The Artist as Dissident — “Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry”
Artist Ai Weiwei could have had a career and a life that was easy. Maybe. After viewing Alison Klayman’s documentary, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, it is clear that the story of his family’s personal history...
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“Homeland” Probes Terrorism and the Existential Threat
Photo: Kent Smith/Showtime Homeland is back. Season 2 begins on September 30, and yes, you will be biting your nails. You will be stunned at how prescient the first episode is. Yet most importantly,...
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A Portrait of Activism: “How to Survive a Plague”
As Americans head to the polls to exercise their franchise, many amid concerns of voter suppression, the role of each person in society is underscored. Individual activism matters. Coalesced into group...
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“Sweet Dreams”— Reconciliation in Rwanda at DocNYC
Photo Courtesy of “Sweet Dreams” Sweet Dreams is a documentary that chronicles how a group of Rwandan women survived destruction and mass murder, and then embarked on the tenuous path of healing....
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The ‘Other Israel Film Festival’ Tackles Complex Issues
“Cinema. Dialogue. Understanding.” These words were on the screen at the Other Israel Film Festival, at the JCC in Manhattan, as the auditorium filled up on opening night. Sharqiya, by first time...
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Eve Ensler’s “Emotional Creature” Speaks the Language of Girls
Not every playwright wants their work to start a movement. That’s where Eve Ensler differs. When she wrote The Vagina Monologues in 1996, vagina wasn’t a word that was used during television...
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A Conversation with Painter Kendall Shaw
Photo: Courtesy of Kendall Shaw New York City has been home to many well known artists who have played a role in the story of 20th Century art. In a four-story brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn—a...
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Fracking Causes Friction In “Promised Land”
Courtesy of Focus Features Promised Land, a small film by Hollywood standards, stars co-screenwriters Matt Damon and John Krasinski. Directed by Gus Van Sant in the tradition of The China Syndrome...
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“Trashed” Examines Global Waste
As part of the “Reel Pieces” movie series at the 92Y in New York City, Annette Insdorf hosted Jeremy Irons in a screening of Trashed. Irons, the executive producer of the film, also takes on the role...
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New York City Exhibit Features Artists of Guyanese Heritage
In a bright, open space on Second Street and Avenue B in Manhattan, an exhibition featuring twelve artists of Guyanese descent is on view at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery. Guyana is a country that is...
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“A Woman of Interest” — Murder in Arizona
It’s the kind of story you would expect to see as an episode of Law & Order—not to be a part of. However, in 2008, Cindy Zimmermann’s already crumbling world hit rock bottom when her husband, Paul,...
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Girl Be Heard: Staging the Revolution via Theater
Girl Be Heard (originally known as the Project Girl Performance Collective) is a not-for-profit theater group that is the brainchild of Ashley Marinaccio, Artistic Director, and Jessica Greer Morris,...
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Paula Modersohn-Becker: The First Modern Woman Artist
Paula Modersohn-Becker: The First Modern Woman Artist, by Diane Radycki, relates the personal story and artistic history of a woman that has much to offer today’s audiences. Radycki’s book, which had...
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“Toxic Hot Seat” Ignites Awareness
Toxic Hot Seat, a new documentary directed by James Redford and Kirby Walker, takes an in-depth look at chemical flame retardants. It interweaves the multiple narratives of investigative reporters,...
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A Conversation with Dudley Charles
Most artists talk about their personal history with a definitive sense of knowing that they were destined to be an artist. Not Dudley Charles. A soft-spoken man with a melodic cadence to his voice,...
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The Expressive Edge of Paper
With the New York weather finally thawing, gallery visits are back on the agenda big time. When I received an invitation to the Anita Shapolsky exhibit, “The Expressive Edge of Paper,” it struck a...
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Feminist Stories From Women’s Liberation: 1963-1970
It’s March. Women’s History Month. What better time to examine the second wave of feminism and to question how far women have really come? Jennifer Lee’s new documentary, Feminist Stories From Women’s...
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A Conversation with Irene Hardwicke Olivieri
Better is the ready2009-201074″ x 31″ Many artists concern themselves with the tempo and vagaries of the art world. Others are directed by a singular inner vision and follow that path wherever it leads...
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Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937
Artists are often dismissed as peripheral to society. Yet they continue on their way, attending to the path of their own visions. Often ahead of the curve, politically and culturally, they frequently...
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A Conversation with Freddy Rodríguez
Photo: Jamaal M. Levine Every life has events of consequence. Those happenings impact and direct the future flow of consciousness. Sometimes, the ramifications remain beneath the surface. In other...
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