Private Passions

Beeban Kidron is a rare and very unpredictable film-maker. A woman in a man's world, she's made highly successful dramas such as the BAFTA-winning Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and the blockbusting rom-com Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. But she also makes documentaries which come straight from her heart: films about sex workers in New York, the women of Greenham Common, the sculptor Antony Gormley, and a highly-acclaimed film about girls sold into religious prostitution in India. And her latest film In Real Life is a documentary about teenagers and the internet. She talks to Michael Berkeley about the power of music in films, the pleasures of building relationships with composers, the joy of telling stories, and the sheer determination needed to make the films she feels so passionately about. Her choices include music from her film Swept from the Sea and her BAFTA-winning television series Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; the music of her childhood; the piece which changed her ideas about love; and the scariest film music ever written. Producer: Jane Greenwood. A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3.