The Film Programme

Francine Stock talks to West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin about his directorial debut Molly's Game. Based on the true story of a woman who ran underground poker games for the rich and famous, Sorkin reveals why he didn't name the Hollywood actors who were regular punters.Composer Neil Brand tickles the ivories and shows how Ron Goodwin's theme for 633 Squadron changed the sound of the war movie.Briony Hanson and Scott Jordan Harris slug it out to get their directors in the A to Z of film-makers. This week it's Kelly Reichardt versus Satyajit Ray.

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh is joined by Clare Binns and Tim Robey as they look back at the best films of 2017 and look forward to things to come from 2018.

Inside Science presenter Adam Rutherford joins Francine Stock to assess the latest instalment in the Star Wars saga, while critic Gavia Baker-Whitelaw takes us through the various fan theories about what is going to happen in The Last Jedi, and who is going to die.Director Daniel Rezende discusses his Brazilian drama Bingo: The King Of Mornings, based on a real-life clown and TV sensation who lead a disastrous double life as children's entertainer and drug addict.Perfume expert Dariush Alavi presents another edition of his series The Scent Of Cinema, and this week he turns his attention to arch sensualist and serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The LambsCritics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey give us an exclusive preview of their new podcast series Mind The Gap, in which they try to fill the embarrassing gaps in their film knowledge.

With Francine Stock.Artist Ai Weiwei reveals why he decided to make a feature length documentary, Human Flow, about refugee crises around the world and about his own life in exile.The Oscar winning writer of The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal discusses the ethics of depicting police brutality in his latest docu-drama Detroit, which shows three police officers killing and torturing suspects during the 1968 riots. Catherine Bray and Nadia Denton slug it out to get their directors into the The A to Z of film-makers.Comedian Rosemary Fletcher considers why there's only ever one woman in an action movie, and her task is almost always thankless.

Francine Stock meets Michael Haneke, award winning director of Funny Games, The White Ribbon, Amour and his latest, Happy End. He tells her why our modern obsession with screens should not replace real life.Critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey present a beginnner's guide to the films of Michael Haneke.Perfume expert Dariush Alavi presents the latest in his series The Scent Of Cinema with an olfactory analysis of Martin Scorsese's florid costume drama The Age Of Innocence.

With Francine Stock.Slumdog Millionaire and The Full Monty writer Simon Beaufoy tells Francine Stock about The Battle Of The Sexes and why it wasn't love all between tennis players Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, when he challenged her in 1973 to prove that a woman could play as well as a man. Beaufoy reveals why he would make the film much harder hitting now in the light of the revelations of sexual harassment in the film industry and shares his experiences at the hands of Harvey Weinstein.Neil Brand explains how Alien changed the sound of science fiction in his new series, Game Changers.Sandra Hebron and Briony Hanson slug it out to get their chosen directors, Yasujiro Ozu and Francois Ozon, for a place in The Film Programme's A to Z of film-makers.

With Francine Stock.Peter Turner explains why his book Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool, about his relationship with Gloria Grahame, took 30 years to make it to the screen, and how Elizabeth Taylor and Madonna were once mooted to play the lead.To complement the release of Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool, the British Film Institute is showing a season of Gloria Grahame's best bad girl roles, from The Big Heat to Human Desire. Film historian Pamela Hutchinson picks the most fatale of all her femmes.Comedian Rosemary Fletcher takes stock of the mothers, girlfriends and sidekicks that cinema has assigned to fifty percent of the population. In this week's edition of Rosemary Versus Mankind, she goes into bat for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, whose only mission in life seems to be soothe and save the sensitive male lead.Directors Christina Clusiau and Saul Schwarz discuss Trophy, their award-winning documentary about hunters who pay tens of thousands of dollars to kill wildlife in Africa.

Can you smell a movie? Francine Stock meets perfume expert and blogger Dariush Alavi who believes he can. Documentary maker Alex Gibney explains how he approached his new film No Stone Unturned, which attempts to solve a murder at the heart of The Troubles. As Paddington returns in a new adventure about a pop-up book, Larushka Ivan-Zadeh leafs through the history of the magical book in children's movies.Sean Baker, the filmmaker known for Tangerine, the movie shot entirely on a phone, tells Francine about his new film The Florida Project, the strange real world of Florida motels, and casting his unknown lead after seeing her posts on social media.

Antonia Quirke presents a special edition on the thriller. She hears some tricks of the trade from Ronan Bennett, writer of Face, Public Enemies and Gunpowder, who reveals why he thinks thrillers should really be called "tensers". Award-winning editor Walter Murch takes us through a key scene in the classic conspiracy thriller The Conversation and explains how to build paranoia in the audience by embedding subsonic frequencies in the soundtrack. Composer Rachel Portman explains how music can achieve the same effect with the application of low strings and alto saxophone. Alexandre O. Philippe reveals the secrets of the shower scene in Psycho in his new documentary 78/52, including the identity of the painting that covers Norman Bates' peep-hole. Woman In Black director James Watkins reveals how he took screen grabs of fifty of the greatest supernatural thrillers in movie history and dissected their key moments shot by shot in order to learn how to chill the audience to the marrow.

With Francine StockWhat do The Mask, Thor and The Saga Of The Viking Women And Their Voyage To The Waters Of The Great Sea Serpent have in common? And what has this all got to do with Richard Wagner? Norse mythology expert Eleanor Barraclough explains all.Author and director Mark Cousins explains the ways in which cinema has changed the ways we look at the world and why many of us see our lives through the eyes of Hitchcock.The controversial A to Z of film-makers continues with the letter N. Anna Smith takes on Scott Jordan Harris as Christopher Nolan goes toe to toe with cult Soviet animator Yuri Norstein.Writer Laura Snapes explains why certain musicians are used for their cultural cache as for their songs when it comes to movie soundtracks, and why the results can be unexpected, as the director of The Graduate discovered when he hired Simon and Garfunkel.

Francine Stock talks to Rungano Nyoni, the Welsh/Zambian director of I Am Not a Witch, about the surreal adventures of a young girl accused of witchcraft.Francine discusses newly discovered movies from Africa, including a silent drama from 1915, which form a season called Africa's Lost Classics, curated by Lizelle Bisschoff, who explains why we rarely get to see films from that continent.Comedian Rosemary Fletcher tries to work out why so many brilliant female characters end up playing the side-kick to the mediocre male lead.Dina is an award-winning documentary about a couple on the autism spectrum who try to make a new life for themselves after she survived a violent attack. Director Dan Sickles explains how he crafted a 100 minute documentary out of 550 hours of material.

In a special edition recorded at the BFI London Film Festival, Francine Stock talks to Ian McEwan about his screen work - the films he's adapted, the movies made from his novels, the Hollywood thrillers he's penned, and the ones that got away.The author of Atonement and On Chesil Beach reveals why he prefers to leave film-makers to do what they want with his novels and why the worst thing is to become the bad conscience of a film set, drifting around, saying "that's not what I meant". And why as an author you're treated as a god, but as a screenwriter you're treated like the cleaning lady.Image: Getty Images.

Francine Stock asks director Denis Villeneuve why he took on the sequel to the much loved classic Blade Runner. He reveals exactly what Ridley Scott said to him before he started filming."Get a life!" Writer Paul Rose replies to the critics who slated Pudsey The Dog - The Movie and made it one of the worst reviewed films in recent history.The Snowman director Tomas Alfredson tells Francine about the key difference between Swedes and Norwegians, and about the piece of music he listened to on repeat during the two years of production.Caitlin Benedict and Gavia Baker-Whitelaw visit the Nine Worlds convention where delegates dress up as their favourite movie characters while discussing academic subjects such as Queer Coding In Disney.

Francine Stock talks to director Jennifer Brea, who turned the camera on herself as she began to fight a disease that the medical profession does not always recognise - ME.Actress Edina Ronay kicks off a new series I Was In The Worst Movie Ever Made, making the case for Prehistoric Women, in which she starred in a fur bikini as a member of a lost tribe who sacrifice men to their white rhino god.Antonia Quirke finds out what happened when Vivien Leigh's wig from A Streetcar Named Desire went under the hammer this week.Critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and writer Rosemary Fletcher slug it out to get their chosen director into The A to Z of film-makers.

With Francine Stock.Director Bertrand Tavernier takes Francine Stock on a journey through French cinema, and explains why it's good to meet your heroes, even if you don't like working with them.Elliot Grove saw his first movie at the age of sixteen, banned from going to the cinema by his Amish parents, and he was hooked from that moment. He now runs one of the biggest film festivals in Europe, Raindance, which celebrate is 25th anniversary this week. And it's all thanks to Lassie Come Home.Lady Macbeth is one of the success stories of British cinema this year, and the search is on to find the next big thing to come from the I-Features scheme, which is run like a competition. Francine talks to two of the successful candidates from the latest round, Eva Riley and Alex Usborne, and asks them how they are going to spend their £350,000 budget.Have you ever met somebody who has the exactly same recurring dream as you ? That's the premise of On Body And Soul, an award-winning romantic drama set in an abattoir. Its d

Francine Stock talks to the makers of The Work, a documentary about a group therapy session between convicts in Folsom Prison that takes unexpected twists and turns.The A to Z of film-makers continues as Mike Leigh takes on Jerry Lewis, championed by critics Anna Smith and Jonathan Romney.Comedian Rosemary Fletcher takes on the ultimate romantic comedy cliché in her series Rosemary Versus The Rom-ComMain Image: Folsom Prison Yard, from The Work. Credit: Joe Wigdahl.

With Antonia QuirkeAntonia raids the store-room of foley artist Sue Harding at Twickenham film studios, and tries to make sense of the assorted snow shoes, filing cabinets and car parts that make the squeaks, creaks and bangs on screen.Box office takings fell by 10% this summer in a bonfire of the vanities as many star vehicles failed to launch. So, is this the end of the star system as we know it ? With all the answers is casting director Des Hamilton and box-office analyst Charles Gant.Vivien Leigh's iconic wig from A Streetcar Named Desire is up for auction this month, but how did the wig survive after six decades and who will buy it and what would they do with it ? All of these questions (and more) will be answered by Frances Christie from Sothebys and Keith Lodwick from the V and A.

God's Own Country tells the story of a romance between a Yorkshire sheep farmer and a Romanian migrant worker. Its director Francis Lee explains how he attempted to authentically conjure the rural setting of his own upbringing.Comedian Rosemary Fletcher examines the decoy love interest in her series Rosemary Versus The Rom-Com.Two Film Programme listeners tell tales of cinemas in unusual places.And have we solved the mystery surrounding what Buster Keaton performed on his 1951 UK tour? Our investigation (or obsession) continues.

With Antonia Quirke.Will Poulter on the intense experience of playing a racist police officer in Kathryn Bigelow's new film Detroit.Indian filmmaker Shubhashish Bhutiani tells us about Hotel Salvation, the story of a son accompanying his elderly father to the holy city of Varanasi to die.And Best Visual Effects Oscar-winner Andrew Whitehurst rewatches Terminator 2: Judgement Day for us to see how the effects stand the test of time.

With Antonia QuirkeStanley Tucci talks about his latest film as writer/director, Final Portrait, the result of a life-long obsession with the artist Giacometti, which was inspired by his artist father.Woman in Black director James Watkins waxes lyrical about the work of Jean-Pierre Melville, the French film-maker who was so obsessed with American culture that he changed his name in honour of the author of Moby Dick.Listener Paul Kleiman talks about his mother Shirley Finn, who kept a record of almost every day of her adult life, including the years she spent in the British film industry as a "script girl".