Ben Gregor

Film Director and Dad

So your kid likes acting and singing and wants to be famous? You want them to be the next Harry Potter? Justin Bieber? Well, as a film director I have to say that the first thing you need to do is... STOP!

John Worne

Director of Strategy, the British Council

But in these austere times she also asked for better evidence of the value of culture. In short, her point was that if we want UK Government to continue investing in culture - as public spending gets the squeeze - we in the cultural industries need to demonstrate a return on that investment

Kate Lawson

Fashion Editor & Style/Pop Culture Writer

Staring death right in the face though is the theme of photographer Rankin's new project 'ALIVE', which is part exhibit and part documentary, exploring the personal stories of subjects across the UK who have dealt with the prospect of dying or been survivors of terminal illnesses, living to tell their tale.

Paul Drury

Action at the intersection of art and advertising

With this year's Cannes film festival now in full swing, thought it was worth sharing a Cannes travel story with a difference. In 2012, we dared to dream the impossible dream. From a wet and windy West Yorkshire all the way to the world's most glamorous film festival.

Anne Morrison

Chair of BAFTA's Learning and Events Committee

Bafta is known for celebrating excellence at ceremonies such as Sunday's Arqiva British Academy Television Awards, but it also engages in activity to help a diverse range of talented people to develop and grow in their careers.

Lorenzo Belenguer

Arts writer, visual artist, curator.

It was a Paralympics where spectators finally started to focus on ability rather than disability, a request many Paralympians have always made. Come As You Are, which will be released in the UK on 7 June, could not have chosen better timing.

Thomas Patrick

Founder of www.thatfilmguy.net and self-confessed film aficionado

One of the problems with adapting a famous literary work for film is that there is a lot of subtext and nuance to try and capture in a visual super-text medium. This problem is compounded when the director is known for his visual flair rather than his subtlety.

Kate Lawson

Fashion Editor & Style/Pop Culture Writer

Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby is like a fast-spinning glitterball of excess on the cinema screen.

Caroline Frost

Entertainment Editor, Huffington Post UK

If a film ultimately about emptiness leaves you 142 lavish minutes later feeling thoroughly depleted, does that mean it's a brilliant film? Discuss.

Liza Klaussmann

Born in New York but lives in London. The Sunday Times top ten bestseller Tigers in Red Weather is her first novel

We're currently in the throes of a Great-Gatsby mania; beaded flapper dresses, tipped blazers and straw boaters are suddenly the height of fashion and Gatsby-themed, well, anything - charity galas, cocktails, pop-up speakeasies, even hotel suites.

Jane Graham

Arts journalist and columnist

The Great Gatsby is stunning, but it's meaningfully, provocatively stunning. This isn't just awesome spectacle for spectacle's sake. Luhrmann uses sensory overload in a similar way to Harmony Korine in Springbreakers - to disorientate the audience and send them reeling into a hallucinogenic whirl.

Jack Pelling

Freelance film critic, writer and broadcaster. Editor of CelluloidHeroes.co.uk

I think we can all agree that the last thing the film world needs as another tale of mopey, bloodsucking teenagers, but Neil Jordan's latest vampirical tale, Byzantium, is clearly doing everything it can to distance itself from the world of Stephanie Meyer.

Michael MacLennan

Writer, film-maker from Glasgow, Scotland

I went in expecting to be underwhelmed, given that the reviews hadn't been glowing, but instead left furious at one of its main plot threads. To explain why, I think it best to reverse the flip gender of the characters involved, and go into some detail about the plot. (So beware spoilers.)

Jack Pelling

Freelance film critic, writer and broadcaster. Editor of CelluloidHeroes.co.uk

There's no denying that Epic looks stunning; with beautiful, lush, green landscapes; a multitude of well-rendered animals and insects; and an impressively immersive world comparable to that of Avatar. But, like James Cameron's 3D game changer, Epic relies too heavily on aesthetics and not nearly enough on character.

Kieran Turner-Dave

Film aficionado and blogger

After superbly rebooting the franchise with Star Trek in 2009, J.J. Abrams returns to direct what will probably be his probably final Trek film before crossing over to a galaxy far, far away.

Clive Botting

Academic, art collector and lover of world cinema

With UKIP joy, Tory jitters and immigration at the fore I revisited writer-director Philippe Lioret's Welcome, a compassionate and inspiring drama of the power of love and hope in new beginnings.