Hi! My name is Christina Newland and I’m an award-winning freelance writer, broadcaster, and journalist on film and culture. I’m the lead film critic at the i Newspaper and a contributing editor to Empire Magazine. I have a decade’s worth of experience as an essayist, critic, and reporter, as well as a guest speaker & lecturer, with appearances across television and radio.
My substack newsletter, Sisters Under the Mink, on women in crime film and television, won a UK Freelance Writing Award in 2021, and was included in The Observer’s round-up of great culture newsletters in 2023.
My written work has appeared in numerous publications, including: Rolling Stone UK, SSENSE, Mr. Porter, Criterion, Dazed, GQ UK, EMPIRE, BBC, The Guardian, VICE, Hazlitt, Baffler Mag, The Ringer, and others. I have a decade’s worth of extensive experience in producing tight, efficient, and perceptive copy for a variety of house styles and outlets, from news and listicles to longform magazine cover profiles. In editorial roles, I have also formulated calls for pitches, commissioned pieces, and worked closely with writers from developing ideas to sub-edits for publication.
Projects Radio, Podcast, and Television
As a film critic/commentator, I have appeared onscreen in a number of documentaries and shows, including CNN’s ‘Marilyn Monroe: Reframed’, Sky Arts’ ‘Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie’, and Sky Arts series ‘Classic Movies: The Story Of’ as well as ‘The Art of Film’, both by 3DD Productions/on NOW TV.
Elsewhere, I am the most frequent repeat guest on Mark Kermode’s show BBC4 Screenshots, and also have appeared on BBC3 Free Thinking, Radio 4 Arts Hour, Woman’s Hour, and Monocle Radio. I’ve written scripts and provided voiceover for both Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This podcast and the BBC2 Inside Cinema series.
Film Curation and Live Events
I have presented introductions, lectures, and live Q+As with filmmaking talent for audiences across the UK, including for BAFTA, Apple TV, British Film Institute, Deeper into Movies, Cinema Rediscovered in Bristol, Broadway Cinema Nottingham, and Glasgow Film Festival, among others.
These have included co-curating and presenting a touring package with film exhibitor Park Circus entitled Pre-Code Hollywood: Rules Were Made to be Broken. In 2021, I also programmed an extensive season for Criterion Channel in the US entitled In the Ring: Boxing On-Screen, including programme notes.
I have also taught a series of film history and journalism courses for the likes of BFI Film Academy, QUAD Derby, and Broadway Cinema, and am keen to do more teaching in future.
Copywriting
I have written branded content for several companies and television shows, including for Amazon Studios FYC materials on The Boys (2022) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2023). I also wrote the script, interviewed cast and crew, and presented the Universal Studios-backed / ACAST podcast about the making of Robert Eggers’ The Northman, featuring stars Alexander Skarsgard, Bjork, Anya-Taylor Joy, and more.