The repeatedly arrested film maker and women's rights activist, Mahnaz Mohammadi, speaks from Iran about the censors and interrogators she had to deal with while making her award-winning debut feature film, Son-Mother. In the story, a young widow struggles to look after her two children in Tehran. When a kind local man offers her marriage, she must choose between poverty and sending her young son away. Mahnaz Mohammadi talks about making art through personal pain.Female singers in Iran have been prevented from performing solo since the Islamic revolution in 1979. But Farvaraz Farvardin was determined that her voice would be heard. She speaks to reporter Sahar Zand about her musical journey from singing in the classroom, to online videos, prosecution and seeking asylum in Germany.Visual artist Barbad Golshiri shares his artistic response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Iran. Tuba Mirum is an audio-visual installation that moves between viral spores and loudspeakers heralding the last judgement, and it draws on both Islamic and Christian iconography.Plus: Film director Shahram Mokri on how sanctions on Iran undermine hit film making, and why his new movie, Careless Crime, revisits the 1978 mass murder of a cinema audience, which fuelled the revolution in his country.Presenter: Pooneh Ghoddoosi Produced by Paul Waters, Sahar Zand, Lucy Collingwood and Shoku Amirani (Image: From the film Son-Mother by Mahnaz Mohammadi Image credit: Mahnaz Mohammadi)

A hashtag that went viral, photographs that caught the world’s attention. Rachel Seidu, a photo journalist from Lagos, tells us how she took to the streets to capture the #EndSars protests against police brutality in Nigeria. In Johannesburg, one woman is using her camera to change perceptions of a nation still plagued by racial injustice, inequality and high crime rates. Angel Khumalo tells reporter Mpho Lakaje about the photo club she runs to show another side of her community. We hear from two photographers documenting the impact of Covid-19 on mental health. New Zealand based photographer Tatsiana Chypsanava and Spanish photo journalist Manu Brabo are studying the effect of lockdown on their communities as part of The Wellcome Trust’s Covid-19 Anxiety Project. Plus: has a film, a book or a song ever changed the way you see the world? Photographer Misan Harriman, who shot the cover of British Vogue’s September activism issue, tells us how a scene from the film Crash has influenced his work. Presented by Tina Daheley(Image Credit: Rachel Seidu)

This week, as part of a series of special programmes, we look to the future of cinema and TV.One of the biggest changes to our cultural landscape has been the transformation in the way so many of us watch films.Cinemas around the world have been off limits and streaming services have never been popular. Production is being drastically reimagined to include social distancing and coronavirus prevention measures. Plus in the light of the resurgent Black Lives Matter movement calls to make the global film industry truly diverse and inclusive are growing ever louder.We ask what’s next for film. How can cinema and the film industry be reinvented in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic?Tina is joined by award winning American-Iranian writer director Maryam Keshavarz, Nigerian activist and documentarian Pamela Adie, Swiss choreographer and virtual reality pioneer Gilles Jobin and in London the British director Francis Annan and film critic Rhianna Dhillon.Presented by Tina Daheley(Photo: Moviegoers begin to attend reopened cinemas. Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

This week, as part of a series of special programmes, we look to the future of the performing arts.As many theatres around the world remain dark, closed to audiences for months and with a largely freelance community of actors, writers, directors, musicians and production crews unable to work, we talk to four global theatre makers about the impact of the pandemic on performing arts communities. We ask what's next for theatre. Is the outlook bleak or is there cause for hope from the creativity and invention shown in lockdown? What does the future of stage performance hold? Tina Daheley is joined by Rwandan theatre director and curator of the Ubumuntu International Arts festival, Hope Azeda, Chilean playwright and theatre director Guillermo Calderon, Indian playwright, theatre director and lecturer Abhishek Majumdar and the artistic director of the Kiln theatre in London, Indhu Rubasingham. Presented by Tina Daheley(Photo: The empty auditorium of the London Coliseum. Credit: Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Art galleries and museums globally are struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, with some closing permanently. This week on The Cultural Frontline, Tina Daheley hosts a discussion on what’s next for the visual arts and how artists and curators are radically re-thinking the future of the art world. Her panel includes Israeli born artist and educator Oreet Ashery; South Sudanese artist and photographer Atong Atem; Ben Vickers, Chief Technology Officer at the Serpentine Gallery; and Tim Marlow, Director and Chief Executive of the Design Museum in London and former Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Arts.(Photo: A visitor at the newly reopened State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Credit: Dimitar Dilkoff /AFP via Getty Images)

Despite a rich tradition of art, music and food, Mexico is often depicted negatively in popular culture. Artist Pedro Reyes is using his work to challenge violent stereotypes of his country, creating intricate music boxes out of guns. Pedro Reyes tells our reporter Saskia Edwards why he’s making works of art from weapons of war. American author Eve L Ewing explains why she’s brought the 1919 Chicago Riots to life through poetry and how those events resonate a 100 years on. She also shares what her poetry and Marvel Comic book series have in common. We hear from Indian photographer Sohrab Hura who reflects the lives of the people of Kashmir in his photography. He speaks to reporter Cleo Roberts about how his photo collection Snow reveals what’s it’s like for those caught up in the ever-shifting politics between India and Pakistan. Plus: Has a film, a book or a song ever changed the way you see the world? The Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Norah Jones tells us how a master of European cinema influences her creative process.Presented by Chi Chi Izundu(Photo: Pedro Reyes. Credit: Ago Projects)

This week we’re celebrating writing from some of the world’s leading Black writers. The novelist, essayist and cultural commentator Roxane Gay on the political and personal power of writing. Roxane reflects on the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, cancel culture and how publishing needs to change to become an industry that celebrates all voices.We hear from two short story writers each offering us a glimpse of very different sides of Africa. Tanzanian author Erica Sugo Anyadike charts the rise to power of an African President’s wife while Namibian writer Rémy Ngamije follows the daily routine of a group of homeless people in the suburbs of Windhoek. Both stories are shortlisted for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing.When British writer Candice Brathwaite couldn’t find any books about Black British motherhood she could relate to, she decided to write her own. Candice tells us about her best-selling new book I Am Not Your Baby Mother. Plus: Are there poems that you return to again and again? The pioneering Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson explains what Martin Carter’s Poems of Succession mean to him. Presented by Raifa Rafiq(Photo: Roxane Gay. Credit: Reginald Cunningham)

Name the first classical music composer that comes to mind and it’s likely to be one of the big European names like Bach, Brahms or Beethoven. Nigerian-Romanian pianist Rebeca Omordia grew up playing this music until she decided to explore her heritage and look deeper into African classical music. She tells the Cultural Frontline about the music she discovered along the way and what she’s doing to bring composers such as Ayo Bankole and and Christian Onyeji to a wider audience. We go behind the scenes of the new opera, Osman Bey and the Snails. Its composer Nigel Osbourne tells Tina how the work was created by artists to raise awareness of the case of the Turkish political prisoner, Osman Kavala.Has a book, a film or a piece of music ever changed the way you see the world? The drummer and composer Stewart Copeland shares his love for the work of Jimi Hendrix.When the Liceu Opera Barcelona opened its doors after many months of lockdown, they did so with an unusual new performance devised by the artist Eugenio Ampudia. Instead of playing to an audience, the Liceu String Quartet performed to an audience of 2,292 plants in a “Concert for the Biocene”. Víctor Garcia de Gomar, the Liceu’s Artistic Director, tells us why. Presented by Tina DaheleyPhoto: Rebeca Omordia.

Welcome to the world of TikTok, one of the world’s fastest growing and most controversial social media platforms. The BBC’s Sophia Smith Galer speaks to the TikTok creators Melissa Ong aka @chunkysdead and Robert Tolppi about the world of elite and deep TikTok and finds there is a lot more to the platform than the dance trends and viral comedy clips that have made it so popular. We hear from the creators of a surprising TikTok hit: an Australian drama micro-series about a woman’s struggle with infertility. Short videos of intimate, honest moments of Charlie’s IVF journey have received over 2 million TikTok views and sparked heartfelt conversations with audiences online. The creative team behind All Our Eggs discuss why they think the drama has captured the TIkTok audience’s imagination. Meet the TikTok dance star putting his own personal twist on popular trends such as the Toosie Slide. Dancer, singer and Indigenous activist Theland Kicknosway tells us why he is using TikTok as a platform to share his culture with the world. Presented by Tina Daheley with Sophia Smith-GalerPhoto: TikTok on a smartphone. Credit: Getty

Sharona Franklin’s jelly sculptures may look delicious but they are grand artworks that she makes to tackle her experience of the world as a disabled person. Confronting the fragility of the human body, and the complicated relationship she has with biopharmaceuticals and medicines, her work is made from her small home in Vancouver, where she feels safe to explore, make and rest her body as much as she needs - essential for her health, but all too often ignored by arts institutions. She talks to the Cultural Frontline about her work, and some of the barriers she faces as a disabled artist. From his studio in Lagos Nigeria, renowned singer-songwriter and UNICEF ambassador Cobhams Asuquo tells us how his blindness contributes to his heightened sense of musicality, and how he overcame widespread prejudices in the music industry to become a household name. Can we make arts truly accessible for all? As much of the world faced lockdown as a result of Covid 19 and people began to talk about the difficulties of not being able to visit museums, theatres and exhibitions, many disabled people have taken this moment to highlight that they have never been able to access these spaces due to their needs being continually ignored. Two disabled artists, Bella Milroy and Diana Niepce, talk to the Cultural Frontline about their experiences of inaccessibility in the arts world, and what needs to change.Performing Ben E. King’s iconic song Stand by Me, a group of disabled artists from 15 countries have come together virtually to record a music video as part of the True Colours Festival. Raising awareness of how disabled people have been affected by the pandemic, we hear from two performers in Singapore and Australia about why they want to be involved. Presented by Kat Hawkins(Photo: Sharona Franklin)