At 91 years old, actor and director Clint Eastwood is still bringing his quiet intensity to the big screen, in stories that explore the dustier corners of the American experience. Film critic Lisa Nesselson tells us why there is plenty to like – but not necessarily love – in his latest film, "Cry Macho".

She wields the conductor's baton like a lightning rod for emotion, precision and excellence in classical music: Karina Canellakis is lending her talents to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées for their rendition of the opera "Eugene Onegin". The award-winning maestra is currently principal guest conductor at the London Philharmonic, as well as chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

Hailing from Belgium and Cameroon, singer-songwriter Lubiana plays the kora, an ancestral West African instrument traditionally played exclusively by men. She's just released her first album "Beloved", mixing upbeat pop and afro tunes. She tells FRANCE 24's Florence Villeminot about how playing the kora helped her reconnect with her roots and embrace her mixed heritage.

Anni, Benny, Bjorn and Agnetha are back. Four decades after they were last in the charts, the Swedish superstars are releasing their new album "Voyage". The foursome will also be staging a virtual concert in a custom-built arena in London in the spring of 2022.

She's famous for her success as an actress in France, but Aïssa Maïga has now gone behind the camera to show how water shortages in one West African village have knock-on effects for the whole community. As her film "Above Water" is released in France and across Africa, she joins us in the studio to discuss how the situation in Niger is demonstrative of a deep inequality between the countries who have contributed to the climate crisis and those who feel the effects most acutely.

There are a few crossed paths and crossed wires in Jacques Audiard's "Paris, 13th District", which is on release all over France after its première at the Cannes Film Festival in July. Film critic Lisa Nesselson tells us why she failed to connect with these 30-something urbanites, despite Audiard's form with past features.

At just 31 years old, Senegalese writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (pictured) has won France's top literary prize, the Goncourt, for his book "'The Most Secret Memory of Men". Sarr has been applauded for his elegant literary style, creating a labyrinthine ode to literature that embraces France, Senegal, 20th-century history and the artistic conundrum of plagiarism. We take a closer look.

He's behind some of the biggest crime thrillers, psychological horrors and hard-hitting dramas of recent years. From 1989's "Dead Calm" to "Patriot Games" in 1992, Phillip Noyce has directed dozens of Hollywood talents, including Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie.  As the Cinémathèque Française stages a retrospective of his work, he tells us about being a gun for hire in Los Angeles in the 1990s and the gamble he was determined to take in making "Rabbit-Proof Fence" in 2002.

This month marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen. French indie rocker H-Burns has paid tribute to him in his latest album "Burns On The Wire", which focuses on Cohen's folk era and features guest appearances from Lou Doillon, Kevin Morby and more. H-Burns joined us in the studio to tell us more.

"My Son" is a remake of the 2017 French thriller "Mon garçon", starring Guillaume Canet. In the new film, Scottish actor James McAvoy stars as a father whose 7-year-old son goes missing from a campsite in an apparent kidnapping. With no script, the goal was for the actor and the audience to uncover the mystery at exactly the same time. Eve Jackson sat down with film director Christian Carion and his star to chat about this unusual project.