Director Michael Winterbottom is out to film the unfilmable novel: an adaptation of Laurence Sterne's sprawling 18th Century masterpiece of digression, ‘The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'. What begins as a seemingly straightforward attempt to recreate the frenetic novel - starring Steve Coogan as the title figure and Rob Brydon as his Uncle Toby - quickly derails into a behind-the-scenes document of the film's actual production. A funny, biting and occasionally touching ode to find out more...

Atom Egoyan has created a world within a world, shifting between the contemporary and, through the making of a film about the events, the tragic genocidal slaughter of the Armenians in turn of the 20th Century Turkey. Ararat is a thoughtful and thought provoking drama of the highest order. find out more...

Robert Downey Jnr demonstrates his prowess by giving a riveting performance as the little master. The cast delivers despite a disjointed narrative, and Chaplin's fall from grace, brought down by McCarthyism is very moving. Kevin Kline is excellent as the flamboyant Fairbanks Jnr. find out more...

A landmark in the history of the cinema; it was ranked Number 1 in the American Film Institute's 100 greatest films of all time in two polls (1998 and 2007) of more than 1,500 film industry movers and shakers and again by UK directors in a BFI poll. "Citizen Kane" narrates the rise and fall of a newspaper tycoon driven by a childhood obssession and is loosely based round the life of William Randolph Hurst, who tried to have it banned, but incorporates elements from the lives of other fat cats il find out more...

Britain's silent film history is finally emerging after an era of neglect. As Matthew Sweet, writer and presenter of the programme, says, the silent era "was one of the most creative, extravagant, sensational and pleasurable periods of film production in this country". A fascinating documentary profiling in detail British film from 1859 to 1929, a nearly forgotten slice of cultural history, featuring archive footage and interviews with historians and survivors from the period. find out more...

This truly exhaustive journey from the dawn of the medium through to the late sixties documents the rise and rise of Hollywood. Martin Scorsese guides us through his personal favourites and a vast selection of cult classics and recognised masterpieces. find out more...

'The Day Of The Locust' is a harrowing fable about delusion and false hope delving into the lives of those trying to achieve the glamorous lifestyle of pre-war Hollywood. The story revolves round an art director trying to get work, who falls for his young actress neighbour, her attempts to become a movie star and the men in her life. Donald Sutherland plays the estranged and deeply religious but now famously named Homer Simpson. find out more...

The year is 1938 and Spain is being torn apart by civil war. As one of several cordial collaborations between General Franco and Adolph Hitler, a small Spanish film crew is invited to Berlin's prestigious UFA Studios to shoot two versions of a popular Andalucian musical, one in Spanish and one in German. Initially, the group is more than happy to have escaped the misery of their war-torn country, however they soon begin to doubt the fortune of their predicament when the German Minister for Propa find out more...

Set in the 1920s at the Swedish film studios where the great silent film director Victor Sjöström is finishing shooting 'The Phantom Carriage' and has invited author Selma Lagerlöf, actress Tora Teje and film photographer Julius Jaenzon to view the rushes. But, when both actress and writer claim to know the story and the characters best, a psychological battle arises which threatens to destabilise the whole project. find out more...

A housewife, trapped by a slobbish husband and the economic circumstances of the 1930s, goes to the movies to escape. Then one day a character on the screen steps out into the real world and falls in love with her.... A very clever Woody Allen comedy with a bitter sweet twist. find out more...