Search results for

Nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary, Balseros chronicles the tale of Cubans who tried to escape to the United States on rafts in 1994. Filmed over the course of a decade, the movie uses Cuban TV footage to help tell the stories of seven balseros who made it to the United States -- and of their families in Cuba. David D'Arcy reports.

The Passion of the Christ opens Wednesday in 2,800 theaters. Mel Gibson's interpretation of the final 12 hours of Jesus' life has already generated much talk, anticipation and controversy. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

NPR's Scott Simon talks to New York Times entertainment critic Elvis Mitchell about this year's nominees for the American Spirit Awards, which showcase independent films. This year's nominees include House of Sand and Fog, In America, The Fog of War and Pieces of April. Mitchell says the American Spirit Awards have a long track record of celebrating exceptional films overlooked by the major studios.

In the 1970s, John Gardner was at the center of American literature, shaping the debate on what a novel should be. Gardner also had several best sellers, including Grendel, The Sunlight Dialogues and a book of literary criticism, On Moral Fiction. Barry Silesky has written John Gardner: The Life and Death of a Literary Outlaw the first full biography of the iconoclastic writer. Tom Vitale reports.

Alan Cheuse reviews Loving Che by Ana Menendez, a novel about paternity, citizenship, and identity told from the perspective of a young Cuban-American woman seeking to learn the truth behind her family history.

From member station WFDD in Winston-Salem, N.C., Stephanie Martin reports that restorers have worked for years without a blueprint to reassemble a jumble of pipes and mashed pieces into the world's largest 18th-century organ. It will be heard in concert tomorrow for the first time in nearly a century.

The 2003 film Shattered Glass explores the story of Stephen Glass, a journalist caught fabricating stories for The New Republic. Director Billy Ray drew inspiration from another cinematic exploration of journalism ethics: All the President's Men. It's the latest story in Intersections, a series on artists and their inspirations. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports.

For 24 hours this weekend, Washington's Hirshhorn Museum screened Scottish artist Douglas Gordon's work 24 Hour Psycho. The project slows Hitchcock's classic 1960 film down to a glacial pace, stretching what was originally a 109-minute movie into a day-long art event. The museum stayed open all night for the curious and the dedicated. NPR's Susan Stone visited the museum at several points during the movie.

Last year, Donald Rumsfeld's pronouncements from Pentagon briefings and media interviews were arranged into poems. Now those poems have been set to music. No, the defense secretary doesn't sing. That job falls to a soprano. Hear selections from The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld and read the lyrics.

Kitchen Stories, a new film opening in New York and Los Angeles, is based on a 50-year Swedish study on efficiency in the kitchen. The dry subject matter is atypical for a comedy, but the film's serious spin on silly details is receiving rave reviews. Beth Accomando reports.