Search results for

A museum and indigenous Hawaiians are in a custody battle rare carved artifacts, some of which have been repatriated to sacred burial caves. The story is the latest in NPR's Hidden Treasures series.

Four years ago, Danish director Lone Scherfig scored a surprise hit with Italian for Beginners. That film followed the strict rules of the Dogme95 movement, which holds that filmmaking austerity inspires creativity. In Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Scherfig moves beyond Dogme, offering a dark comedy that embraces Hollywood technique. Beth Accomando reports.

Ten years ago, Kurt Cobain -- co-founder and lead singer of the group Nirvana -- apparently committed suicide. Cobain introduced the sound known as grunge to audiences around the world. His death prompted thousands of fans to hold vigils in his hometown of Seattle, Wash. Many likened its impact to the effect John Lennon's murder had on their parents. Marcie Sillman of member station KUOW has a remembrance.

Patti Smith hit the 1970s music scene with an ecstatic blend of poetry and rock. She credits that signature sound to lessons in free-verse defiance from Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan.

NPR's Linda Wertheimer speaks with New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell about the Coen brothers' remake of the comic 1955 film The Ladykillers. The original version starred Alec Guiness and Peter Sellers. The new film stars Tom Hanks.

The animated movie Home on the Range, opening in U.S. theaters Friday, is the last hand-drawn feature Disney will make at its studios in Southern California. As computer-generated animation becomes the film industry standard, many now-unemployed artists who animate by hand say theirs is a disappearing art form. Hear NPR's Kim Master.

NPR's Liane Hansen talks with Karen Armstrong, author of The Spiral Staircase about leaving the convent, her diagnosis with epilepsy, and her self-described "climb out of darkness."

With the Whitney Biennial just opened, some of the works have already been bought by the Whitney museum itself. Contemporary art is hot: Bloomberg LLP is funding the outdoor sculpture exhibit at the Biennial, and thousands of visitors packed The Armory Show over the weekend to look at and invest in contemporary art.

Writer Samina Ali's first novel, Madras on Rainy Days, is about a woman modeled after Ali herself. The book is about a young Muslim woman from India, who lives for a while in America and returns to her homeland for an arranged marriage. NPR's Liane Hansen talks with Ali.

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with playwright, director and Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins about his new play Embedded, currently on stage in New York. It's a parody that skewers the media coverage of the war in Iraq.