大象传媒

Following the news of the death of French film director Eric Rohmer, a key figure in post-war new wave cinema, Matthew Sweet talks to playwright and film-maker Neil LaBute and The Financial Times's film critic Nigel Andrews about Rohmer's career and his influence.

Matthew also talks to award-winning Irish playwright and poet Frank McGuinness about his new play Greta Garbo Came to Donegal. Greta Garbo really did visit Donegal in 1967, and McGuinness' play imagines how that meeting might have changed the lives of some of the people who came into contact with her.

As Britain experiences the icy chill of winter, Matthew discusses old predictions of a new ice age. In the 1970s, this was one of the most talked about of global issues - the climate cycles seemed to predict a sudden drastic cooling of the planet, bringing back to northern Europe an age of glaciers. Many popular books were written on the subject, and articles abounded in scholarly journals and newspapers. Science writers Brian Appleyard and Gabrielle Walker look back at the ice age predictions of the 70s, and consider the lessons we can learn about popular theories of science.

This week the Grand Palais will unveil its latest installation in the Nave - an huge exhibition space set up as Paris' answer to the Turbine Hall. Critic Sarah Kent looks at how new cultural icons - be they museums or monumental installations - are proving phenomenally successful at pulling in visitors who might not otherwise have visited an art gallery, and asks whether commissions for ever larger works are encouraging artists to think and work in new ways.

And with Gary Lachman, historian of the occult and former bassist in Blondie, Matthew looks at the dark side of the 1960s - was the 'love generation' rooted in occultism?