Pat Dowell

Lawrence Kasdan, who's known for The Big Chill and Grand Canyon, has directed another boomer-centric comedy in Darling Companion. Pat Dowell talks with star Kevin Kline about his role, and with Kasdan and his wife and co-writer, Meg Kasdan, about the real-life experience that inspired the movie.

Philippe Falardeau weaves issues of social taboos and authority in his Oscar-nominated film Monsieur Lazhar.Falardeau's films blend comedy and tragedy in a way that can ruffle audiences, and Lazhar is no exception.

Germany's official entry at the 84th Oscars is Pina, a documentary showcasing the groundbreaking work of the late choreographer Pina Bausch. Director Wim Wenders discusses Bausch, representing dance on screen, and working in 3-D.

From television to telephone answering machines, comedian Jonathan Winters has been making comedy for over 60 years in just about every medium. NPR's Pat Dowell remembers Winters' career as his latest film, The Smurfs, hits theaters.

The legendary experimental filmmaker's work is the subject of a career-spanning retrospective at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. VanDerBeek merged collage-style filmmaking with new technology throughout his career.

Mark Rothko didn't live to see the tranquil Houston chapel filled with his art — he committed suicide a year before it opened. But for the past 40 years, the sanctuary has served as a space for personal contemplation, interfaith dialogue and action for human rights.

The star of Marty and McHale's Navy — a man with more than 60 years of work on stage, TV and the silver screen — receives the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award on Jan. 30. Pat Dowell reports that at 94, he's still "a happy person."

No One Knows About Persian Cats tells the story of Iranian musicians trying to put together a band in a country where heavy metal, rock and hip-hop are illegal. The film won two prizes at last year's Cannes International Film Festival, and opens in this week in the U.S.

The Boston-based composer is remembered, 100 years after his birth, for a string of three-minute pops-concert classics such as "Sleigh Ride," "The Typewriter" and "The Syncopated Clock."

Filmmaker John Huston -- born 100 years ago Saturday, on Aug. 5, 1906 -- made some of cinema's most enduring classics, among them The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.