Monthly Archives: January 2023

NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Darin Sallam, the director of the Netflix film Farha, about a Palestinian girl’s experience when her village is attacked during the foundation of Israel in 1948.

A look at some of the highlights and discoveries at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, which concludes this weekend.

NPR’s Scott Simon speaks to Belgian director Lukas Dhont about his new film, “Close,” which was nominated for an Oscar. The film traces the relationship between two 13-year-old boys.

An Israeli documentary examines what happened to one seaside Palestinian village in the 1948 war.

The Sundance Film Festival returned in-person to Park City, Utah, this year, and with more submissions than ever. NPR’s Aisha Harris screened nearly 20 films — these are her favorites.

The social forces are pervasive but subtle in Lukas Dhont’s Close — no overt bullying or homophobia, just internalized pressures on still-developing psyches.

The composer has been lauded for decades over his deeply affective music; director Alejandro González Iñárritu, composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and more join us to explain why.

NPR’s Leila Fadel talks to Dania Bdeir, director of the Lebanese short film Warsha. The movie, about a crane operator in Beirut longing to express himself freely, will be released on Netflix Feb. 1.

The new movie Missing is the latest iteration of a format called “screenlife,” in which the plot develops solely through devices and screens.

Nominations for this year’s Academy Awards were announced Tuesday morning. The film Everything Everywhere All at Once racked up nods in almost every category, including Best Picture.

NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer talks with actress Andrea Riseborough about her new movie, To Leslie. It’s about a single mother who wins the lottery but quickly loses the money.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang talks with actor and writer Pamela Anderson about her autobiography Love, Pamela.

War movies are big, first-time acting nominees had a great morning, and inclusion at the Oscars is still an uphill battle. All this, plus the big showing for the unconventional nominations leader.

Best picture nods include “All Quiet on the Western Front”; “Avatar: The Way of Water”; “The Banshees of Inisherin”; “Elvis”; “Everything Everywhere All at Once”; “The Fabelmans”; and “Tár”

This sci-fi movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once” led the nominations announced this morning for the 95th Academy Awards. Sequels to “Avatar” and “Top Gun” are also up for Best Picture Oscars.

This year’s Academy Award nominations will be announced Tuesday. Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water and The Fabelmans are likely to be among the top contenders for best picture.

Casablanca is more than just a love story. It is a film about, and stocked with, the waves of refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe during wartime.

Sunday was the last day for the ride in the Florida park. Controversy surrounded the ride, based on the 1946 film Song of the South and its racist themes. It will relaunch as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water led ticket sales in movie theaters for the sixth straight weekend, making it the first film to have such a reign atop the box office since 2009’s Avatar.

Nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday. A number of films are up for top awards.

Manga artist Hajime Isayama says when he was growing up in Japan, anime wasn’t considered cool. Now, he says, he has a “global audience” in mind.

The documentarian behind Channel 5 and This Place Rules apologized and said he’s seeking therapy after women came forward on social media to say he sexually assaulted or coerced them.

Butler reportedly stayed in character 24/7 when he filmed the biopic Elvis. One of his vocal coaches says “it’s difficult to switch off” — and she doesn’t know if “it’s going to be there forever.”

In an accident similar to Alec Baldwin’s shooting of Halyna Hutchins, Lee’s co-star fired a prop gun at the 28-year-old actor during filming of The Crow.

Eight women come together in a hayloft to decide what’s next after their religious colony is devastated by sexual violence. Sarah Polley adapted Miriam Toews’ novel, which was drawn from true events.

The sci-fi thriller M3gan about a doll that turns deadly has reignited conversations about the potential perils of AI — from ChatGPT to avatar creators to bots being developed to argue court cases.

Actor and producer Alec Baldwin will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust.

The new thriller Missing unfolds on the screens of a teenager searching for her vanished mother. But the growth of what should be a simple format turns out to be … complicated.

Prosecutors announced charges against Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the film Rust. Baldwin was rehearsing a scene when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed.