Laura Poitras is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. In 2013, she was two years into making a new film about surveillance, when she received an encrypted email from an anonymous source calling himself Citizenfour. That source turned out to be NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden and she would find herself documenting his leak -- and the personal and political consequences -- as they unfolded.
Singer Joseph Calleja hails from Malta, where he started singing tenor at age sixteen. Today he's one of opera's emerging stars. This weekend, he wraps up a month-long residency at London's Royal Opera House. Off-stage he's a bit of a film fan, so he composed this list of his favorite opera moments in movies.
Actor-writer-director Mark Duplass has made a name for himself with a litany of credits in television and film. He happens to share that name with his brother Jay, with whom he collaborates on many projects, including their newest, "Togetherness," for HBO.
Filmmaker J.C. Chandor was Oscar-nominated for his very first film, "Margin Call." Next came the lauded "All is Lost," and, now, "A Most Violent Year," the gritty tale of an up-by-his-bootstraps immigrant trying to do business ethically, while surrounded by the corruption and violence of 1980s New York City.
After seven years and 838,706 servings of General Tso's chicken, filmmaker Ian Cheney talks about his globe-trotting new documentary, "The Search for General Tso." It traces the origins of the dish and, through it, tells a story of Chinese and Chinese American identity, and the interplay between food and culture at large.
Between his appearances on film and television screens, B.J. Novak published two best-selling books in 2014. At our Holiday Frolic live event, he read a poignant piece from his collection "One More Thing" and then joined Rico and Brendan on the couch for a conversation.
Australian actor Joel Edgerton's first big Hollywood role was in 2002's "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones." Since then, he's been seen in "Zero Dark Thirty," "The Great Gatsby," and last fall's smart thriller "Felony." Now he directs himself (along with Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall) in the drama "The Gift" (out August 7th).
Joseph Gordon-Levitt's televised experiment in crowdsourcing creative work, "HITRECORD ON TV," has just released a DVD of its first season.
Lauded filmmaker Mike Leigh is known for coaxing emotionally rich performances out of actors through unusual technique. His newest, "Mr. Turner," offers more compelling evidence of this skill.
Gina Rodriguez just picked up a Golden Globe nomination for her starring role in the hit TV show "Jane the Virgin," a winking adaptation of a kooky Venezuelan telenovela, relocated to Miami.