of fighter