Lorna’s Silence

Arta Dobroshi, a virtual newcomer from Kosovo, was cast after an extensive search by the famous Dardenne brothers, Luc and Jean-Pierre, to play a struggling Albanian immigrant for their latest film, Lorna’s Silence .

In Lorna’s Silence , Arta, as Lorna, has paid a Belgian drug addict to engage in a sham marriage to win her Belgian citizenship. But she has to examine her mixed feelings about the needy addict when a Russian wants to obtain citizenship by having Lorna marry him – a move that would require the murder of her hapless husband.

The film received rave reviews at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, taking the prize for Best Screenplay.

Arta joins entertainment editor and presenter Amanda Palmer to talk about working with the world-renowned filmmaking duo, discussing her preparation for this difficult role and the 15 pairs of red trousers that became an essential costume for her character.

Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne 

We interview the Dardenne brothers, Luc and Jean-Pierre, about Lorna’s Silence and the rest of their incredible body of work, which in little over a decade has won them numerous awards, including two Golden Palms, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

They discuss their naturalistic, documentary filming style and the themes that percolate through their work, such as the desperation of people on the margins and the monumental changes to the whole notion of immigration into Europe – from the warm postwar welcome given to contract labourers to the alienation and disenfranchisement of today’s illegal immigrants. 

Leonardo DiCaprio

One of the world’s biggest movie stars is also, impressively, one of the world’s most prominent environmental advocates.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s previous film, The 11th Hour, laid his environmental cards on the table.

Amanda Palmer meets DiCaprio and his co-star Mark Strong to discuss his latest film, Body of Lies an action-packed thriller, directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma and Louise).

Terence Davies

Terence Davies, a quintessential English gentleman with a voice like viscous syrup, also happens to be one of England’s most intensely English filmmakers.

Films like Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes distinguish him as perhaps the country’s greatest chronicler of the emotional lives of a bygone era.

So when the authorities of Liverpool wanted to commission a filmmaker to commemorate their being honoured as one of the two 2008 European Capitals of Culture, they decided to hire this Liverpudlian native. But they could never have expected Of Time And The City , a poetic response to memory, reflection and the experience of losing a sense of place as the skyline changes.

We speak to the hyper-eloquent Terence Davies about his work past and present.