film

Accusations of falsehoods in popular memoir “The Salt Path” stoke controversy

“The Salt Path” is a best-selling memoir and major film. And now, an investigation by The Observer has revealed several of the central claims in the story are false, and the reality includes accusations of criminal conduct. The World’s Host Carolyn Beeler spoke with the director of the Oxford Center for Life Writing about the expectation of truth in memoirs — and when creative license crosses the line.

Latvian animated film, ‘Flow,’ nominated for Oscars

Arts, Culture & Media

The new film ‘Mountains’ looks at the beauty and challenges of the Haitian American experience

Arts, Culture & Media
Two men sit on a prison bunk bed, one wearing an orange jumpsuit and the other in plain grey clothes.

‘The Infiltrators’ film aims to open Americans’ eyes to the reality of deportation

Immigration

Iranian Cinema

Arts, Culture & Media

Kurt on the Red Carpet

Arts, Culture & Media

Attending the Oscar ceremony last night, I realized why the pre-show red-carpet rigmarole has become more and more a focus of the television coverage over the last decade or so: that’s the juiciest part of the quasi-official event, a reality-show The Day of the Locust without the apocalyptic ending. First there’s the arrival by car […]

Multi-talented Giamatti

Arts, Culture & Media

Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor, a graduate of Yale, a member ofSkull and Bones, and… a soul singer?! The last one surprised us too when we rediscovered his performance inDuets(2000)— about karaoke singers. Kurt got the chance to chat with oh-so-modest Giamatti recently, who says, “I didn’t, and still don’t think of myself as […]

Jim Henson’s Time Piece

Arts, Culture & Media

Last night, I joined hundreds of nostalgic 30-somethings at a 30th anniversary screening ofThe Muppet Moviein Brooklyn. Seeing it on the big screen was pure delight, and proved the lasting genius of Jim Henson and co. Everything holds up: the snappy dialogue (Man in Swamp: ‘You, you with the banjo, can you help me? I […]

Goodbye, John Hughes

Arts, Culture & Media

John Hughes, the director who brought us the ’80s classics ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,’ ‘The Breakfast Club,’ and ‘Sixteen Candles,’ passed away yesterday. Hughes was the undisputed master of the teen movie: the high school scene he depicted over twenty years ago is still imitated, never equaled. Maybe that’s because he was truly sympathetic to […]

David, Meet Anne

Arts, Culture & Media

Werecently learnedthat Disney has sealed a deal withDavid Mamet. He will be writing the screenplay for and directing “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Breathe. This has to be a joke, right? Mamet is an incredible writer, but has had more than a few problematic moments regarding social sensitivity. Not to mention that Anne Frank ranks […]