Sinners, AI boyfriends, Autistic girls, Abuse and Muslim women

The cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw has been nominated for an Academy Award for “Sinners," an American horror film nominated this year for a record sixteen Oscars and thirteen BAFTAs. It's a period drama written and directed by Ryan Coogler, set in the 1930s South, with a supernatural twist. Autumn’s previous credits include The Last Showgirl and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Anita talks to Autumn about her career so far and becoming the first woman of colour - and only the fourth woman ever - to be recognized in the Oscars cinematography category.

Following the summer riots in 2024, the Women and Equalities Committee examined the impact of increasing tensions on women in Muslim communities across the UK and reported that the online, verbal and physical abuse and discrimination faced by Muslim women was having a ‘deeply damaging impact on individual lives and a corrosive effect on community cohesion’. Baroness Shaista Gohir OBE, CEO of the Muslim Women’s Network and Iman Atta, CEO of Tell Mama join Anita to discuss the WEC’s findings.

AI companions are becoming increasingly common, with one in three adults now using them for conversation, advice and support. Now recent research from Bangor University has shown that many teen AI companion users believe their bots can think or understand. That research prompted Nicola Bryan, a reporter for BBC Wales News to investigate and acquire an "AI boyfriend" of her own in the process. Nicola talks to Anita about what happened next.

Autism probably affects girls and boys equally, according to a long term study by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The new research challenges previously held assumptions that autism is more common among males; it found that by the age of twenty, the male-to-female ratio of diagnoses was equal. But in children aged under ten, four boys are diagnosed for every one girl. To discuss the findings, Anita is joined by Doctor Judith Brown, Head of Evidence and Research at the National Autistic Society and Betsey, an autistic 18-year old university student.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt