Front Row

Director Sean Baker discusses his new film Red Rocket that was nominated for the Palme D’Or - the top prize at Cannes.

The Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar discusses his new poetry collection, The Pilgrim Bell, and his fascination with the English metaphysical poet, John Donne.

Ahead of the release of their new album ’10 Year Plan’ British country stars The Shires discuss song-writing and going back on the road, plus they perform two new tracks live in the studio including their latest single ‘I See Stars'.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

It’s 50 years since The Godfather was released, the first of three films that have had a huge impact in their own right and on so much that followed them, from The Sopranos to The Simpsons. Christina Newland and Carl Anka discuss the power of the films and their legacy as Godfather II joins The Godfather on cinematic re-release.

Our Generation is a new play by Alecky Blythe, the author of London Road, whose particular technique of verbatim theatre this time involved following a group of young people in the secondary school years and just beyond for five years. The snapshot of exams, phones, relationships, dreams and aspirations that’s resulted is at the National Theatre and then Chichester. It’s reviewed by poet Anthony Anaxagorou and critic Susannah Clapp.

Paul Dano discusses his role as The Riddler in new film The Batman, and reflects on the particular quality shared by many of the characters he has played.

And Anthony Anaxagorou and fellow poet Hannah Lowe, who’s just won the Costa Book of the Year Award for her collection The Kids, each recommend a new poetry collection.

Filmmaker Jane Campion is the first woman to be nominated twice for the Oscar for Best Director and the first woman to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival. Known for her female-centred work such as The Piano, she tells Tom Sutcliffe why she decided to focus on toxic masculinity in The Power of the Dog, her first feature film in ten years.

The acclaimed Ukrainian artist Pavlo Makov, who was due to be representing his country at next month’s Venice Art Biennale, talks from Kharhiv, where he is sheltering from the bombing.

JN Benjamin reviews the play Mugabe, My Dad & Me, a one man show from Tonderai Munyevu which charts the rise and fall of Robert Mugabe through the personal story of the playwright’s family.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Tears For Fears, the duo who sound-tracked the 1980s with songs such as Shout, Mad World and Everybody Wants to Rule the World, have just released a new album, their first for 17 years. Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal tell Samira Ahmed about The Tipping Point and how they reached it.

Kate Mavor, CEO of English Heritage discusses the challenges facing English Heritage in 2022.

Unboxed, the festival billed as a celebration of UK creativity, has kicked off in in Paisley, Scotland with About Us, an event charting one hundred and thirty years of history, from the “Big Bang” to the present. Samira is joined by arts journalist Jan Patience to review what was once dubbed the Festival of Brexit.

And on St. David's Day, the poet, playwright, and writer, Menna Elfyn shares her choice of poem for the feast day of the patron saint of Wales.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

On tonight’s Front Row, we take a look at the cultural responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the BBC’s Culture Editor, Katie Razzall.

Clio Barnard’s latest film, Ali &Ava, is a love story between two care-worn middle-aged people, set in Bradford. Syima Aslam, co-founder and Director of the Bradford Literature Festival, and Lisa Holdsworth, Chair of the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain, review.

Cherry Jezebel is the title of a new play which opens at the Liverpool Everyman next week. At its heart are three drag queens with funny one-liners faster and sharper than a Federer forehand. But it’s also a play about ageing, family, and intimacy. The playwright Jonathan Larkin joins Front Row to discuss his new work.

Presenter: Nick Ahad

Director Adam McKay talks to Tom about his film Don’t Look Up. He discusses why it divided audiences and how he thinks cinema can influence politics.

Photographer Mark Neville on the portraits of Ukrainian life collected in his new book Ukraine: Stop Tanks with Books.

Charlotte Mullins discusses Whistler's famous portrait of Joanna Hiffernan, known as the Woman in White, the subject of an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.

Film critic Jason Solomons joins Charlotte to review The Duke, the film starring Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, about the extraordinary theft of a portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in 1961.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Musician, film maker and artist David Byrne discusses his new book A History of the World (in Dingbats) - a collection of more than 100 line drawings he created during the Covid-19 pandemic. The striking figurative drawings explore daily life and our shared experiences in recent years, and capture the changes and challenges of life today.

As the Government announces fresh plans to ‘level up the arts’ outside of London, we speak to the Minister for the Arts, Lord Parkinson about how and where the additional £75 million of funding will be spent.

Journalist and author Agnès Poirier sends us a cultural postcard from Paris, taking in a night at the opera; a film- Paris, 13th District- the new ensemble dating drama from director Jacques Audiard; a major exhibition marking the centenary of Proust’s death and the latest on the restoration of fire-damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral, nearly three years after the blaze.

Hope Dickson Leach discusses the new production of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, an innovative production that uses cinematic techniques to create a live filmic experience as well as a theatrical one.

Samuel Bailey’s debut play, Shook, about three young men in a young offender's institution, won the Papatango New Writing Prize in 2019, glowing reviews, and a sell-out run. His new play, Sorry, You’re Not a Winner, explores the social price of higher education. Samuel Bailey talks to Tom Sutcliffe about the cost of great opportunities .

Amid the current debate about the merits of sensitivity readers - a specialist editor who checks writers’ manuscripts for offensive content, misrepresentation, stereotypes, bias, lack of understanding - we talk to one: Philippa Willets, who advises on disability and LGBT issues, and a writer who has misgivings about the idea, Zia Haidar Rahman, author of the prize-winning novel In The Light of What We Know.

Short form comedy on social media has thrived during the pandemic. Two luminaries of the genre - Munya Chawawa who came to wider public attention with his musical response to the news of Matt Hancock's extra-marital affair - and Rosie Holt - her "Tory MP" persona convinced some that she was the real thing - discuss the art of short form satire.

Presenter Tom Sutcliffe

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington and director Max Webster discuss their new production of Henry V, and why they chose to make Henry a more complex character than the usual patriotic hero.

Jan Pieńkowski, who has died aged 85, was a brilliant illustrator of children’s books, including the Meg and Mog series. He was born in Poland and his family fled the Nazis, an experience, along with the fairy tales of Eastern Europe, that influenced his work. Chris Riddell, the former Children's Laureate, pays tribute to Pieńkowski.

Radio 2 and 1Xtra presenter Trevor Nelson reflects on the life of Jamal Edwards, DJ and founder of the online music platform SBTV. He discusses Jamal's lasting influence on the music scene and his legacy.

A landmark exhibition, Surrealism Beyond Borders at Tate Modern, is seeking to reveal the bigger picture beyond the art movement's Eurocentric and male dominated origins in 1920s France. Samira is joined by the co-curator, Matthew Gale and by Chloe Aridjis, the Mexican-American novelist, to consider Surrealism’s reach and resonance.

Artist Daniel Lismore describes himself as a ‘living sculpture.’ His elaborate creations have been worn by Naomi Campbell, Boy George and the cast of the English National Opera’s The Mask of Orpheus. Now his body of work is on display in the UK for the first time, in the exhibition Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in his hometown of Coventry.

Author Naomi Alderman and writer and film critic Pamela Hutchinson join Elle to review new office-based sci-fi comedy Severance and documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin.

The book Lady Joker has become a cultural touchstone in Japan since its 1997 publication, twice adapted for film and TV and often taught in high school and college classrooms. The author David Peace explains the excitement behind Lady Joker’s long-awaited translation and first UK publication.

Presenter: Elle Osili-Wood

Image: Artist Daniel Lismore Photographer credit: Colin Douglas Gray