Movies

Juan (played by Mahershala Ali) teaches Chiron (Jaden Piner) how to swim in Moonlight. The film is told with different actors playing Chiron at different stages of his life.

Arts

For Film's Creators, 'Moonlight' Provided Space To Explore A Painful Past

2:08pm October 19, 2016

Playwright Tarell McCraney and filmmaker Barry Jenkins drew on their own childhood experiences in making Moonlight, a film about a boy growing up in a Miami housing project.

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Alex R. Hibbert as Chiron, a young black man growing up gay in an impoverished part of Miami in Moonlight. The film is told with different actors playing Chiron at different stages of his life.

In 'Moonlight,' Growing Up Black, Gay And Poor In 1980s Miami

6:52pm October 18, 2016

by Mandalit del Barco

Directed by Barry Jenkins and adapted from a play by Tarell McCraney, Moonlight is an intimate, authentic portrait of a young man and his world — and the intimacy he learns with lovers and mentors.

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Guest's new mockumentary follows contestants in the World Mascot Association Championship.

Arts

They've Got Spirit, Yes They Do: Christopher Guest Rallies His Team For 'Mascots'

7:19pm October 17, 2016

by NPR Staff

Guest's latest mockumentary (about the secret lives of mascots) stars actors who have appeared in several of his films. "It's like having a great band of musicians together," he says.

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Ewan McGregor and Hannah Nordberg play a troubled father and daughter in American Pastoral.

Books
Arts

New 'American Pastoral' Movie Is A '60s Tale Still Relevant Today

7:57am October 15, 2016

by NPR Staff

The new film American Pastoral tells the story of a father in 1960s New Jersey whose comfortable, suburban life falls apart after his daughter becomes radicalized, commits a crime and disappears.

Tower director Keith Maitland filmed real actors, then he laid animation over them.

Arts

Documentary Offers A Wrenching Look At America's First Modern Gun Massacre

4:40pm October 14, 2016

by David Edelstein

The animated film Tower revisits the day, in 1966, when a gunman began shooting from the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin. Critic David Edelstein calls the movie "extraordinary."

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Rebecca Hall, haunting and haunted as TV reporter Christine Chubbuck

Arts

A 'Television First' Becomes A Compelling Character Study In 'Christine'

4:38pm October 14, 2016

by Bob Mondello

Christine is a biopic about a TV reporter who committed suicide in a live shot.

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Arts

In 'Desierto,' A Sniper Hunts Mexican Immigrants Along The U.S. Border

4:38pm October 14, 2016

Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal tells NPR's Ari Shapiro what drew him to the role of a border crosser in the new action-horror film, Desierto.

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Taraji P. Henson plays family matriarch Cookie Lyon on Fox's Empire.

Books
Arts

'I Had To Create My Own Lane': How Taraji P. Henson Found Her Place In Hollywood

3:11pm October 14, 2016

by Karen Grigsby Bates

The actress became famous for her role in TV's Empire, but the road to Cookie wasn't easy. In her new memoir, Around the Way Girl, Henson shares stories of pushing her way to the top.

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