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Front Row: Cathy Yan on her film Dead Pigs

Cathy Yan on her film Dead Pigs

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Cathy Yan on her film Dead Pigs

Cathy Yan; Michael Landy; Musical responses to news stories; Coventry City of Culture 2021

Cathy Yan on Dead Pigs; Michael Landy, 20 years on from Break Down; musical responses to the Handford Parish Council meeting; what are the plans for Coventry City of Culture 2021?

Twenty years ago this week, the artist Michael Landy famously destroyed every single one of his 7,227 possessions in an artwork called Break Down. The artist looks back on the 14-day event which took place on an industrial conveyor belt inside a disused department store in Oxford St in London, and considers how the process affected him.

Since the now notorious Handforth Parish Council Meeting people have been imagining the film version starring Meryl Streep or Lesley Manville as Jackie Weaver, with cameos from Julie Walters and David Bradley, but films take forever to make. Already, though, people have been busy composing Handforth Parish Council, the musical, the opera, the sea shanty and the drill track, shooting videos and posting them online. Millie Taylor, professor of musical theatre assesses some of these almost instant offerings and talks to Kirsty Lang about what they reveal about creativity in lockdown.

Cathy Yan joins us from New York, to discuss how her work as journalist in China informed her film, Dead Pigs. Based on a true story, the film focuses on the lives and connections of a disparate group of characters as thousands of dead pigs mysteriously float down the river towards Shanghai. Cathy will discuss what made her want to adapt the story for screen, as well as her experience shooting in China. 

How has the current situation affected plans for Coventry city of culture 2021, which is due to kick off on 15 May? Chenine Bhathena, creative director, discusses their plans, and how they've dealt with the challenges of lockdown and Covid.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang 
Producer: Simon Richardson

Main image above: Vivian Wu as Candy Wang (Centre) in Dead Pigs.
Image credit: MUBI

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Cathy Yan on her film Dead Pigs

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