The Film Programme

Francine Stock on the latest from the Cannes Film Festival, including The Great Gatsby premiere with critics Catherine Bray and Jonathan Romney. Baz Luhrmann's latest spectacular has attracted mixed reviews in the US where it's just been released - so how did it go down with the Cannes crowd? Beware of Mr Baker is an usually revealing music documentary on the life and career of the tempestuous Cream drummer Ginger Baker. The director Jay Bulger describes the lies he had to tell to get Ginger to talk to him and why the drummer broke his nose with a walking stick. And the composer Neil Brand guides us through spy films from The 39 Steps to the Ipcress Files and JFK and explains how their scores give a clue to the secrets of their plots. Producer: Elaine Lester.

Riz Ahmed discusses his latest role in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Directed by Mira Nair, it's based on the Booker Prize-nominated novel by Mohsin Hamid. Ahmed plays Changez, a young man from Pakistan who makes his fortune in the US as a successful financier, only to find he becomes an outsider after 9/11. The writer and director Jeff Nichols explains how he brought his labour of love, Mud, to the big screen. A Mississippi tale with echoes of Mark Twain, it stars Matthew McConaughey and tells the story of a fugitive man living on an island and his friendship with two young boys. And Star Trek is back with the latest installment, Into Darkness, directed by JJ Abrams. Writers, producers and long-term collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci explore how they hoped to bring new life - and wit - to the beloved franchise that is Star Trek. Film maker Sarah Gavron explains how a holiday in Greenland became her latest documentary.

The Spanish director Pedro Almodovar talks to Francine Stock about his raunchy new comedy I'm So Excited in which a plane with a technical fault circles the skies, hoping to find an airport to land in. According to Almodovar, it's a metaphor for the political and financial difficulties facing Spain. Adam Leon explains why he wanted to show the grittier, real New York in his new feature Gimme The Loot about young graffiti artists. And how he deals with questions over how a white director can make a convincing film about a predominantly black scene. The actor Tom Courtenay, seen most recently in Quartet, looks back at Billy Liar, 50 years on. Directed by John Schlesinger, and co-starring Julie Christie, the film portrays Billy, a dreamer working in an undertakers and planning escape. And with The Reluctant Fundamentalist due for release next week, the young British actor Riz Ahmed tells the story of his big break and how he was discovered by the director Michael Winterbottom. Producer: Elaine Lester.

Steve Coogan's discusses his latest role as the Soho entrepreneur, Paul Raymond, in The Look of Love, directed by Michael Winterbottom. He tells Francine Stock why he's attracted to characters who prove initially hard to like. Bernie, directed by Richard Linklater, is also based on a real person and tells the story of a Texan man accused of murdering an elderly woman. Using documentary-style interviews within the feature film, it's a sympathetic portrayal by Jack Black. He explains why he was attracted to the role and his nervousness about the reaction of the real Bernie, currently serving his sentence in prison. So how can biopics be both honest and innovative about their subjects? Film critic Hannah McGill discusses those that work and those that fail to engage. And the actor Terence Stamp looks back at this career from Billy Budd to The Collector, Theorem and The Limey as the British Film Institute opens a retrospective on his work next week. Producer: Elaine Lester.

This week the Film Programme debates whether films can really change the world. Francine Stock talks to Jeremy Irons about his documentary Trashed which looks at global waste and discusses the feature film Promised Land, starring Matt Damon and Frances McDormand, which tackles fracking. She asks Dave Calhoun, Film Editor of Time Out and Oli Harbottle of Dogwoof films if these films with a mission bring in the audiences.The director Susanne Bier explains why she wanted to reinvent the rom com formula with her new film, Love is All You Need, starring Pierce Brosnan. And we hear from the actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz about his new film Rebellion, based on real events in New Caledonia in 1988 when French soldiers controversially suppressed an uprising by Kanak separatists. Kassovitz, who made the critically-acclaimed La Haine, explains why Rebellion was a labour of love which caused heated reaction when released in France.Producer: Elaine Lester.

The director Derek Cianfrance, best known for Blue Valentine, talks to Francine Stock about his new film The Place Beyond the Pines, starring Ryan Gosling, and why becoming a father himself made this a very personal project. The critic Karen Krizanovich explores male melodrama on the big screen and we hear from producer Lisa Bryer on why BAFTA is bringing short films to the cinema. Are audiences ready for an evening of back to back shorts? The documentary maker Dror Moreh explains how he managed to get former Israeli secret service chiefs to talk on film about their misgivings about security policy over the last few decades in his new project, The Gatekeepers. And there's analysis from Charles Gant and independent cinema owner Kevin Markwick on the big hits and misses of the year so far and what we've got to look forward to in the coming months. Producer: Elaine Lester.

Francine Stock talks to Harmony Korine about his new and most commercial film to date, Spring Breakers, starring James Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens. It explores what happens to a group of teenage girls who break away from the drudgery of studies for that North American ritual, Spring Break. Elhum Shakerifar talks about her role as director of the UK's Women's film festival, Birds Eye View, which this year is celebrating female Arab filmmakers, including Palestine, Egypt Algeria, Lebanon and Syria. She discusses the challenges that Haifaa Al Mansour had in filming Wadjda on location in Saudi Arabia; she had to direct some sequences from a van via walkie talkie due to prohibitions on women in public spaces. Wadjda is a moving film about a ten year old girl whose goal in life is to buy a bicycle. Neil Brand discusses film composer Alex North's ground breaking score to the 1952 film Viva Zapata. Directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn the film told the story of revolutionar

Francine Stock talks to Oscar winning film director Danny Boyle about a lifetime spent making films, including his latest "Trance", a noirish art heist starring James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson, in which a fine art auctioneer (McAvoy) joins forces with a hypnotherapist (Dawson) to recover a lost painting. It's a psychological crime drama, a glossier 21 st century take on a theme he's visited before in his work - a trio of characters locked in a hell of their own making. In this free ranging interview Boyle discusses films from Shallow Grave to Oscar winning box office hit Slumdog Millionaire to the triumph of his staging of the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.Danny Boyle talks about his respect for actors and the ancient art of performance, acknowledging that the director's role is a relatively recent innovation. He also discusses the important role of sound in the evolution of cinema, how making movies for a 20 million dollar budget gives him directorial freedom and why he still has faith in the power of the bi

On the Film Programme this week Francine Stock talks to the director Craig Zobel about his disturbing new movie, Compliance. Based on real life events in the US, it portrays a prank call from a supposed police officer to a fast food restaurant. HIs instructions lead to violence perpetrated against a young employee. Zobel explains his fascination with people's responses to authority. The French director Francois Ozon, known for 8 Women and Swimming Pool is back with a new comedy, In The House, which portrays a curious relationship between a student and his literature teacher. The film raises questions about when voyeurism spills into active participation and blurs the lines between fact and fiction. There's debate too on whether narrative really matters in film-making with Mexican director Carlos Reygadas who discusses his film Post Tenebras Lux, a film which has split the critics despite a Best Director accolade at Cannes last year. If you don't get it the first time, you should watch it again, he insists. Hi

Francine Stock discusses the challenges of making a second film after a successful debut with award winning director of Shifty, Eran Creevy, and Telegraph film critic Tim Robey. Eran Creevy's second film after Shifty - a low budget film set on a council estate similar to where he himself grew up - is Welcome To The Punch, a glossy thriller set in a 21st century financial centre of glass and steel, starring James McAvoy and David Morrisey. Also out this week is Lee Daniel's The Paperboy starring Nicole Kidman and John Cusack. Paperboy is Lee Daniels' follow up film after the hugely successful Precious about an obese teenager in Harlem. As a director's reputation may depend on the follow-up film, what are the pressures and what are the pitfalls? Scottish director Scott Graham talks about Shell, his debut film set on a lonely fuel station road in the Scottish Highlands. Shell is the nickname of a 17 year old living with her father after her mother abandoned them both years earlier, and provides a moving account

The director Steven Soderbergh, who made Oceans Eleven to Thirteen, Traffic and Che talks to Francine Stock about his new film Side Effects, a thriller exploring the apparent effects of taking anti depressants. The actor Tim Roth on Broken, a British film dealing with adolescence and everyday violence, which marks a memorable debut for theatre director Rufus Norris. And with the re-release of The Princess Bride, Frank Cottrell Boyce explains why he thinks it's one of the best screen plays ever written and the columnist Hadley Freeman on why it's not a film just for the girls. Also the Oscar-winning producer Andrew Ruhemann on his big break - the day Steven Spielberg came to call. Producer: Elaine Lester.

Francine Stock talks to Mark Wahlberg about his latest role as an ex-cop in the thriller Broken City which also stars Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Richard Gere discusses charm and corruption which both feature heavily in Arbitrage, a film about high finance, greed and adultery. Neil Bennett from Digital Arts magazine explains why there's a crisis in the visual effects industry despite films like Life of Pi, which rely on such skills, topping the Oscars list.There's discussion of the Italian film Caesar Must Die, with Shakespeare's Julius Caesar played by real-life prisoners. And Alison Abbate, producer of Frankenweenie, on her passion for stop-motion animation. Producer: Elaine Lester.

Matthew Sweet talks to Tom Tykwer, one of the directors of the much-anticipated film Cloud Atlas. The actress Olga Kurylenko discusses her role in the latest offering from director Terrence Malick, To The Wonder. And the composer Neil Brand is at the piano to delve into the scores of children's films from classics like Mary Poppins to more recent films like Happy Feet and Frankenweenie. Producer: Elaine Lester.

The director Judd Apatow talks to Francine Stock about his new comedy This Is 40. Known for films such as Bridesmaids, Knocked Up and Anchorman, he describes the joys - and challenges - of directing his wife and children in his latest film. Oscar-nominee and supervising sound editor on Bond-movie Skyfall, Karen Baker Landers lays bare some of the techniques of her profession, including intriguing insights into how the sound can affect a film's rating. The documentary maker Alex Gibney explores child abuse in the Catholic Church in his new work Mea Maxima Culpa. And the Australian director Cate Shortland discusses Lore, her film inspired by the book The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert and why she decided to make the film in German, despite not speaking the language fluently herself. Producer Elaine Lester.

Francine Stock is joined by critics Robbie Collin and Catherine Bray to discuss the BAFTA Awards - the winners, shocks, surprises and reaction from the ceremony. Sir Alan Parker, known for films such as Bugsy Malone, Fame and The Commitments looks back at his career as he receives a BAFTA Fellowship. And we go on set with Eve Stewart, production designer of Les Miserables.Producer: Elaine Lester.

The director Sir Alan Parker celebrates becoming a BAFTA Academy Fellow and looks back at his career with Francine Stock. He discusses his most well-known films including Bugsy Malone, The Commitments and Evita and speaks frankly of his concerns for the future of British film. Helen Mirren gives an insight into the little-known influence of Alma Reville, Hitchcock's wife, whom she plays in Hitchcock. The Oscar-nominated production designer Eve Stewart describes how she brought C19th Paris to the big screen in Les Miserables and gives a sneak preview of her latest project - muppet nuptials. And critic Sandra Hebron on some of this week's international releases; the German film Barbara out on DVD and the cinema release of the film No, set in Chile and starring Gael Garcia Bernal.

Director Roger Michell talks to Francine Stock about his latest film Hyde Park on Hudson based on the extraordinary meeting between King George VI and President Roosevelt in New York State in 1939. BAFTA and Oscar nominee Jacqueline Durran discusses designing costumes for Anna Karenina, explaining why she brought a 1950s twist to 19th Century Russia. We hear from the critic Jane Graham in Glasgow on why The Wee Man, inspired by the real life criminal career of Paul Ferris, is doing do so well at the box office in Scotland, despite unfavourable reviews. And what's thought to be Richard Burton's first credited film role, The Last Days of Dolwyn, comes out on DVD for the first time, more than 60 years after it was made. The director Marc Evans, who made Trauma and My Little Eye, explores the mythology of the lost Welsh village.Producer: Elaine Lester.

One of the world's most successful and influential directors, Steven Spielberg talks about his latest film, Lincoln, which is dominating the Oscar lists with 12 nominations. In a special extended interview, he talks to Francine Stock about his long courtship of Daniel Day-Lewis to play the leading role, the detailed historical research behind the production and the reaction of President Obama to the film. Also on the programme, there's discussion of how Lincoln has been represented on the big screen, from DW Griffith's controversial Birth of a Nation in 1915 to John Ford's Young Mr Lincoln in 1939 and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in 2012. Professor Ian Christie of Birkbeck University and the critic Karen Krisanovich debate the subject who has become something of a touchstone for American directors.

The director Quentin Tarantino talks to Francine Stock about his controversial new film Django Unchained. It tells the story of a freed slave who attempts to rescue his wife from a plantation, told in the style of a Western. The film has received five Oscar nominations including best original screenplay and best film. And there's controversy too surrounding the latest work of the director Kathryn Bigelow. She discusses her new film Zero Dark Thirty which claims to be based on first hand accounts of the search for and killing of Osama Bin Laden. Also on the programme, the actor John Hawkes describes how he prepared for his role in The Sessions in which he plays a man suffering from polio who wishes to lose his virginity. The film is inspired by the real life story of Mark O'Brien. There's news too of the movie breaking records in China. Lost in Thailand has now become the highest grossing Chinese film in history. We find out why with critic Arthur Jones in Shanghai.Producer: Elaine Lester.

Francine Stock talks to Les Miserables director Tom Hooper, who broke with tradition by recording his actors singing live on set. Hooper began his career on Eastenders and went on to win an Oscar for The Kings Speech, but this is his first musical.Tim Robey reports on the Oscar nominations.Producer Alison Owen and screenwriter Stephen Fingleton discuss the new Hollywood Blacklist, a list of the hottest unproduced film scripts.And composer Neil Brand talks about his new score for Anthony Asquith's 1928 silent film classic, Underground, which is re-released this week.