Night Waves

This evening's Night Waves: Landmarks explores why a grainy black and white movie about an independence struggle in late Fifties Algeria is widely regarded as one of the best political films ever made. Isabel Hilton is joined by film expert Christopher Frayling and screenwriter Ronan Bennett, author of Hamburg Cell, to discuss Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 masterpiece, The Battle of Algiers.

Programme details

Tonight, Night Waves reviews a new production of The Canterbury Tales, which over the next year, will travel the country...including, of course, Canterbury itself. Matthew Sweet discovers whether this RSC production achieves the right balance of politics, pathos and pun.

Matthew also examines the explosion of cultural prize-giving and the impact it has on both the making and consumption of visual art, books and films. Are awards useful in helping us to pick out books and films we might like from the huge amount on offer or do they lead to an innate cultural conservatism? Matthew talks to the author of a new book exploring all this and more.

And if you thought that animal films were nothing other than conservative and cringeworthily cute, then think again. Film historian Mark Cousins argues that in radical ways they have changed the medium of film itself.

Further details:

1) Click here to view The Museum With No Frontiers' new 'Discover Islamic Art' Virtual Museum. The permanent collection is now open and there will be other themed exhibitions beginning next year.

2) Follow this link for further details on the RSC's Canterbury Tales production and information on the regional tour.

3) The Economy of Prestige by James English is published by Harvard University Press.

4) March of the Penguins is showing at cinemas now, Certificate U.

Night Waves

Episode and Playlist Information

• 10 January 2006
• 9 January 2006
• 15 December 2005
• 14 December 2005
• 13 December 2005
• 9 December 2005
• 8 December 2005
• 7 December 2005
• 6 December 2005
• 5 December 2005