Richard Curtis talks to John Wilson about The Beatles, the rom-com and time itself. He's written Yesterday, a musical fantasy comedy directed by Danny Boyle in which a musician, after an accident, finds himself in another world. Here he is the only person who remembers The Beatles, a fact he turns to his advantage. He takes the credit and becomes famous for writing and performing their songs. Himesh Patel stars as the singer and Lily James, Kate McKinnon, and Ed Sheeran also appear. Several writers and commentators have now withdrawn from the Bradford Literature Festival because of the funding of a pre-festival programme by Building a Stronger Britain Together, a Home Office counter extremism programme. Front Row hears from one of them, Hussein Kesvani, author of Follow Me, Akhi : the Online World of British Muslims, and discusses the reasons for the withdrawals.It's the summer solstice and Radio 4 has been celebrating with new poems throughout the day. In Front Row Mona Arshi reads her specially written midsummer song. She talks, too, about her new collection, Dear Big Gods, in which she explores both the intimacies of ordinariness and the collective experience of myth. Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Julian May
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Folge vom 21.06.2019Richard Curtis's Film Yesterday, a summer solstice poem, Bradford Literature Festival protests
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Folge vom 20.06.2019Lee Krasner, Ben Platt, Chasing RainbowsBen Platt has been acting or singing for most of his life, and after winning critical acclaim, and a Tony for the title role in Dear Evan Hansen, and also for playing the loveable, if quirky, Benji, in Pitch Perfect, he’s now shed his characters and written his debut album, very much from the heart. He tells Shahidha why he felt compelled to write an autobiographical album and why it was important not to hetero-wash it. American artist Lee Krasner was a true innovator working with bold colours in an abstract expressionist style from the 1940s onwards. She struggled to find recognition in her own lifetime, working mainly in the shadow of her husband Jackson Pollock. As the Barbican in London holds a huge retrospective of Krasner’s work, Shahidha asks the artist’s biographer and friend Gail Levin and art critic Jacky Klein how far this exhibition goes to give Krasner the recognition she deserves. Shahidha visits Hoxton Hall, a beautiful old music hall in East London to talk to the makers of Chasing Rainbows, a new play about a pioneering black, female astronaut. It’s fictional but inspired by a real space engineer and in it, Oneness Sankara explores the impact of the astronaut's determination to fly in space on her daughter. Donna Berlin, who plays the spacewoman, spends the performance recreating weightlessness. Shahidha finds out how this is done, talking to the actors, director, writer and an aerialist.Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Harry Parker
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Folge vom 19.06.2019Mark Ronson, Arts sponsorship, Toy Story 4 director Josh CooleyProducer Mark Ronson releases his fifth studio album ‘Late Night Feelings’ which features female singers from an eclectic range of pop music including Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys. A ‘breakup album’ consisting of songs charting the disintegration of a relationship, Mark talks about how collaboration works on such personal material.In the past weeks, both the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Opera House have faced protests from climate campaigners over BP sponsorship, and more look set for the summer months. Author and academic Tiffany Jenkins and Chris Garrard co-founder of campaigning organisation Culture Unstained discuss the ethics of arts sponsorship.Toy Story 4 sees Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang back and heading off on a road trip with Bonnie and a new toy named Forky. Front Row talks to Josh Cooley about directing the latest episode in the mega-franchise, the fourth instalment that some argue is a risky post-script to a hugely successful trilogy. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hannah Robins
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Folge vom 18.06.2019Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal winners, Nottingham Contemporary, Sculpture since Hepworth and MooreThe CILIP Carnegie Medal, and CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal are the most prestigious prizes for literature for children and young people. Both winners were announced today and are on tonight's Front Row. Elizabeth Acevedo’s Carnegie-winning novel tells the story of Xiomara, a Dominican-American girl growing up modern-day Harlem. Elizabeth explains why she chose to unfold the story of The Poet X in a long series of short lyrics. The Lost Words, for which illustrator Jackie Morris has won the Kate Greenaway Medal, is also a poetry book. It's her collaboration with writer Robert Macfarlane, inspired by the words left out of a new children’s dictionary, words such as bluebell and acorn. Jackie tells Stig how she approached illustrating the poems with three very different images, but of the same subject.As we head into the final weeks of this year’s prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year competition, Front Row begins looking at the five shortlisted institutions vying for the top prize of £100,000. Today it’s the turn of Nottingham Contemporary, and its director Sam Thorne joins Stig to explain why he believes Nottingham Contemporary would be a worthy winner.It was the success of the Yorkshire-born sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth that contributed to the UK’s largest county becoming the pre-eminent destination for sculpture. As the opening of the inaugural Yorkshire Sculpture International draws near, Andrew Bonacina, chief curator at The Hepworth Wakefield, and Jan Dalley, arts editor of the Financial Times, discuss how sculpture has evolved since the heyday of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Ekene Akalawu