Interview: Jennifer G. Robinson from Women of the Lens Film Festival
We caught up with Women of the Lens Founder and Director Jennifer G. Robinson to find out about this year’s exciting film festival coming to the Garden Cinema in November.
Women of the Lens Film Festival | 15-22 November 2025 | Garden Cinema & BLOC
How did the festival come about?
I was the Festival Coordinator for the late Menelik Shabazz’s black filmmaker international film festival (bfmiff) long standing festival. It was 2015 at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre. From there, I wanted to develop a platform which consistently provided voice for underrepresented women in the film industries – specifically British. Often when people talk about ‘black actresses’, the conversation often turns to African American actresses. I wanted to demonstrate that there’s a wider range of ‘black’ and that ‘Britishness’ was not…monochromatic!
What can audiences look forward to seeing this year? Is there a theme or highlights you can pick out?
A key element this year are our Awards. This will be our first time and it’s why I wanted to recruit a strong jury panel – which we have, the jury panel are amazing in their own right in the industry! We want to formally recognise talent and hope that anything we can do to bolster the careers of filmmakers, then we’re about that.
What would advice would you give to women wanting to enter filmmaking or running a film festival?
The two main things (which I would give anyone really); collaboration and don’t wait for permission to do your own thing. It’s really turbulent in the industry right now – actually for all industries. It’s a great time of change, which can make us anxious. Often you can feel that you’re on your own, or that you’re doing things wrong. Well, when you collaborate and get out and meet others you find that there are other people navigating similar challenges and that alone can help you to feel better and more energised into taking action towards your own ambitions. Film Festivals? The best ones are run by people who make it look like it’s easy to run a festival, but it’s not! It’s not for the faint-hearted. You have to stay true to your core values, beliefs and ambitions. This is what will help you when the money runs out, or you don’t have sponsors, or you haven’t secured a venue, or you don’t have t-shirts for your volunteers, or a filmmaker still hasn’t submitted their film in the right (DCP) format!!!
What would your three most influential films be on your life?
Ohmigaawwd! You would ask this one! I love film too much to begin to be able to narrow it down to favs or even those that have influenced me. I will say though that my fav genre is science fiction. And yeah…I am old enough to have and I did stand around the block in a long queue to watch Star Wars 1977 as a young girl <insert smily face>
What are your favourite London haunts? (to eat, to watch films, to relax)
I love to eat and drink! One of my favs right now is Unity Diner, a vegan restaurant in Shoreditch. The (fake) fish and chips are luverly!
There’s a really nice cocktail bar, Brickfields (pictured below), in my area, that do gorgeous little mixes. I like knocking back a few champagne cocktails there.
I like comfort…well luxury…actually, when watching my films. So, I do like me an Everyman theatre…sumptuous seats, service at my beck and call! One wonderful thing about London (there are many) are the parks that the Victorians left us. We realised how very important they were to us during lockdown.
For me, there’s nothing like a picnic in a park. Again, lots of good food and drink all around with great friends to share and enjoy it. I’m lucky again, cos I live near a couple of great ones all in walking distance. At any given season of the year, they’re busy with all kinds of people…singles, families, couples, teens, seniors, you name it. I love to sit and watch the people go by. I make up stories about them in my head as they go about their business.
I am Joint Editor at To Do List. I like free, cheap & offbeat London, especially: cabaret, art, theatre, pop-ups, eating out, quirky films, museums, day trips, social enterprise & much more.
