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Benicio Del Toro talks about playing a business tycoon in Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme. This aesthetically stylised film, by the director who also made The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel, is reviewed by Tom and critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Rachel Cooke. They also give their verdict on Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, the 8th and final film in the franchise, and discuss fictional portrayals of food as Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle is published.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Harry Graham
Bryan Ferry discusses his latest album, Loose Talk and reflects on his long career in music. Disney's new live action version of Snow White has just opened and has attracted criticism from those who felt it departed too far from the original film. Film critics Larushka Ivan Zadeh and Al Horner explore why Disney's reinterpretation of its own canon has become so controversial. The Windham Campbell Prize gives away over a million pounds, shared between eight writers across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. Previous British winners have included the poet Zaffar Kunial. Samira is joined by two of this year's winners, playwright, Matilda Ibini and poet, Anthony V Capildeo, to discuss the impact of the prize. Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves changed cinema forever when the world's first animated film hit screens in 1937. Now the House of Mouse has just released a big budget live action remake of the beloved original that is arriving under a cloud of controversy. Larushka Iven-Zadeh, the Times films critic, and Al Horner, a Telegraph writer and host of the Script Apart podcast, joins to discuss.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts
Sean Baker made Oscar history, becoming the first person to win four Academy Awards for directing, editing, writing and producing a single film, Anora. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh joins Samira to look at this year's Oscar winners and what they say about cinema today. The RSC's co-artistic director Daniel Evans discusses playing Christopher Marlowe's Edward II. Filmmaker Laura Carreira talks about her award-winning debut feature On Falling, about the social isolation and the injustices faced by a Portuguese woman working in the gig economy in Scotland. And, we look back at the work of late artist Jack Vettriano with Rachel Campbell Johnson. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts
Franz Ferdinand play live from their new album The Human Fear, eleven songs which explore deep-set human anxieties and how overcoming and accepting them drives and defines our lives. Richard Price - the author of Clockers, and a writer on The Wire, talks about his latest novel, Lazarus Man, a chronicle of New York life set in the aftermath of a destructive explosion. Plus a response to this year's BAFTA nominations, which were announced today, from film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan
Tom Sutcliffe talks to Paul Mescal about slipping into Russell Crowe's sandals in Gladiator 2 – as well as reviewing the film itself with classically-trained Guardian journalist Charlotte Higgins and film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh. They also talk about Haruki Murakami's first new book for six years, The City and Its Uncertain Walls and the Netflix drama Joy, about how beginnings of IVF. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Paula McGrath
Directors Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry on Kinsuke's Kingdom, their hand-drawn animated film which features a shipwrecked boy who learns about the natural world from a Japanese soldier who's been living secretly on an island since the end of World War II. How closely do we watch trailers when deciding which film to watch next? Film critic Larushka Ivan Zadeh and Sam Cryer from Intermission Trailer House discuss the art of the movie trailer, whether they are now too long and reveal too many spoilers. Author Amanda Craig recommends her summer reads from the latest Young Adult fiction releases: All The Hidden Monsters by Amie Jordan published by Chicken House is out now; Songlight by Moira Buffini is published by Faber and Faber on 27th August; Almost Nothing Happened by Meg Rosoff is published by Bloomsbury on 15th August; The Felix Trilogy by Joan Aiken is available in different editions.And Christopher Hall reveals his journey from TikTok to stand-up comedian, as he starts a run at the Edinburgh Fringe. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Paula McGrath
Kevin Barry's new novel is The Heart in Winter, a love story set in the American wild west in the 1890s. The film Rosalie is a period piece inspired by the true story of a French bearded lady who, together with her husband, ran a café in rural France in the late 19th century. And Disney's Paris set drama series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld explores the late Chanel fashion designer's life. Max Liu and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh join Tom Sutcliffe to review.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Following today's announcement of the 2024 Oscar nominations, film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh joins Front Row to consider how well this year's shortlisted categories reflect the year in cinema. In Howard Jacobson's new novel, What Will Survive of Us, nothing much happens but everything changes. Lily and Sam, in middle age and longstanding relationships – with other people - fall in love, then stay that way for years and years. The Booker Prize winning author talks to Shahidha Bari about love, sex and literature. Local Government funding has been rising up the political agenda with one in five council leaders fearing that their local authority is on the verge of municipal bankruptcy. However is cutting council spending on culture a false economy? Stephanie Sirr, Chief Executive of Nottingham Playhouse and joint president of UK Theatre, and Councillor Barry Lewis, Leader of Derbyshire County Council and member of the Local Government Association's Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, join Front Row to discuss.Presenter Shahidha Bari Producer: Paula McGrath
With Anna Smith for this episode is writer and director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren who talks about her debut feature 20,000 Species of Bees, and film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh to further discuss all that is explored in the beautiful and sensitive coming of age tale. The tender, heartfelt drama centres on actor Sofía Otero, who won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at 2022's Berlin Film Festival for her depiction of a transgender eight-year-old girl during a family holiday in the Basque Country. The return to her mother's hometown throws up questions of identity and belonging for not only our protagonist, but also the family that surrounds her with their own complexities and crises. First Anna Smith talks to fellow female film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, discussing the characterisation of identity and the skilful handling of a complex issue through a lightness of touch. The film features stunning central performances not only by the young star Sofía Otero but also Patricia López Arnaiz who plays the distracted but loving mother and a further brilliant ensemble. Anna is then joined by writer and director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren who gives us further insight into the inspiration for the work, and the impact of place in the symbolism of the film. You can watch 20,000 Species of Bees from the 27th of October in UK cinemas or at home with Curzon Home Cinema. Other films mentioned in this episode include: Cuerdas, 2022, Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren Become a patron of Girls On Film on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/girlsonfilmpodcast Follow us on socials: www.instagram.com/girlsonfilm_podcast/ www.facebook.com/girlsonfilmpodcast www.twitter.com/GirlsOnFilm_Pod www.twitter.com/annasmithjourno Watch Girls On Film on the BFI's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX…L89QKZsN5Tgr3vn7z Girls On Film is an HLA production. Host: Anna Smith Executive Producer: Hedda Archbold Producer: Lydia Scott Audio editor: Emma Butt Intern: Charlotte Matheson House band: MX Tyrants This episode is in partnership with Curzon Film.
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Mickey-Jo Boucher discuss A Mirror, a new play by Sam Holcroft about staging a drama in a country where state censorship controls the arts. It stars Trainspotting's Jonny Lee Miller. They'll also look at Charlotte Regan's film Scrapper about a young girl who is left living alone after her mother dies, then her father turns up. What happens next? Many will know Louis Garrel from his role as Professor Bhaer in Greta Gerwig's film Little Women but he is also an accomplished filmmaker in his own right. As his new film, The Innocent, opens in the UK, after multiple César Award nominations and wins for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, he discusses what it's like to move from writing, directing and starring in his own films to acting in films by other directors. 01:42 A Mirror Review 12:57 Louis Garrel Interview 28:55 Scrapper Review
Our critics Hanna Flint and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh watch Harrison Ford's last outing as the title character in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, also starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Is it a crowd-pleasing exit? Presenter Tom Sutcliffe talks to Brandon Taylor about his new novel, The Late Americans. Taylor's debut, Real Life, was Booker Prize nominated and his collection of short fiction, Filthy Animals, won the Story Prize. He discusses interweaving tales of sex and aspiration, played out amongst friends in a mid-western university town. Hanna and Larushka also review Young V&A, the new incarnation of the Museum of Childhood in London's Bethnal Green, which is reopening after a £13 million 3-year redevelopment. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Harry Parker
Caleb Azumah Nelson's debut novel, Open Water, won the Costa First Novel award and critical acclaim. He joins Front Row to talk about his second, Small Worlds, the story of a young musician looking for his own space in the streets of Peckham, finding his way with love, family and his Ghanaian heritage. The exhibition China's Hidden Century at the British Museum is billed as a world first, bringing together 300 artefacts from the Qing Dynasty's ‘long 19th Century'- the final chapter of dynastic rule in China. Joining Tom Sutcliffe to review it are Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford and the film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh. Larushka and Rana have also been watching one of this week's big film releases, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, starring Rachel McAdams and based on the classic young adult novel by Judy Blume, first published in 1970. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Corinna Jones
Reviews of the new immersive show David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) at Lightroom in London and Korean film Broker, with Larushka Ivan Zadeh and Ekow Eshun. Installation artist Mike Nelson on the art in his new retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London and the challenge of reconstructing such epic work. Plus AI writing. Neil Clarke, Editor of The American science fiction and fantasy magazine Clarkesworld, on suspending new submissions after being swamped by AI-generated stories, and why AI could be a serious challenge the way we think about literature. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson Photo: David Hockney with his work at Lightroom. By Justin Sutcliffe
John Preston, the Costa Award-winning biographer of media tycoon Robert Maxwell, makes his screenwriting debut with a drama about another infamous figure of the 1970s, the MP John Stonehouse. He joins Tom Sutcliffe to discuss the line between fact and fiction in dramatising the story of the MP who faked his own death. Reviewers Amon Warmann and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh give their verdicts on two major films out this week: Till, the story of Emmett Till's mother Mamie's fight for justice after her son was lynched in 1955, featuring a powerful performance by Danielle Deadwyler; and Empire of Light, written and directed by Sam Mendes. Set in a seaside town cinema in the 70s it stars Olivia Colman and Micheal Ward, and is inspired in part by Mendes' mother's experiences. And James Conor Patterson reads his poem “london mixtape” from his debut collection “bandit country”, which has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Poetry Prize. Front Row is featuring each of the 10 poets shortlisted and we'll hear from the winner when they're announced on Tuesday 17th January. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Paul Waters (Till picture credit: Lynsey Weatherspoon / Orion Pictures)
Zadie Smith talks about her play The Wife of Willesden, a modern re-telling of Chaucer's The Wife of Bath starring Clare Perkins in the title role at Kiln Theatre, London. David Tennant discusses playing Russian Alexander Litvinenko in a new ITV drama based on the real life events of his shocking death. Keyboard player Rick Wakeman discusses how he's having to adapt his UK tour after a load of his musical gear was stolen from his van last week. And film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh expresses her frustration at the confusion surrounding current film releases since the start of the pandemic. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Jerome Weatherald Image: Clare Perkins as Alvita in The Wife of Willesden by Zadie Smith at Kiln Theatre, London Photographer credit: Michael Wharley
The Crown: as series five is with us, we review the next ten part instalment of Netflix's royal drama as it slips into more recent territory - the turmoil of the nineties. Plus jailed Iranian film director Jafar Panahi's new metafiction No Bears, in which he plays himself, forced to direct online from a village near Iran's Turkish border. With Kate Maltby and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh. Jez Butterworth: the playwright and screenwriter on his new show Mammals starring James Corden, airing on Amazon Prime. The Goldsmiths Prize: live from the ceremony, we hear from the winner of this year's £10,000 reward for fiction that, “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.” Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson
The BBC Proms is celebrating what would've been Aretha Franklin's 80th birthday, and leading the tribute is American singer-songwriter Sheléa. She's a protegee of Quincy Jones who also found a mentor in Stevie Wonder, and names Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston as some of her inspirations. Sheléa shares Aretha Franklin's influences of gospel, jazz and soul, and her skills to play the piano and turn her voice to a variety of styles. She performs live in the studio and demonstrates the power of Aretha's voice as well as her own. For our Thursday review Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Olivia Laing have been watching Official Competition, a comedy film starring Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez which takes aim at the film industry and its stars, and Red Rose, a BBC3 teen horror drama set in Bolton looking at the power of smartphones to shape young lives. Torn is a new BBC Radio 4 series exploring ten key moments in the history of fashion, from the allure of mauve to the rebellion of mini-skirts. Presenter Gus Casely-Hayford, curator, historian and the inaugural director of V&A East, joins Shahidha for a whistlestop tour of fashion's cultural hits and environmental misses over five centuries. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Sarah Johnson
36 years after playing pilot Pete Mitchell in the first Top Gun film, Tom Cruise returns to the role. Now Mitchell is one of the US Navy's top aviators, a courageous test pilot and instructor. He can dodge planes in the air but avoiding the advancement in rank that would ground him proves more difficult for him. Larushka Ivan Zadeh reviews the film. Joseph Wright of Derby was a fine portrait painter but is best known as the first artist to paint scenes of the Industrial Revolution and its scientific processes, such as in his most famous work, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. Today one of his paintings, in a private collection since 1772, became the centre piece of the Joseph Wright collection at Derby Museums and Art Gallery. On one side there is a self-portrait, on the other a study for An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. Curator Lucy Bamford explains why this is such a significant acquisition. So that the exhibits are not confined to within the museum building, London Transport Museum is running guided tours of the Kingsway Tram Tunnel in Central London. Opened in 1906 the last tram ran through it in 1952. Since it was abandoned it has been a secret space in the heart of the city. Samira visits the tunnel with transport historian Tim Dunn and Siddy Holloway of the London Transport Museum and discovers part of the capital's hidden heritage. Louise Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band and of Chippewa, and is the latest of our authors shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022 for The Sentence. The novel is about a bookshop, a haunting, and the events that unfurled in Minneapolis between All Souls' Day in 2019 and 2020, including of course the death of George Floyd. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May
Monochrome is having a moment at this year's awards season in films such as Belfast, The Tragedy of Macbeth and C'mon C'mon. To discuss the comeback of black and white and its enduring appeal, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Edu Grau, Director of Photography for Passing and Ellen Kuras, who won the Cinematography Award at Sundance for her debut feature film, Swoon, shot in black and white in 1992. She's since become the first woman to receive the American Society of Cinematographers' Lifetime Achievement Award and is about to embark on Lee, a biopic of the black and white photographer, Lee Miller. As the 2022 Oscar nominees are announced, we talk to Maggie Gyllenhaal who is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay with The Lost Daughter, the actor's directorial debut, as well as Andrew Garfield, who bagged a best actor nomination for musical tick, tick... BOOM! Husband and wife animation team Les Mills and Joanna Quinn, writer and director respectively about their Best Animated Film-nominated Affairs of the Art also join us. Film critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Leila Latif provide analysis. And we discuss a new experimental drama for Radio 4, An Artificially Intelligent Guide to Love, which sees writer Hannah Silva collaborate with a machine-learning algorithm to create an audio guide to romance. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Simon Richardson Production co-ordinator: Lizzy Harris Photo: Ruth Negga as Clare Bellew and Tessa Thompson as Irene "Reenie” Redfield in the film Passing Credit: Netflix
In his latest film Cyrano, director Joe Wright has tackled the 1897 French verse drama, Cyrano de Bergerac. He joins Tom Sutcliffe to discuss turning a classic into a musical and dispensing with Cyrano's prominent nose. The winner of the Costa Poetry Award Hannah Lowe talks about her collection The Kids, an autobiographical series of sonnets which paint a picture of the decade she spent teaching in an inner city London school. She tells us why an age-old form mastered by Shakespeare is perfectly suited to tackling the politics of race and class in contemporary Britain. And critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Kohinoor Sahota discuss the palme d'or winning Iranian film A Hero. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Laura Northedge Production Co-ordinator: Lizzie Harris
New movie King Richard stars Will Smith and focuses on the father of Venus and Serena Williams. The Wife of Willesden is the first play by Zadie Smith. And Wheel of Time is a new fantasy series on Amazon Prime Video. Ashley Hickson-Lovence and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh join Samira to review all three. Moira Buffini on her darkly comic new state of the nation play for the National Theatre, Manor, directed by her sister Fiona. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Laura Northedge
Toby Jones tells us about turning his hand to writing for the new six part BBC2 TV series, Don't Forget The Driver. It's a dark and poignant comedy about Brexit Britain, set in a coach company in Bognor Regis. The latest DC comics film Shazam! flies into cinemas this week. Originally published as a comic strip in 1939, it's the story of Billy Batson, a normal 14-year-old who is given the ability to transform into an adult superhero just by uttering the magic word “Shazam!”. Film critic Larushka Ivan Zadeh will tell us whether or not it's any good.At Easter, choirs across the country prepare to perform Bach's St John and St Matthew Passions. We explore the significance of these intense and monumental works. Kirsty is joined by director Peter Sellars, who is staging the St John Passion at London's Royal Festival Hall conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and music historian Hannah French. 6 April Tewkesbury Abbey – St John Passion – City of Birmingham Choir 7 April Royal Festival Hall – St Matthew Passion – Bach Choir 13 April Kings Place London - St Matthew Passion - Feinstein Ensemble 14 April Plymouth Guildhall – St Matthew Passion - Plymouth Philharmonic Choir 14 April Merton College Oxford – St Matthew Passion 14 April Durham Cathedral – St John Passion 14 April Tremeirchion Church St Asaph – St Matthew Passion 16 April St Georges Bristol – St Matthew Passion – Ex Cathedra 17 April Salisbury Cathedral – St Matthew Passion 18 April Aberdeen Music Hall – St Matthew Passion – Dunedin Consort 19 April Coventry Cathedral – St John Passion 19 April Leeds Minster – St John Passion 19 April The Queens Hall Edinburgh – St Matthew Passion – Dunedin ConsortPresenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Oliver Jones
The return of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's black comedy Fleabag: we preview the new series of BBC3's biggest success. The main character continues to battle with her family and her own self-destructive behaviour, but can Fleabag be as fresh and surprising as before? And because it'll be broadcast weekly, one episode at a time (after the news on BBC1) rather than being released as a box set for bingeing), we consider how viewers' watching habits are changing. American glam metal band Mötley Crüe sold more than 100 million albums in the 80s and the members led the ultimate debauched rock and roll lives. Now there's a Netflix biopic - The Dirt. We speak to bassist Nikki Sixx (who overdosed several times and once was even declared dead) and the band's manager Allen Kovac about their reputation and how they reflect on their time as "the world's most notorious rock band".Each year the Oscars throw up some surprises and there were quite a few raised eyebrows when last night's Best Picture was announced. Did Green Book really deserve to be crowned the best film of 2018? The writer and historian Colin Grant and film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh take us through the events of the night.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Oliver Jones
The nominations for the 91st Academy Awards were announced earlier today with Roma and The Favourite leading the list, with Black Panther the first superhero film to be nominated for best picture. Kirsty Lang is joined by film critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Jason Solomons to consider the winners and losers, and assess whether there is a better representation of BAME talent than in previous years.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Dymphna FlynnMain image: Oscars Photo credit: Getty Images
As the Archers prepares for its Canterbury Tales Christmas special, Carole Boyd - who plays the doyenne of Ambridge theatricals Lynda Snell - is joined by Oxford Professor of Medieval Literature Laura Ashe to discuss Chaucer's tales of courtly love and boisterous sex.The new BBC and Netflix animated version of Watership Down will be broadcast on BBC ONE at 7pm on December 22 and 23. Critic Mark Ecclestone gives his view on how it compares with the book by Richard Adams, and whether the new version will traumatise children, as the first film version did in the seventies.Recently rappers in Russia have found their concerts cancelled by venues and local authorities and some musicians have been arrested. Over the weekend President Putin admitted he couldn't get rid of rap, but that he wanted to control it, saying, "If it's impossible to stop something, you have to take charge of it." But what is his objection and what does he intend to do? Alexander Kan, the BBC Russian Service's arts and culture correspondent, reads the runes.If you're in need of a break from all the sugar-coated seasonal fare, Front Row is offering some substitute Christmas treats for you to consider. The film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh unwraps her alternative festive film, Gremlins, a tale of Christmas shopping gone wrong.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May
#MeToo one year on – what impact has the hashtag popularised by Hollywood actresses had on the arts and on women around the world? We speak to Jude Kelly, Founder & Director of the Women Of the World Foundation, film critic Larushka Ivan Zadeh, Helen Lewis, Associate Editor Of The New Statesman, and to Naomi Pohl, Assistant General Secretary Of The Musicians Union.Forgotten is a new play about the Chinese Labour Corps, the 140,000 Chinese men who at the height of the First World War travelled half way round the world to work for Britain and the Allies behind the front lines, and whose story is hardly known. Playwright Daniel York Loh talks to Kirsty Lang about his play whose title, written in Chinese characters, can also mean for Left Behind or maybe Erased.
Ocean's 8 is the latest in the Ocean's heist movie franchise - but this time with an all-female gang starring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett. Does the twist work? Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.As the World Cup kicks off the team strips are attracting as much attention as the scores: the new Nigeria home kit sold out minutes after its release. Simon Doonan, fashion commentator and soccer obsessive, talks about his favourite World Cup outfits and why some kits are such a hit.Pianist and composer Alexis Ffrench, fresh from his performance at the Classical Brit Awards, tells John what he thinks the sphere of classical music could learn from the very different world of hip-hop.A Slice through the World: Contemporary Artists' Drawings is a new exhibition in Oxford that celebrates the power of drawing in the digital age. Curator Stephanie Straine considers the state of drawing today with artists Olivia Kemp and Tacita Dean, whose work includes drawing, painting, photography and film, and whose new exhibition, Landscape, at the Royal Academy in London features monumental blackboard drawings in chalk.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Harry Parker(Main Image: (L-R) Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, Cate Blanchett as Lou in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' "Oceans 8", a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Credit: Barry Wetcher (c) 2018 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Avengers: Infinity War is released in cinemas today. Fans have been counting the days until the film's release, but what does this ambitious high-budget offering reveal about the state of the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe? Mik Scarlet and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh consider the bigger picture.At a time when many libraries across the UK are facing an uncertain future, Salley Vickers has gone back to the 1950s for her new novel The Librarian. Salley, and Peter Gaw who runs Nottinghamshire's libraries, consider how the role of the library has changed and adapted to a modern world, and the challenge they face today. Two Welsh musicians - singer Kizzy Crawford and pianist and composer Gwilym Simcock - perform from their new album Cân Yr Adar, or Birdsong. They talk about their collaboration, which also involves Sinfonia Cymru, and how they were inspired by the landscape and wildlife of Carngafallt, the nature reserve in mid-Wales, known as the Celtic rainforest. Presenter Stig Abell Producer Jerome Weatherald.
You Were Never Really Here stars Joaquin Pheonix as a contract killer who uncovers a conspiracy while trying to save a kidnapped teen from a prostitution ring. The film is directed by Lynne Ramsay who made We Need to Talk About Kevin. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.What's the key to delivering a perfect performance as an award ceremony host? TV critic Emma Bullimore and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh review Jimmy Kimmel's efforts in last night's Oscars ceremony, as well as Joanna Lumley at the BAFTAs and Jack Whitehall at the Brits, and consider what makes the perfect host.Steve Reich says the pioneering percussion Colin Currie is 'one of the greatest musicians in the world'. Today Currie returns the compliment, launching his own record label with his recording of Reich's piece 'Drumming'. He talks to John Wilson about this and the recent developments in music for percussion.Artist Charlotte Salomon died aged 26 in Auschwitz, leaving behind an impressive collection of over 700 paintings called Life? or Theatre? Ahead of events on Salomon at Jewish Book Week, Griselda Pollock and Waldemar Januszczak discuss her life and work. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Kate Bullivant.
Matthew Sweet discusses Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries with the writer Colm Toibin, the film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and the Swedish Cultural Attaché Ellen Wettmark. Released in 1957 and inspired by Bergman's own memories of childhood holidays in a summerhouse in the north of Sweden, Wild Strawberries tells the story of elderly professor Isak Borg, who travels from his home in Stockholm to receive an honorary doctorate. On the way, he's visited by childhood memories. The film stars veteran actor and director Victor Sjostrom, Bibi Andersson and Ingrid Thulin. With additional contributions from the film historian Kevin Brownlow and Jan Holmberg from the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, which administers Bergman's archives.The BFI in London is running a season of Ingmar Bergman films until March 1st 2018 as part of the global celebrations of the centenary of world-renowned Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918 – 2007).A Matter of Life and Death: the Films of Ingmar Bergman has been republished with a new introduction by Geoff Andrew of the BFI. Wild Strawberries is being screened on 26 Feb, Newlyn Filmhouse; 8 March, Borderlines Film Festival; 11 March, Chapter Arts Centre. This programme was originally recorded in December 2015. Producer: Laura Thomas
The nominations for the 90th Academy Awards were announced earlier today, with Guillermo del Toro's fantasy romance The Shape of Water receiving the most, including best picture.Stig Abell is joined by film critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Gaylene Gould and Tim Robey to consider the winners and losers, and to assess whether the nominations reflect events of 2017 including Weinstein and #MeToo, and whether there is a better representation of BAME talent than in previous years. Presenter Stig Abell Producer Hannah Robins.
Christopher Plummer discusses replacing Kevin Spacey as John Paul Getty in the Ridley Scott-directed All the Money in the World after Spacey was dropped from the film due to allegations of sexual misconduct. Film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh considers whether this bold move by the director pays off.As Saudi Arabia announces that it will reopen its cinema doors, we look at the arts scene in the country and ask if this reflects a more liberal attitude towards culture. BBC Arabic Correspondent Hanan Razek reports.The writer Helen Dunmore is the posthumous winner of the 2017 Costa Poetry Award for her collection Inside the Wave. Many of the poems are concerned with her illness and the knowledge of her approaching death but as her fellow writer and friend Louise Doughty explains they are uplifting, often joyous works.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Sarah Johnson.
Matthew Sweet debates the merits of bad films with critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey as The Disaster Artist, James Franco's film inspired by cult classic The Room opens in UK cinemas. Plus the power of underground protest, of art and of the mind as we hear from psychologist Tali Sharot, from Jonathan Lerner on his time in the Weathermen, an organisation dedicated to the violent overthrowing of the United States government during the Vietnam era and from Lubaina Himid winner of this year's Turner Prize.Jonathan Lerner's book on his early years is 'Swords in the Kingdom: Reflections of an American Revolutionary' is published now. Tali Sharot is associate professor of cognitive neuroscience in the department of Experimental Psychology at University College London and author of The Influential Mind - What the Brain Reveals About Our Power To Change Others. The Disaster Artist, produced and directed by James Franco, is inspired by the making of Tommy Wiseau's 2003 cult film The Room which became a cult classic. Producer: Fiona McLean
"The greatest documentary of all time"? Michael Nyman, Alexei Popogrebsky, Ian Christie and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh join Matthew Sweet to discuss Dziga Vertov's 1929 film, Man with a Movie Camera, which was voted top of a poll conducted by Sight and Sound Magazine. Vertov's film is a kind of cinematic symphony of urban life in the Soviet Union. It fizzes with ideas and is the embodiment of the notion that cinema can promote revolutionary consciousness. For some its an achievement to set along side the films of Eisenstein. Both could lay claim to being the greatest film maker of their time and their friendship ended in rivalry. Man with a Movie Camera counts amongst its admirers the novelist, Salman Rushdie and the enfant terrible of the French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard.Michael Nyman has composed scores for the three major films that the pioneering Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov made in the late 1920s and is now working on an opera about Vertov. Ian Christie is Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck University London. He is co-editor, with Richard Taylor, of The Film Factory: Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents 1896-1939 and Eisenstein rediscovered. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh is chief film critic for the Metro newspaper. Alexei Popogrebsky is a film director and screenwriter whose work includes How I Ended this Summer and Prostye veshchi. Plus, on the website you can find Salman Rushdie's comments about watching the film. Part of Radio 3's Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture Producer: Zahid Warley
In 1978 Harold Pinter sent Joan Bakewell a copy of his new play Betrayal. Upon reading it she discovered that it was based with vivid accuracy on an affair they'd had years earlier and which had remained a secret. Shocked and bewildered she wrote her own play in response. Keeping In Touch has been hidden away ever since, but is now being broadcast on Radio 4, reworked. Joan Bakewell talks to Kirsty about the play, Betrayal and her changing relationship with both.Yesterday Emma Rice, the Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, posted an open letter on the theatre's own website addressed to the future Artistic Director. The post is being advertised after Emma Rice announced her departure last October - a decision which was apparently sparked by her use of artificial lights and sound. The open letter is just the latest in an ongoing saga that's been evolving off-stage at the theatre so, with the Bard's birthday just days away, literary critic Matt Thorne helps us to untangle a drama that Shakespeare himself might have been proud of.David Pickard took up his role as Director of the BBC Proms last year. He joins Kirsty to announce highlights of this year's season, including the first Front Row commission, and to discuss the intricacies of putting on the world's largest classical music festival.New film The Zookeeper's Wife is a based on a true story of Antonina Żabińska and her husband Jan who ran the Warsaw Zoo and who during the Nazi occupation helped save hundreds of people and animals. The film stars Jessica Chastain and is directed by Niki Caro. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.
The nominations for the 2017 Oscars were announced earlier today, including La La Land equalling the record and Meryl Streep getting her 20th, making her the most nominated performer in Oscars history. John Wilson is joined by film critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Rhianna Dhillon to consider the winners and losers, and to assess whether Hollywood has learned from the controversies last year about its failure to recognise the contribution of black actors and film-makers.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Jerome Weatherald.
Agent to stars including Humphrey Bogart, Clancy Sigal looks back at the absurdities of the 1950s movie business. Catherine Wheatley and Larushka Ivan Zadeh discuss the new musical La La Land starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling which is picking up many of the prizes in the film awards season and look at Hollywood's preoccupation with its own back yard. Authors Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph lift the lid on the bizarre world of obsessive film collectors. Clancy Sigal's autobiography, Black Sunset is out now. A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies by Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph is out now. La La Land is out in cinemas across Britain from January 13th certificate 12A Producer: Craig Templeton Smith.
Internationally-acclaimed writer Paulo Coelho discusses his new novel The Spy, based on the life of the dancer Mata Hari. Coelho is best-known for The Alchemist, an allegorical novel about a young shepherd boy, first published in 1988, which has now sold more than 65m copies worldwide. Your Name is the latest Japanese anime film to attract large global audiences, and is written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, regarded by many as the successor to Studio Ghibli's legendary Hayao Miyazaki. The film, about a teenage boy and girl who wake up and find themselves living in the other's body, is reviewed by Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.Last night the lawyer Philippe Sands won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. His book, East West Street, explores the origins of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide as concepts but it is also a detective story and a thriller. To discuss the art of writing non-fiction, Philippe Sands is joined by Cathy Rentzenbrink who wrote The Last Act of Love, a memoir about her late brother who was seriously injured by a dangerous driver.We explore what happens when a high-profile art gallery turns to the local community of artists and makers to commission a work. Kirsty Lang visits Margate and Turner Contemporary's Studio Group to meet Kashif Nadim Chaudry, the artist they chose to work with on his large-scale textile artwork The Three Graces.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Marilyn Rust.
As Harold Pinter's play No Man's Land sets off on a nationwide tour Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart, along with the play's director Sean Mathias, discuss working together, toilet breaks and Trekkies.Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews the film adaptation of the much loved novella The Little Prince, by Antonie de Saint-Exupery. As a possible sign of things to come, it receives its première online and features voice work by Jeff Bridges and Rachel McAdams.Continuing our series of interviews with Brazilian artists in the run-up to the Olympics, Kirsty meets Jotape, who is one of the leading figures involved in Brazil's latest dance craze - Passinho, and theatre and circus director Renato Rocha who's directed Shakespeare with children from the favelas (Rio's slums).20 years ago today the remix of a Spanish pop song went to no.1 in the charts, stayed there for 14 weeks, and went on to take the dance-craze-world by storm. To mark the occasion, Front Row asks the writer and comedian Danny Robins to ponder the success of The Macarena (The Bayside Boys Mix!)Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Jack Soper.
Playwright and screenwriter (Atonement; Les Liaisons dangereuses) Christopher Hampton on translating the work of Florian Zeller, as his latest play The Truth transfers to London's West End.Maggie's Plan starring Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, and Julianne Moore - and directed by Rebecca Moore - is a romantic comedy with a twist. After Maggie, played by Gerwig, falls for a married man, she decides to try and reunite him with his wife. Film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.With the announcement of the winner of the 2016 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year being made this evening, Front Row visits the fifth and final shortlisted entry, Arnolfini, a gallery and arts centre on the harbourside in Bristol.Queens of Syria began in Jordan as a project for female Syrian refugees, updating Euripides' The Trojan Women to reflect their own experiences. As the play comes to the UK for a nationwide tour we speak to cast members Sham and Amwar and the director of the UK production Zoe Lafferty.
The film Tale of Tales is a fantastical interweaving of fairytales, based on a collection of stories published by the 17th Century poet Gianbattista Basile. It stars Salma Hayek, Toby Jones, Vincent Cassel and John C Riley and is directed by Matteo Garrone, who previously made Gomorrah. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.Playwright Mike Bartlett, who won Olivier Awards for his plays King Charles III and Bull, discusses his new play Wild, based on an Edward Snowden-like character who faces the consequences of leaking thousands of classified documents about US operations at home and abroad.Charlotte Mullins reviews the exhibition of drawings by 19th Century spiritualist Georgiana Houghton at the Courtauld Gallery in London. Layers of watercolours and gouache, painted, she believed, under the influence of a spirit, Houghton's work has long been neglected. Now her abstract works have been reexamined as precursors of the work of artists such as Kandinsky and Mondrian. Suburra portrays a dark and rain-soaked Rome, where mafia families plot to turn the city's waterfront into the next Las Vegas. The scheme involves shady deals with politicians, the Vatican and warring organised crime gangs. Director Stefano Sollima explains why he is drawn to the underworld of Italy and why he thinks Italian film is enjoying a renaissance.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Elaine Lester.
Mark Gatiss, the writer, actor and Doctor Who fan, gives his response to the re-issue of seven Doctor Who novelisations from the original range by Target Books, and visits the Cartoon Museum's display of original artwork for the books' covers.Evelyn Waugh's classic novel Brideshead Revisited has previously been made for television and the cinema, and has now been adapted for the stage. Playwright Bryony Lavery discusses her new version for the York Theatre Royal.Composer Mark Simpson talks about his new opera set in a gay nightclub. Pleasure stars Lesley Garrett as a toilet attendant, and is premiered tonight by Opera North in Leeds.In Demolition, actor Jake Gyllenhaal plays an investment banker who responds to his wife's death by writing bizarre letters of complaint to a vending company. These lead to an unlikely friendship with a customer service employee, played by Naomi Watts. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Angie Nehring.
In a special Landmark edition, Matthew Sweet discusses Tarkovsky's 1979 film Stalker with the director Sophie Fiennes, the journalist Konstantin Von Eggert, whose family knew Tarkovsky, film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, the writer Geoff Dyer, and the academic and former tour guide in the Chernobyl Zone Dr Nicholas Rush Cooper from Durham University. Stalker tells the story of three men - Writer, Professor, and Stalker. We are never quite sure who Stalker is, or what he represents, but it's his job to lead Writer and Professor on a journey into a mysterious region called The Zone. At the heart of The Zone is a room in which all wishes come true.Based on the novel Roadside Picnic, by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Stalker is a kind of Science Fiction film with all the Science Fiction stripped out. Geoff Dyer notes that "Stalker has always invited allegorical readings, and since the film has something of the quality of prophecy, these readings are not confined to events that had occurred by the time the film was made." Is Stalker about the end of Communism? Does it prefigure the Chernobyl disaster? There are many possibilities, but the film remains mysterious.Producer: Laura Thomas
George Clooney stars in the Coen brothers' latest film Hail, Caesar!, a comedic homage to Hollywood's Golden Age in the early 1950s. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh joins Kirsty Lang to review the film which also features Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson and Ralph Fiennes. It's in cinemas from today, certificate 12A.David Threlfall has left the bad-lands of Manchester in Shameless for those of La Mancha, playing the errant knight in James Fenton's adaptation of Don Quixote for the Royal Shakespeare Company. David tells Kirsty why the nutty knight is an important figure for us today, and James Fenton reveals how, in telling his story, Cervantes invented the novel, and the modern novel, all at once. Don Quixote is on at the Swan Theatre in Stratford until 21st May.In the opening scene of BBC3's first online drama, Thirteen, Ivy Moxam escapes from the cellar, her prison for the last thirteen years. After a desperate 999 call from a phone box, she is picked up by the police and taken to be interviewed. This 5-part drama, also shown on BBC2, focuses on what happens next, how Ivy struggles to find her identity and re-establish relationships with her family and friends. Creator and writer, Marnie Dickens, joins Kirsty in the studio.And English Touring Opera's Artistic Director James Conway on taking 3 large scale operas to 21 towns around the country, including Gluck's Iphigenie and the first UK staging of Donizetti's Pia de Tolomei. English Touring Opera's Season starts tomorrow at the Hackney Empire and finishes in Carlisle in June.Producer: Dixi Stewart.
The Survivalist is a dark imagining of a post-apocalyptic world where society has collapsed and each must fend for himself. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews this BAFTA nominated film staring Martin McCann.Composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and Kevin O'Hare, the Director of The Royal Ballet, discuss Strapless, a new ballet inspired by John Singer Sargent's scandalous Portrait of Madame X, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.The Royal Librarian, Oliver Urquhart Irvine, reveals the exhibition, Shakespeare in the Royal Library, at Windsor Castle which traces the royal family's connection with Shakespeare and includes the second folio collected works that Charles I took with him to prison.The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary! is a stage adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's novel at the Liverpool Everyman. Except that this version is a comedy. Vicky Armstrong reviews.Waldemar Januszczak assesses the Louvre's restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's St John the Baptist, which one expert argues is putting this masterpiece at risk.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Angie Nehring.
John Wilson reports on the nominations for this year's Academy Awards, including interviews with actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Vikander, Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence.John talks to Amy director Asif Kapadia (Best Documentary), costume designer Sandy Powell, who is up for two awards, and Brooklyn screenwriter Nick Hornby. Plus Film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh gives an overview.Juliet Stevenson discusses the life and work of actor Alan Rickman, with whom she starred on stage at the RSC and in films such as Truly Madly Deeply.Producer: Timothy Prosser.
Michael Palin reveals how he uncovered the story of the 17th century Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi for a new BBC Four documentary Michael Palin's Quest for Artemisia.Andrew Davies explains how he adapted Tolstoy's War and Peace for television and how hard it is to select the best bits from this 1000-page novel.In the year that gave us Star Wars, Mad Max, Straight Outta Compton and Sisters, film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh discusses whether 2015 was a breakthrough year for diversity in film.Forget Jingle Bells, the music presenter Katie Puckrik chooses her alternative Christmas song.
Long As part of Radio 3's Northern Lights season, Matthew Sweet discusses Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries with the writer Colm Toibin, the film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and the Swedish cultural attache Ellen Wettmark. Released in 1957 and inspired by Bergman's own memories of childhood holidays in a summerhouse in the north of Sweden, Wild Strawberries tells the story of elderly professor Isak Borg, who travels from his home in Stockholm to receive an honorary doctorate. On the way, he's visited by childhood memories. The film stars veteran actor and director Victor Sjostrom, Bibi Andersson and Ingrid Thulin. With additional contributions from the film historian Kevin Brownlow and Jan Holmberg from the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, which administers Bergman's archives.
Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samurai traces the story of a group of Samurai who are hired to prevent thieves stealing the crops from a farming village in 1587. It regularly appears on polls of the greatest films of world cinema. Matthew Sweet is joined for a discussion of this Landmark of culture by Professor Ian Christie, critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, writer SF Said and Dr Alexander Jacoby. The programme was broadcasted from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live every day for two weeks.
50 years ago this month director Yasujiro Ozu died after making 53 films. Tokyo Story follows an elderly couple who go to visit their busy grown up children and their widowed daughter-in-law. Rana Mitter presents a Landmark edition looking at this cinematic classic, hearing from actor Richard Wilson, Professor Naoko Shimazu and film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.