Saturday Review

The Manchester International Festival is a biannual event, enveloping the city in a wide range of arts events across the genres. We'll be casting our critical net as wide as possible Film director David Lynch has curated a series of events at the venue Home, including an exhibition of his artwork and a series of concerts There's been controversy around the Idris ELba/ Kwame Kei Armah play Tree, but will our panel think it's any good? An exhibition by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama; Parliament of Ghosts at The Whitworth Gallery reclaims and repurposes everyday artefacts David Nicholls' new novel Sweet Sorrow is a tale of adolescent/early adult yearnings framed by a Shakespeare production British indie film Only You follows a largely-carefree couple who get together and decide to have a baby but it's not as easy as they'd hoped And (of course) much much more from MIF Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Sarah Crompton, Katie Popperwell and Chris Thorpe. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra recommendations Sarah: Marius Petipa, The Emperor's Ballet Master by Nadine Meisner Katie: Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast Chris: Abomination by Divide and Dissolve Tom: Spiderman -Into the Spider-verse

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's first film The Lives Of Others won the best Foreign Language Oscar, his follow-up The Tourist was a critical disaster. How will his latest - Never Look Away - fare critically and at the box office? Jack Thorne's latest play The End Of History has just opened at London's Royal Court Theatre. It's the story - over three decades - of a left-leaning family who love each other and love to bicker. 8 Days To The Moon on BBC TV follows the progress of the three astronauts who went to the Moon half a century ago in Apollo 11. It uses previously unreleased audio recordings from within the lunar pod mixed with recreations of the journey. Fleischman Is In Trouble is the debut novel by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, previously a features writer at The New York Times and GQ. It has had glowing reviews; what will our panle make of it? An exhibition of work by Swiss-born artist Felix Vallotton at London's Royal Academy includes paintings and woodcuts in the many styles he adopted during his career. The show's subtitle is "Painter of Disquiet" Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Rebecca Stott, Robert Hanks and Susan Jeffreys. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast extra recommendations: Rebecca - Shame On me by Tessa McWatt Robert - Ngaio Marsh (and you can see Susan as a model on a Ngaio Marsh cover here https://tinyurl.com/y2jmths4 ) Susan - Jodrell Bank Blue Dot Festival and The Night Sky 2019 Tom - Jack Reacher books and BBC World Service's 13 Minutes To The Moon

American indie film Support The Girls is set in a sports bar in America where the manager's day just keeps getting worse The Hunt stared life as a multi award winning Danish film. Its been adapted for the stage at The Almeida Theatre in London Cut and Paste; 400 Years of Collage in Edinburgh explores the sticky multi-shaped world of collage Vasily Grossman's novel Stalingrad was his successor to Life and Fate. The first translation into English is eagerly awaited. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Viv Groskop, Briony Hanson and Cahal Dallat. The producers are Oliver Jones and Hilary Dunn podcast extra recommendations: Cahal: the poet Chen Chen Viv: Mud and Stars by Sarah Wheeler and Game of Thrones Briony: pose and Paris Is Burning Tom: What/If on Netflix

Toy Story 4 hits the cinema screens. Featuring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Keanu Reeves, and Annie Potts - as the kick-ass heroine Bo Peep - what does the Toy Story franchise have to offer the new generation of toy loving kids? John Malkovich returns to the stage after a 33 year absence to star in David Mamet's Bitter Wheat about a depraved Hollywood mogul . The play's protagonist Barney Fein is described "as a bloated monster – a studio head, who like his predecessor, the minotaur, devours the young he has lured into his cave." Keith Haring at Tate Liverpool is the first major exhibition in the UK of American artist Keith Haring (1958-1990). Keith Haring brings together more than 85 works exploring a broad range of the artist's practice including large-scale drawings and paintings, most of which have never been seen in the UK. TS Eliot prize winning author Ocean Vuong is the American-Vietnamese writer of Night Sky with Exit Wounds. His debut novel "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" continues to explore his family's experience as immigrants and shows how his life story - as much as theirs - is shaped by the devastating legacy of the Vietnam war. ITV’s new period drama Beecham House, set in India at the cusp of the 19th century tells the story of John Beecham, played by Tom Bateman, who arrives in India in 1795 as a former employee of the East India Company. Co-created, written and directed by Gurinder Chadha whose past credits include Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice, and Viceroy’s House. Ayesha Hazarika's guests are Stella Duffy, Alex Clark and Kevin Jackson Podcast recommendations: Kevin: Jack Reacher stories Stella: Wild Rumpus art company Alex: Novels set in one day Ayesha: The Handmaid's Tale on TV

Sweat, starring Martha Plimpton was a sel-out success when it premiered at London's Donmar Warehouse last year. Now it's got a West End transfer to the Gielgud Theatre Asif Kapadia won an Oscar for his biopic about Amy Winehouse. Now he's looking at Diego Maradona's extraordinary career as the finest footballer in the world and also his unravelling life off the pitch George Clooney appears in and is a producer and director for a new TV adaptation of Joseph Heller's Catch 22 on Channel 4 In Elif Shafak's new novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World we look backwards from the death of a prostitute. In flashback, she remembers her life and reflects on the changing nature of Turkish society The shoe designer Manolo Blahnik has staged an exhibition of his footwear at The Wallace Collection in London, drawing inspiration form the paintings and objects on display there Rajan Datar's guests are Linda Grant, Deborah Orr and David Hepworth. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast suggestions: Linda: the British Music Experience in Liverpool David: High Maintenance TV series Deborah: Killing Eve Rajan: Jumpa Lahiri -The Namesake, soul music and Tahnee Lonsdale at Dellasposa