Panah Panahi is the son of acclaimed, and officially stifled, filmmaker Jafar Panahi. "No matter how hard you try to be positive and go on fighting, we feel completely trapped. The only possible option is this dream, sometimes reality, of fleeing." - The New York Times
Critic Marty Hughley responds to an opinion piece by the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and he's fine with audiences quieting the heck down. For instance: "Why is the shushing rude, but the intrusive sound that precipitates it isn’t?" - Oregon ArtsWatch
For Alaskans whose people's languages are Yup'ik and Iñupiak, "the spelling bee gives students the opportunity to practice reading and writing a language they might only speak or hear." - Alaska Public Radio
If people want to be happier, there are research-backed ways to do it - including "Search for transcendent truths beyond your narrow day-to-day life," and "Be active mentally," which both sound like great motivations to make, and experience, art. - The Atlantic
And he wants it enough to launch a whole project, with Film Foundation, to show one each month for free. (Which, let's face it, is pretty amazing - classic films, or even anything before, say, 2015! - are ancient according to a lot of film fans today.) - IndieWire
That is, battling climate change. "If the result is more mystical than activist, DiDonato’s aim remains, as her liner notes say, a prompt for her listeners 'to build a paradise for today.'" - The New York Times
Sales rose 5% in the UK, for instance. BookTokkers, aka TikTok users, are "replicating the time-honoured sales method that bookshop staff have often employed – suggesting books to shoppers that they might like. And that’s one area that the pandemic hit hard." - The Guardian (UK)
And that includes using - and celebrating - the space around the library. They're people places (even if the use of library apps has shot up during the pandemic). - The New York Times
Arthouses are in trouble (see the previous article). But Everything Everywhere All at Once is proving surprisingly robust - and what makes it "a bonfire at arthouses is that it’s aimed squarely at the demo that has been fueling the box office rebound ... 18- to 34-year-olds." - Deadline
It's not easy because older audiences just aren't coming back. Yet operators are starting to be a bit more optimistic. "The opportunity to see it in a theater is a better experience for just about any type of movie. We just need to reacquaint people with it." - Variety
While the cool contemporary art crowd strolled among the exhibits, Ukraine was being pummeled by missiles, and there was hardly a Russian in sight. But curators, collectors, dealers and artists were staging plenty of events to support Ukraine, and a passionate personal address by Ukraine’s president. - The New York Times
