Francine Stock and star guests on the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV. Friday 4.30pm - 5pm
This week
Friday 30 March 2007
On The Film Programme this week: Monsoon Wedding director Mira Nair on her latest film, The Namesake; Peeping Tom and Psycho - which changed cinema more?; and the writer Trevor Griffiths on Reds, the Russian Revolution epic that gained him an Oscar nomination.
On The Film Programme this week:
The Namesake Francine Stock talks to the director Mira Nair, whose films include Monsoon Wedding and the recent adaptation of Vanity Fair. Her latest movie, The Namesake, tells the story of a Bengali family and their life as immigrants in New York. She explains how her own experience as an Indian in America informed the way she shot the film.
The Namesake (12A) is out now.
Peeping Tom Two films released in 1960 had a lasting effect on cinema in general and the horror genre in particular: Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Peeping Tom, directed by Michael Powell. But while Psycho enjoyed massive commercial success, Peeping Tom was critically damned and withdrawn from cinemas. As a new DVD edition is released, Francine talks to Michael Powell's widow (and distinguished film editor) Thelma Schoonmaker about the film. And the film historian Ian Christie and film critic Nigel Floyd discuss whether this film or Psycho has had a more profound influence on later directors.
The Peeping Tom special edition is out now.
Reds In 1981 the writer Trevor Griffiths collaborated with the actor and director Warren Beatty on a film about the American political radical John Reed. Reds was nominated for twelve Oscars, winning three including Best Director for Beatty. Trevor Griffiths - Oscar-nominated for his screenplay - joins Francine to look back at the film a quarter-century on.
