Fresh Air film critic John Powers talks to Terry Gross about this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The festival, held annually in Park City, Utah, concluded this past weekend. John Powers is film critic for Vogue Magazine.
Actress Sigourney Weaver. She made her first film appearance in a scene so short you could miss her. She played Woody Allen’s date in “Annie Hall” after he broke up with Annie. After that she made her big debut in “Alien” as Ripley, and went on to star in the other Alien films. Her other credits include: “Gorillas in the Mist,” “Working Girl,” “CopyCat.” She’s now starring in “Galaxyquest” and “A Map of the World.”
Clinical psychologist Aaron Kipnis works with at-risk young men. He's the author of the book "Angry Young Men: How Parents, Teachers, and Counselors Can Help 'Bad Boys' Become Good Men." (Newman Communications). Kipnis was also an at-risk young man. He was a foster child, and ran away from home when his stepfather beat him. This led to his involvement In the juvenile justice system. A sympathetic counselor helped him find his way to a halfway house, then to an education, and a way out of the life he led.
Travel writer Colin Thubron. His new book about his travels In the heart of Siberia Is "In Siberia" (HarperCollins). It's the third In his trilogy on the Russian landmass which Includes "Where Nights Are Longest" and "The Lost Heart of Asia." Thubron has also written books on the Middle East, China, and Central Asia.
Loung Ung is the author of the memoir, “First They Killed My Father: a daughter of Cambodia remembers” (HarperCollins). UNG’s father had been a high-ranking government official, but in 1975 when Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge invaded Phnom Pen, her family fled, hiding in villages as peasants. But eventually her father was taken away and killed, and the family disperses to survive. Ung was seven years old and sent to a work camp, trained as a child soldier. Now UNG is National Spokesperson for the “Campaign for a Landmine Free World.”
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews soprano Renee Fleming's new recording of Strauss Heroines with the Vienna Philharmonic, on the Decca label.
Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews two new thrillers set in Washington, DC: Shame the Devil by George Pelecanos (Little Brown and Co.) and Chaos Theory by Gary Krist (Random House).
Children’s book writer Christopher Curtis has become the first writer to receive the prestigious Newberry Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author award for his book, “Bud, Not Buddy.” (Delacorte press). The story, set in the Depression Era, is about an orphan boy and his search for a home. Curtis is also the first African-American to win the Newbery Medal in 22 years. And he’s also author of “The Watsons Go to Birmingham” which was singled out for many awards. Before becoming a writer, CURTIS worked on an automobile assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
Historian Jon Wiener spent 14 years fighting to gain access to the FBI’s secret files on former Beatle John Lennon. Wiener’s Freedom of Information case went all the way to the Supreme Court before the FBI decided to settle. His new book “Gimme Some Truth” (University of California Press) outlines and reproduces the most important pages of the file, revealing that the Nixon administration plotted to deport Lennon in 1972 and silence him as a voice of the anti-war movement.
Dr. Scott Fishman, an expert in pain and pain relief, talks about his book, "The War on Pain: How breakthroughs in the new field of pain medicine are turning the tide against suffering"(Harper Collins). Fishman is the newly appointed chief of the division of pain medicine and associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of California, Davis.
Prize winning author John Irving. He's turned his novel, "The Cider House Rules," into a movie. Irving writes about the Cider House Rules and the process of turning it into a screenplay, in "My Movie Business, A Memoir (Random House). Irving is the author of 9 novels, including "The World According to Garp," "A Prayer for Owen Meany," and "Hotel New Hampshire."
Correspondent from the New York Times Moscow bureau, Celestine Bohlen (CELL-es-teen BO-lin). She'll discuss the role of the new acting Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in the conflict. Bohlen will also talk about the reaction of Russian citizens to the war.
Moscow Bureau chief for the New York Times, Michael Gordon. He's been covering the war in Chechnya. The New York Times is one of only two western news organizations allowed in Chechnya by the Russian military. Gordon also covered the Gulf war and the war in Kosovo, and is co-author of the book "The Generals' War" about the Gulf War.
Director, screenwriter, and producer Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson’s new film is called Magnolia. The 29-year-old filmmaker also wrote and directed the movies Boogie Nights and Hard Eight. Magnolia stars Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, and Julianne Moore.
Late night talk show host David Letterman underwent heart surgery last Friday. CBS, the home of Letterman’s “The Late Show” will run reruns until Letterman recovers. Our TV critic David Bianculli has another idea for what to do in the interim.
