She was this year’s Cannes jury president, has been nominated for four Oscars, and so they say, caused a global shortage of pink paint. From ‘Frances Ha’ to ‘Lady Bird’ and beyond, the actor-writer-director has specialised in witty, emotional stories of singular young women coming of age, which made her feminist, self-reflexive takes on ‘Little Women’ and the best-selling doll of the 20th century so satisfying rich and empowering for audiences of all ages.

As she prepares her two-part cinematic adaptation of the ‘Narnia’ stories, this illustrated talk by freelance film critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson will look back at her brilliant career, her transformative cinema of girlhood and her infectiously enthusiastic approach to her life and work.