Mournful Peruvian entry “The Milk of Sorrow” (La Teta Asustada) won the coveted Golden Bear award for best picture at the Berlin film festival on Saturday.
Tag: 02.14.09
Sculpture Of Damien Hirst With Gun To His Head Causes Stir
“Sculptor Eugenio Merino’s piece puts Hirst in a suicidal pose with blood pouring from a bullet wound to his head. It was unveiled at ARCO’s launch over the weekend. The piece has already been sold for $41,290 Cdn to a collector in Florida.”
Singer To Be Ambassador To Switzerland
Singer Charles Aznavour, often dubbed the “French Sinatra”, has agreed to become ambassador to Switzerland for his ancestral homeland Armenia
Is Art Hardwired Into Our Genetic Code?
Dennis Dutton points out that “the pictures of landscapes that are most pleasing to most people — the scenes of pastures, copses, gentle hills, rivers, the odd furry animal and signs of human habitation, found on calendars and chocolate boxes worldwide — are what our long-ago ancestors in the Pleistocene learned to associate with a temperate climate, fresh drinking water, plentiful game and places to hide from predators.”
Common Theme Emerges At This Year’s Berlinale Film Fest
“Film after film in the 59th Berlinale, which began on Feb. 5 and concludes on Sunday, has sounded some version of an internationalist message — the world is shrinking, the world is flat, we are the world — as if filmmakers were measuring the worth and seriousness of their work in terms of geographic scope.”
Canadian Initiative Aims To Give Writers Basic Benefits
“The package will offer writers, editors, translators – ‘basically anybody in the writing industry,’ access to the insured extended-health-care services most salaried employees take for granted, such as basic dental and vision care, subsidized prescription drugs, accident insurance and physiotherapy.”
Baghdad Art Show Marks Return Of The Arts
For Iraqis, the mere fact of the exhibition was a sign that Iraq’s artistic traditions might have not only survived years of war and chaos, but also emerged reinvigorated.
Publishing Phenom – The 70-Year-Old First-Time Author
“The publishing phenomenon du jour, Alan Bradley is a first-time novelist who has sold a series of six novels, across 13 countries, for an undisclosed (well into six figures) sum, a startling accomplishment that began with just 15 pages of typed text, and one close encounter with a forest fire.”
The New Dance Group Closes After 77 Years
The group was founded in the Depression and provided inexpensive lessons. Choreographers associated with it produced important works, many of them with a populist and activist bent.
The Arts – Now On Sale
“Many cultural groups, hit hard by the recession, are slashing prices at the box office. It’s a controversial tactic in the arts world, where profits are always hard-won. But by offering low prices on high culture, the new crop of deals provide an attractive access point, especially for casual fans.”