With Francine Stock Francine takes a trip to La La Land, the musical which has just swept the board at the Golden Gobes, with critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey. Another awards contender Manchester By The Sea is released this week, and Francine talks to its writer/director Kenneth Lonergan, who explains why he thinks Hollywood scripts are getting worse and have to explain everything to audiences "as if they're idiots". Comedian Lucy Porter discusses her love for Colleen Moore, the highest...
Jan 12, 2017•30 min
With Francine Stock. Francine meets Alejandro Jodorowsky, the cult director, mime artist and graphic artist, who was discovered by John Lennon and who once attempted to make a version of Dune in which Salvador Dali was paid one million dollars a minute to play a hyper-realistic robot. Animator Jason Stalman takes us behind the scenes of The Corpse Bride and Fantastic Mr Fox and reveals why he sometimes wants to strangle the puppets he works with. As the awards seasons begins in earnest with The ...
Jan 05, 2017•30 min
Francine Stock talks to Andrew Garfield, the star of Martin Scorsese's Silence.
Dec 29, 2016•28 min
Francine Stock and guests discuss the best films of 2016.
Dec 22, 2016•27 min
Francine Stock talks to Gareth Edwards, the director of the first Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One, who reveals what makes his film so different from the seven other episodes in the franchise. Adam Rutherford tries to explain how Rogue One fits into the ever-expanding Star Wars universe and why some works have been deemed "non-canonical". Few directors can be genuinely described as unique. Rama Burshtein has that honour, being the first and only female film-maker who is part of the Orthodox Jewish ...
Dec 15, 2016•30 min
With Francine Stock. Francine visits the setting and locations of The Proud Valley starring Paul Robeson, actor, activist, singer, linguist, lawyer and honorary Welshman. Historian Phil Carradice explains why Robeson became a folk hero in the Rhondda Valley and about the miners' campaign to get his passport returned when he was blacklisted by the United States government and banned from leaving the country. The Proud Valley is being shown across South Wales and is the opening film at The Phoenix...
Dec 08, 2016•29 min
Francine Stock revisits the manicured lawns and gothic horror of Blue Velvet as David Lynch's surreal masterpiece celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. She is accompanied on her journey to the heart of suburban darkness by critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey.
Dec 01, 2016•30 min
Francine Stock visits Campbeltown on the west coast of Scotland where the community have come together to save their art deco cinema, The Picture House, one of the most architecturally important in Europe, from terminal decline. The Uckfield Picture House celebrates its centenary this month and for over fifty years it's been owned by one family. Kevin Markwick has been with the cinema since he was babe in arms and talks about his life in pictures.
Nov 24, 2016•29 min
Producer, writer, professor and former studio boss James Schamus tells Francine Stock why he took the plunge and directed his first film, Inidgnation, after three decades in the business. In an exclusive interview, award-winning writer/director Carol Morley reveals what her next project will be, even before a word is written or a scene is filmed.
Nov 17, 2016•29 min
Historian Kevin Brownlow tells Francine Stock about his 50 year quest to restore Abel Gance's silent masterpiece Napoleon to its five and half hour glory, and why the search for missing scenes still continues even though the film is about to be released on DVD for the very first time. Composer Carl Davis takes us through his score, which borrows freely from the work of Beethoven, who dedicated his 3rd Symphony to Napoleon, only to regret it later.
Nov 10, 2016•29 min
With Francine Stock Fashion designer and movie director Tom Ford discusses his film-within-a-film Nocturnal Animals, and explains why he doesn't like to mix his two professions. As The Light Between Oceans has audiences weeping in the aisles, director Derek Cianfrance talks tear-jerkers and tragedy. Critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey reveal the films that have made them blub like babies.
Nov 03, 2016•29 min
With Francine Stock. Jacqueline Bisset looks back at Day For Night, Francois Truffaut's Oscar-winning movie about movie-making. She reveals why she refuses "to whinge" about the roles offered to older women. Critics Tim Robey and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh enter the strange world of the film within a film, from Singin' In The Rain to Hail Caesar. FanGirl Quest, aka Tiia Ohman and Satu Walden, explain why they have travelled the globe from their native Finland to seek out famous locations and practice s...
Oct 27, 2016•29 min
With Francine Stock. Actor and producer David Oyelowo outlines his plans to revolutionize the British film industry and to make films that are genuinely diverse and reflective of the United Kingdom. Oyelowo argues that industry orthodoxies about what audiences want are "lies". And he explains why his son assumed that he would be playing the best friend, and not the male lead, in his new film The Queen Of Katwe. Francine visits Mouth That Roars, an organisation based in Hackney which trains teena...
Oct 20, 2016•29 min
With Francine Stock. British director Andrea Arnold discusses her own trip across the United States that inspired her road movie American Honey, and reveals how she discovered her star, Sasha Lane, on a beach in Miami. Critics Tim Robey and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh get their motors running and head out on the highway as they chart the progress of the American road movie. Producer Rebecca O'Brien discusses her collaboration with Ken Loach that has spanned a quarter of a century and is marked by a new,...
Oct 13, 2016•29 min
With Francine Stock. The Film Programme has teamed up with the BFI on a poll to decide the best performance by a black actor of all time. Among the nominees is Earl Cameron in Pool Of London, the first British movie to star a Caribbean actor. Francine hears from Earl about a career that has spanned over six decades and includes a Bond pic. Neil Brand reveals how modern technology helps him score a silent version of Robin Hood from 1922. Four translators discuss the subtle art of sub-titling....
Oct 06, 2016•29 min
Francine Stock enters Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children with Tim Burton. The director reveals why he loves Blackpool so much and why its pleasure beach reflects his state of mind. Director Babak Anvari reveals how much his horror movie, Under The Shadow, set in the Iran-Iraq war, is autobiographical. The director of When Marnie Was There discusses the popularity of British children's literature in Japan. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey takes us through the history of peculiar childre...
Sep 29, 2016•29 min
With Francine Stock A soundtrack special with David Arnold's notes on Independence Day, which has more saluting than any other movie, according to the composer. Adrian Utley of Portishead and Will Gregory of Goldfrapp discuss their new score for Carl Dreyer's silent masterpiece The Passion Of Joan Of Arc. Neil Brand reveals how John Williams put the magic into Harry Potter.
Sep 22, 2016•29 min
Colin Firth and Francine Stock indulge in some Bridget Jones's Baby talk, and the actor admits that he is partly to blame for the out-dated stereotype of the reticent Englishman. Ralph Fiennes explains why he spent two months learning Russian for his role in Two Women. Francine follows the continuing adventures of Alastair Till and Suzie Sinclair who left the Big Smoke for the sea air of Cornwall, and built their own cinema, without any previous knowledge of the film business. The Newlyn Filmhou...
Sep 15, 2016•29 min
With Francine Stock. The spirit of Ray Harryhausen is invoked in a new stop-motion animation Kubo And The Two Strings, which boasts the largest stop-motion puppet in animation history, standing 16 feet tall. The director Travis Knight explains why the film took five years to make. Scottish director David Mackenzie reveals how he came to make an all-American crime thriller set deep in the heart of Texas, Hell Or High Water. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey follow the trail of the film's antecede...
Sep 09, 2016•29 min
With Antonia Quirke. Antonia meets London Voices, the choir that supply the voices to the soundtracks of blockbusters such as The Lord Of The Rings, Spectre and Iron Man 2. Poet Don Paterson concludes his series on great movie speeches with James Stewart drunkenly telling Katherine Hepburn that she has "fires banked down inside" in The Philadelphia Story. Andy Mitchell nominates his father Andrew as an unsung hero of British cinema - he was in charge of Elstree Studios in the 1980s when six of t...
Sep 01, 2016•31 min
With Antonia Quirke. Antonia meets two groups who are trying to save their local cinemas in Deptford and Homerton and hears from a local trust in Aberfeldy who successfully saved theirs and are still going strong after four years. Poet Don Paterson continues his series on great movie speeches with Jack Nicholson bawling "you can't handle the truth!" in A Few Good Men.
Aug 25, 2016•28 min
With Antonia Quirke. Antonia is joined by 18 year old vlogger and Into Film journalist, Ceyda Uzun, on her first press interview junket: an interview with the writer of Swallows And Amazons, Andrea Gibb. Poet Don Paterson continues his series on great speeches in movie history with Rutger Hauer's philosophical monologue in Blade Runner. "Like tears in the rain". As thriller 'The Shallows' continues to do well at the US Box office, director James Watkins discusses how the point of view of the cam...
Aug 18, 2016•28 min
With Antonia Quirke. Award-winning poet Don Paterson continues his series about great speeches in cinema history with the ever quotable Casablanca. Don't forget - we'll always have Paris. Stig Bjorkman, the director of a new documentary about the star of Casablanca, Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words, talks about the controversy that dogged her career. While literary salons are all the rage, the cinematic equivalent is relatively rare. Antonia visits a monthly meeting of the Moving Image Makers Co...
Aug 11, 2016•28 min
With Antonia Quirke. To mark its 30th anniversary release, the director of Sid & Nancy, Alex Cox reveals his regrets about his Sid Vicious bio-pic. And why he almost cast Daniel Day-Lewis as the punk icon. In a new series, award winning poet Don Paterson talks us through some of the great speeches in cinema history, beginning with one of the most quoted of all time - Marlon Brando declaring he coulda been a contender in On The Waterfront. Don also reveals the secrets of "lecturer's stress". ...
Aug 04, 2016•28 min
With Francine Stock. Jason Bourne director Paul Greengrass gives Francine a personal masterclass on how to make a contemporary thriller and reveals the reasons why he would never want to direct a James Bond movie.
Jul 28, 2016•29 min
With Francine Stock. Director Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsey Collins reveal why they took the plunge with the sequel to the 2003 hit Finding Nemo. They reveal how to cast a fish for a movie, what they look for in a sub-aquatic species and how to make an octopus more aesthetically pleasing. Critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey go head-to-head in the quest to find the best space opera - Aliens versus Starship Troopers. Let battle commence.
Jul 21, 2016•32 min
With Francine Stock. The Comedians Cinema Club present their unique take on Ghostbusters. Joshua Oppenheimer, the director of the award-winning and controversial documentary about Indonesian death squads , The Act Of Killing, reveals why he refuses to demonise mass murderers, and why he went undercover as an alien abductee for an expose of American militia. Tim Robey and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh go head to head in the referendum that really matters - Watership Down or The Lion King: which is the bett...
Jul 14, 2016•30 min
With Francine Stock Rebecca Miller, the writer/director of Maggie's Plan, discusses the ways in which academia is like the mafia. Josh Kriegman discusses his fly-on-the-wall documentary about the attempted come-back of disgraced politician Anthony Weiner, which goes horribly wrong. Critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey offer some alternatives to the sequels, prequels, re-makes and re-boots that dominate our cinemas over summer.
Jul 07, 2016•31 min
Francine Stock talks to James Spinney and Peter Middleton, the makers of a ground-breaking documentary, Notes On Blindness, that's also showing in Virtual Reality. Composer Neil Brand on the chord that defined film noir, which made its first appearance in Double Indemnity. In a season of sequels, prequels, remakes and re-boots, critics Tim Robey and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh are on hand to help us watch better movies this summer.
Jun 30, 2016•30 min
With Francine Stock. Nell Dunn talks about her screenplay for Ken Loach's ground-breaking drama Poor Cow, which is back in cinemas only weeks after Loach won the Palme D'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival Francine hears from the makers of two documentaries about the different ways that smart technology is killing us. The director of Death By Design, Sue Williams, reveals the damage that the production and destruction of phones and laptops is doing to the planet. Patrick Shen and Poppy Szkile...
Jun 23, 2016•31 min
