MUMBAI: CNN will launch a new show The Screening Room. This is a monthly half-hour film show, hosted by British television personality Myleene Klass. The first edition of the show airs on 31 March at 1 pm and at 7 pm.

On the set, on the carpet and on location, The Screening Room takes the audience through the stages of film-making from production to premiere. A cast of the world's best actors, directors, cinematographers, writers, composers and animators demonstrate each month what goes into making a masterpiece.

Opening the series, Klass explores the age-old question - major movie house or independent film? On the one hand, a multi-million dollar budget with directorial handcuffs; on the other, creative freedom limited only by concerns over cash. ‘The Screening Room' tested the water at this year's first major film festivals, Sundance and Berlin, and found the boundaries are becoming blurred.

Also in this opening show, CNN's Femi Oke reports from Africa, the focus of much recent Oscar attention and glory, thanks to ‘Blood Diamond' and ‘The Last King of Scotland' which shone the spotlight on the continent. After the last Oscar is handed out and the Versace and Valentino returned to the closets of Hollywood's elite, what remains for Africa beyond Forrest Whitakers' arresting acceptance speech?

The Screening Room concludes in March by turning the clock back by two and a half thousand years. The rich history of the ancient Greeks has provided Hollywood studios with an even richer box office bonanza through their blockbusters ‘Alexander' and ‘Troy'. Now they're at it again with ‘300', a story of Spartan soldiers who battled a large Persian army, and which is already on track to being the most successful March movie release at the box office in history. Myleene meets the finest of the ‘300' at the film's sparkling London premiere.