Incorporating creative programming and alternative venues, ASFF is the latest addition to the film festival circuit. To celebrate the launch, we are running a series of interviews with filmmakers.

ASFF incorporates creative programming and alternative venues. As the latest addition to the British film festival circuit, ASFF offers a unique experience within the festival landscape.

Jerwood Drawing Prize has run since 1994, and is exhibited in the Jerwood Space. Later, it will tour to venues including Bay Art Gallery, Cardiff and the Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Bideford.

Abraham Cruzvillegas (b.1968, Mexico City) is an artist and writer who works predominantly in sculpture, using found materials to explore specific local areas in a social and economic context.

A retrospective of the ground-breaking photographer, writer, teacher and activist Shahidul Alam will take place at the Wilmotte Gallery, Lichfield Studios in London this autumn.

Nicolas Ruston is a British sculptor, recognised for his silicone and mixed media works. Ruston is concerned with collective beliefs in relation to the mass media and its version of reality.

The V&A’s new exhibition Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970-1990 explores the recent past in design with two decades of hindsight.

Wild Flag has a youthful vigour to make you yearn for days gone by, or if you’re lucky, provide the perfect accompaniment to a young, free present.

Staring at the X is Forest Fire’s second album following their acclaimed debut, Survival, which received high praise across tastemaking blogs.

Doughty’s signature blend of sounds and genres is more present in this album. Known for merging indie, folk, rock, Americana and blues, Doughty creates an overall listening experience.

Grizzly Bear multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor’s first solo project is captivating. Combining an array of sounds and moods, Dreams Come True is an album that will appeal from its first track.

This second album from We Were Promised Jetpacks is aptly named; their aggressive brand of indie rock delivers a bracing blow.

Kill It Kid is many things, but first of all, they’re loud. Since critical response to their first album pigeon-holed the band in with acoustic neo-rock, the second album does well to break free from these labels.

Submotion Orchestra formed when Ruckspin and hip hop underground label Ranking Records were commissioned by the Arts Council to write and perform a live dubstep piece in York Minster.

Nothing has hit the world of music writing harder than the social networking explosion. But the ways in which the writing has changed are still up for debate.

In October 2011, Edward Bond’s seminal play Saved returned to London for the first time since 1984, provoking questions about the nature of violence in our society.

Filmed to the grim backdrop of France’s industrial northern coast Our Day Will Come is clearly intended as an abstract parable for racism and discrimination.

Yakup works in the mountain forests gathering honey, entering a mysterious world in the tree-tops that is an endless source of fascination for the young Yusuf.

Given unprecedented access to the New York Times media desk for a year, Page One follows journalists and editors as they struggle to find captivating stories and defend the newspaper from its critics.

Whilst other documentaries have focused on the career of the couturier, Thoretton takes an intimate look at the relationship between Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé.

Heavenly Creatures is the film that launched Peter Jackson and Kate Winslet’s careers internationally. If it isn’t in your collection, now is the time to add it.

Dark and genuinely disturbing, Julia’s Eyes is as captivating as you’d expect from a film produced by Guillermo del Toro.

We chat with acclaimed British director and BAFTA nominee, Sallie Aprahamian, about her new film, Broken Lines.

UK-based band, Tindersticks, discuss their artistic relationship with fêted French director, Claire Denis, exploring the cross-over between music and film.

The 12th Istanbul Biennial contemplates a world of abstraction, inviting sober reflection when it is needed most.

In its representation of a broad spectrum of narratives, PhotoPhnomPenh offers a unique glimpse into contemporary Cambodia and how local modes of artistic production form part of a global dialogue.

On the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, an exhibition at Moma Ps1 examines their impact on our perceptions of culture.

In autumn 2011, a major survey explored a 20 year period in Soviet art and architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts.

One of the World’s most defining art prizes opened in 2011 at Baltic. We explore the shortlist with Godfrey Worsdale, Director of Baltic.

Silja Magg creates images that evoke another world. Her precise use of light and creates works that cross boundaries including photography, design and fashion.

Frankie Shea aims to elevate the status of street related art by referencing the roots of this genre, but also focusing on street art becoming more mainstream

Acclaimed photographer Michael Eastman’s work focuses on the grandeur of 1950s Havana, but most striking about Eastman’s images is their emptiness.

After winning the Turner Prize in 2007, and then being commissioned for The White Horse, Wallinger has become a part of our current discourse.

It is a known fact that Warhol was obsessed with contemporary culture, but the feeling was, and still remains, mutual.

Murakami is renowned for his exceptional imagination and this book does not disappoint; he weaves a myriad of worlds together in a moving combination.

A Love Song for India is a moving collection of short stories, all with an air of the fantastic, each with its own allegorical message to give.

From the author of Touching the Void, Joe Simpson’s latest novel is a harrowing account of love, loss and redemption.

The NewcastleGateshead Art Fair opens tomorrow. This year the fair has attracted more galleries than ever before, providing a platform for the work of hundreds of artists represented by 50 galleries.

New Contemporaries is a highly regarded initiative that gives art students and recent graduates essential support and recognition at a crucial stage in their development through a high-profile show.

Between 2004 and 2006, EJ Major undertook a mail art project which involved taking a screenshot of each second of the film Last Tango in Paris and from each one printing a single postcard.

Others’ Stories collates artists’ exploration of documentary narrative. When people verbally interact, dialogue can go beyond oral communication via facial expressions and body language.

Bridget Riley is one of Britain’s best-known artists. Since the mid-1960s she has been celebrated for her optically vibrant paintings which actively engage the viewer’s sensations and perceptions.

The Fruitmarket’s summer exhibition of work by American artist Ingrid Calame whose beautifully-coloured, intricate drawings and paintings have a specific, if abstracted relationship to the world.

In the back streets of Shoreditch you’ll find the Rivington Place building. Upon entering the black façade, you’ll find yourself inside Iniva, an institute that supports the debate of diversity in society.

Peering Sideways consists of three new exhibitions at PSL. The title suggests at once that the viewer is encouraged to look askance at the familiar and hints at the artist-peers taking part in the show.

The immediate appeal of Bold Tendencies, particularly on a sunny day, irrespective of what the art is like, especially if you haven’t been before, is to visit the venue.

Showing the best in international and British printmaking, the International Print Biennale is a programme of shows, activities and symposium across Newcastle and the North East.

Ikon presents the first major exhibition in the UK of Nedko Solakov in Cherven Briag. All in Order, with Exceptions is a chronological survey of Solakov’s practice, an amalgamation of four selections.

Lost in Lace is the first show programmed through the Craft Council’s biennial Fifty:Fifty scheme, through which the Crafts Council co-funds and co-produces an exhibition with a partner organisation.

Doug Jones’s new series of work revolve around issues of equality, accessibility and availability. Jones’ show Caeteris Paribus weaves together experiences of personal failure of involvement in public events.