The Film Programme

Francine Stock and film-maker Paolo Sorrentino discuss This Must Be the Place, starring Sean Penn as a jaded rock star. Morten Tyldum on his Norwegian thriller Headhunters. Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell professes his love for Jean Renoir's classic POW drama, La Grande Illusion.

In an extended interview, Francine Stock meets with Hugh Grant to talk about his new role as the voice of an incompetent buccaneer in the Aardman Animations 3-D stop-motion film, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. He also discusses his role in The Leveson Inquiry, and why he thinks the films of Jean-Luc Godard are pretentious nonsense. Also on the programme, a profile of Jafar Panahi, one of Iran's most famous directors, whose latest work, This Is Not A Film, is an attempt to make a film under house arrest. We also investigate the routes around the censors taken by earlier filmmakers in other countries.

Francine Stock meets with Jennifer Lawrence to discuss her lead role in The Hunger Games. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne discuss their new film, Kid with a Bike. Director Andrew Haigh on his indie breakthrough hit, Weekend, about an intimate relationship between two men in Nottingham. Actor Brian Cox does his best impression of Orson Welles and explains why he'll be performing the entire script of 'the greatest film never made', Welles's adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Francine Stock meets with Mark Wahlberg to discuss his new film, Contraband, his love of European thrillers, and why his criminal record has helped his acting career. Polish director Agnieszka Holland discusses her new film, In Darkness, a real-life tale of a group of Jews who hid from the Nazis in the sewers of Lvov, in Poland. And a celebration of the late director Ken Russell, as Kim Newman reviews a new cut of The Devils, and from behind the piano Neil Brand deconstructs Russell's use of music in his films from Gustav Mahler to The Who.

John Cusack discusses his latest film, The Raven and Juliet Stevenson talks about working on Peter Greenaway's Drowning by Numbers. The team behind Cheek By Jowel's theatre company move to the big screen with Bel Ami and actor Riz Ahmed talks about working on Tess of the d'Urbervilles set in India

Minnie Driver and director Marc Evans discuss their Welsh high school musical, Hunky Dory. How do Oscar winning films actually perform at the box office? Bernardo Bertolucci’s film The Conformist is re-examined and director Markus Schleinzer discusses his new film, Michael

Woody Harrelson talks about his new movie, Rampart; Stephen Frears on his favourite film, Otto Preminger's Laura; Grant Orchard & Sue discuss their Oscar-nominated short, A Morning Stroll and producer Ali Jaafar talks about his new film, Black Gold.

Matthew Sweet talks to the actors Max von Sydow and Ciaran Hinds about their latest films and explores the world of cult director Norman J Warren. Also Neil Brand explains how atonal music and Hammer horror discovered that they were made for each other. Producer: Zahid Warley

David Cronenberg talks about A Dangerous Method. James Watkins discusses Woman in Black, James Bobbin on The Muppets. Producer: Craig Smith

Francine Stock and Alexander Payne discuss his Oscar-nominated film The Descendants.

Francine Stock talks to three Oscar-nominated directors - Martin Scorsese, Michel Hazanavicius and Woody Allen. Uggie, the Jack Russell from The Artist, has been snubbed by the Academy despite an online campaign to have him receive a best actor nod. But should animals receive Academy Awards? Susan Orlean, author of a new biography of Rin Tin Tin, believes so. She explains why. Director Volker Schlöndorff discusses his Oscar winning film from 1979, The Tim Drum, an adaptation of Gunter Grass's celebrated novel of the same name. And former cast member of Radio 4's The Archers Felicity Jones discusses her new film, Like Crazy.

Francine Stock talks to Ralph Fiennes about his Coriolanus and delves into the murky world of J.Edgar which is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Naomi Watts.

Francine Stock weighs up the week's two big releases - Steven Spielberg's War Horse and Steve McQueen's Shame. Spielberg is already being tipped for an Oscar and McQueen has been gathering plaudits from all over the world for his film which features Carey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender in a study of sex addiction.

The Film Programme strays into the territory of Greek tragedy this week embracing the family, family politics and politics itself. Francine Stock talks to Olivia Colman about playing opposite Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, Phyllida Lloyd's film about Margaret Thatcher; she discusses teenage pregnancy,lost daughters and redemption with Rodrigo Garcia the director of Mother and Child which stars Annette Bening and Naomi Watts; and she joins the critic Jonathan Romney to assess the celebrated Chilean film, Post Mortem which is released this month on DVD. Then, in a final flourish she invites the historian Jeffrey Richards, to reflect on the strange impact which an Atlantic crossing can have on a film''s title.

Francine Stock and guests explore the enduring appeal of silent film as The Artist, a celebration of the era, opens in cinemas across the UK