The Arts Hour

Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan and actor Matt Damon talk about one of the year’s most anticipated blockbusters, their movie, The Odyssey

Nikki Bedi meets Chilean screenwriter and director Diego Cespedes whose film, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, takes us to an LGBTQ+ community in the Chilean dessert and critic Leila Latif joins Nikki to reflect on other cultural highlights of the week:

Australian filmmaker Adrian Chiarella on his gay coming of age horror film, Leviticus

Indian born artist Anish Kapoor on the moment he knew what he wanted to be

US author Priya Parmar talks about her novel about the life of Katharine Hepburn and there’s music from Algerian artist Souad Massi

Photo Credit: Ian West

Global superstar Madonna talks about her new album, Confessions II and her relationship with dance

Nikki Bedi meets Italian Director Francesco Sossai to discuss Italian masculinity in his film, The Last One for the Road and critic Bidisha joins Nikki to reflect on other cultural highlights of the week.

Australian dancer and choreographer Meryl Tankard on reviving a 1978 Pina Bausch dance piece with the original dancers.

Chinese born American author Canwen Xu on her satirical debut novel, Boring Asian Female.

Hollywood actor Olivia Wilde on her latest film, The Invite, which she also directed.

Indian artist Bharti Kher on fellow artist and country woman, Mrinalini Mukherjee

Plus, music from Sudanese singer Sulaf .

(Photo: Madonna wears a light blue silky dress and a crystal necklace, her long blonde hair parted in the middle. Credit: Santiago Felipe/GC Images)

Presenter: Nikki Bedi

Nikki Bedi speaks to fresh new voice in Indian cinema, the director Rohan Kanawade, about his groundbreaking Cactus Pears (Sabar Bonda). The first Marathi-language film to premiere at the Sundance Festival, it was also the first drama from India to win an International Grand Jury Prize. Kanawade reflects on growing up in a Mumbai slum with parents who accepted his sexuality, and how he drew on the experience of mourning his father.

We also hear from Amy Adams about the new TV adaptation of Cape Fear.

Nadia Latif talks about adapting Iran-set horror movie Under the Shadow for theatre.

One of France’s most acclaimed directors, Francois Ozon, discusses his take on Albert Camus’ The Stranger.

Also on the programme: musical icon Chaka Khan, Norwegian-American writer Siri Hustvedt on losing her husband, the novelist Paul Auster, and the boundary-pushing Ghanian-Australian musician Genesis Owusu.

Plus, critic Arifa Akbar gives her take on these cultural highlights of the week, and more.

Presenter: Nikki Bedi

French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski tells Nikki Bedi about directing Oscar winning actor Jodie Foster in Vie Privée (A Private Life), her first starring role in a French language film

Nikki is joined by critic Rhianna Dhillon to reflect on the top cultural talking points of the week:

American director Andrew Stanton and actor Greta Lee on the making of of Toy Story 5, The Toys Are Back In Town

British actors Claire Foy and Richard E Grant on their raucous romp through the eighteenth century in the film comedy, Savage House

Pakistani-American musician Arooj Aftab celebrates the music that takes her home and music that travels with her

US Jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington describes his musical combination of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins

And Thomas Bangalter, one half of French electro pop pioneers Daft Punk, reveals why the duo disguised their identity

Photo Credit: George Lechaptois

Nikki Bedi speaks to Iranian-born director Tina Gharavi about her new film Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day, starring Haley Bennett and Lily Allen

Zing Tsjeng joins as cultural critic to give her take on some of the highlights of the week:

Kiefer Sutherland on his career playing bad guys, from Stand by Me to the genre-defining series 24.

Adam Lambert on following in the footsteps of Freddie Mercury as Queen’s new front man.

Sudanese-Australian author Yassmin Abdel-Magied on how working as an engineer on an oil rig inspired her new novel.

Film-maker Shahrbanoo Sadat discusses No Good Men, possibly Afghanistan’s first romcom.

Plus, multi-platinum singer Olivia Rodrigo performs a cover of CMAT's song When a Good Man Cries.

Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

(Photo: Director Tina Gharavi Credit: Mark Pinder)

Nikki Bedi speaks to the internationally acclaimed French-Moroccan author of Lullaby about the final part of her historical family trilogy, I’ll Take The Fire

Steven Spielberg remembers falling in love with space and how it has inspired Disclosure Day, his new conspiracy thriller

Actor Michael Fassbender shares the advice he was given by undercover agents for spy series The Agency

And with her latest novel just published, prize-winning author Ann Patchett reveals how she continues to be inspired by her own unconventional family and being a step-parent

Cultural critic Hanna Flint joins to give her take on these and more

Photo Credit: Catherine Hélie ©Editions Gallimard

British actor Kristin Scott Thomas, star of the English Patient and Four Weddings and a Funeral, reveals the personal story behind her directorial debut film, My Mother’s Wedding.

Nikki Bedi is joined by critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh to discuss My Mother’s Wedding and other cultural highlights of the week

Twenty-year-old American you tube star Kane Parsons on Backrooms, the feature film version of his YouTube series

British Asian author Vaseem Khan on writing the latest new James Bond story

And the Canadian author of Heated Rivalries, Rachel Reid, on the raunchy ice hockey drama that is sweeping the world as a TV series

Nikki’s Studio guest interview is Mexican American filmmaker Alex Kahuam, who shares the vision behind his horror film, The Remedy

Leo Woodall, of White Lotus and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy fame, talks about working with Dustin Hoffman on the film Tuner

And there’s music from Belarusian jazz band Soyuz

Photo Credit: Getty Images: Julien M. Hekimian

Nikki Bedi meets international bestselling author Tayari Jones whose award-winning novel ‘An American Marriage’ was chosen by Oprah Winfrey for her Book Club and was championed by former US President Barack Obama. As an important contemporary voice in American fiction, Tayari is celebrated for writing about race, class, and life in the American South, all of which feature in her latest novel Kin.

Director and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman talks about using poetry in his films.

French actor Isabelle Huppert on her role in the film, The Richest Woman in the World.

Literary translator Lin King, explains her work on this year’s International Booker Prize winning novel, Taiwan Travelogue.

Plus, some desert blues from Malian band Tamikrest.

Tayari Jones and film critic Guy Lodge join Nikki in conversation about the week’s cultural highlights.

(Photo: Author Tayari Jones. Credit: Julie Yarborough)

Nikki Bedi interviews artist, composer and producer, Bishi, about composing the film score for Maya: The Birth of a Superhero, and critic Alexandra Steinacker-Clark joins the reflection on this week’s cultural highlights.

Sandra Oh, star of Killing Eve and Grey’s Anatomy talks about making her UK theatre debut, in Martin Crimp’s update of Moliere’s 17th century play, The Misanthrope.

Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk explains his change in direction from comedy to action movies.

American avant-garde artist and musician Laurie Anderson shares her vision of the world.

And we hear from Igbo Nigerian rapper Illbliss.

(Photo: Canadian American actor Sandra Oh. Credit: Gilbert Flores/Getty Images)

Nikki Bedi speaks to the Spanish director of Romeria, Carla Simon. Plus Zakia Sewell – broadcaster and author of new book Finding Albion – joins to discuss the week’s cultural highlights:

American country music star Kacey Musgraves on her new album

Filmmaker Warwick Thornton talks about the relationships between Aboriginal Australians and Chinese labourers

Indian-born novelist Amitav Ghosh shares his love of Rabindranath Tagore

Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver on new Star Wars film, The Mandalorian and Grogu

The artist representing Britain at this year’s Venice Biennale, Lubaina Himid pays tribute to her Tanzanian mother

And nomadic folk music from Inner Mongolian group, Anda Union

Photo Credit: David Ruano