Apr 10 Can Hollywood Help Rescue Michigan? As Detroit's auto industry crumbles, leaving the state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation and substantial budget gap, state lawmakers are turning to alternative sources of revenue, notably from the film industry. Continue reading
Apr 03 Conversation: Filmmaker Ramin Bahrani By Arts Desk "Goodbye Solo" is the third film by 34-year-old director Ramin Bahrani. It film won the Critic's Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2008, and is just beginning to be seen in selected theaters around the country. Continue reading
Mar 19 Last Run: Historic Baltimore Theater Closes Hundreds of Baltimoreans grabbed seats Monday night at the historic Senator Theatre, but not to catch a movie. They were there to discuss the landmark's future. As of last weekend, the city's only single-screen movie house was forced to close… Continue reading
Feb 20 Jeffrey Brown Previews the Academy Awards With the AFI’s Todd Hitchcock By Arts Desk Jeffrey Brown previews the Academy Awards with the AFI's Todd Hitchcock. Continue reading
Feb 05 Richter’s Scale: Scoring ‘Waltz With Bashir’ It was not accidental that Ari Folman asked composer Max Richter to create a score for his film, "Waltz with Bashir." "I wrote the script...in six days, listening only to Max Richter's albums," explained Folman. Continue reading
Feb 04 Ghetto Film School: a Bronx Tale An old piano factory in the South Bronx might not be the first place you'd look for a movie studio, but that's just where you will find the Ghetto Film School and a group of aspiring teenage filmmakers putting the… Continue reading
Jan 28 Three Gems From a Quiet Sundance It was a tough time for filmmakers at this year's Sundance Film Festival, that annual nexus for lesser-seen cinema in Park City, Utah. Thanks to the recession, changing technology and an industry struggling to catch up, less than a dozen… Continue reading
Dec 23 Conversation: David Thomson on Film By Arts Desk For more than 30 years, film critic and scholar David Thomson has been asked one question over and over again: "So, what movies should I see?" His latest book, "Have You Seen....?," is an extended romp of an answer, with… Continue reading
Feb 19 Watch Sony’s Blu-ray Wins DVD ‘Format War’ over Rival Toshiba Toshiba said Tuesday that it would stop developing its own high-definition DVD player, known as HD DVD, leaving the market to Sony's Blu-ray format. The Wall Street Journal's technology columnist explains the move and its likely impact on consumers. Continue watching
Jan 17 Watch Essayist Reflects on Africa’s Place in the Movie Theaters From "The African Queen" to "Hotel Rwanda," Africa has served as both a distant backdrop for story lines with diverse themes as well home to intricate characters who make difficult choices. Essayist Clarence Page reflects on the evolving stream of… Continue watching