Author: Matthew Westphal

Cinema Has Helped Change Europe, And It Can Do So Again: Agnieszka Holland

The maker of Oscar nominees Angry Harvest, Europa Europa, and In Darkness writes: “We film-makers are faced with the question of whether we can have a real impact on our world and how we go about doing that. If reality looks like bad fiction and if real characters are like caricatures, then our movies have to reinvent reality. In short: we should leave politicians by the wayside and let artists invent the future. Responsibility today means putting our imaginations to work.” – The Guardian

The Playwright Of ‘Sweat’ And ‘Ruined’ Would Like To Remind You That She’s Very Good At Comedy

Lynn Nottage: “I’ve become so known for my tragedies, these very heavy, social realist plays, and I think people forget that I’m a satirist as well and that I can be very, very funny. I thought in this particular moment that we need some humor, and I thought, I don’t want to sit in rehearsal and feel like I’m being punched in the stomach.” – Slate

The Campaign Against Sackler Family Cash In The Arts World May Have Reached A Turning Point

“The debate over how organizations should handle donations from members of the Sackler family has intensified in recent weeks after the revelation that specific individuals like Richard, former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, played a far more extensive role in promoting OxyContin than previously known.” – Inside Philanthropy

European Parliament Calls For Overhauling EU Rules On Restitution Of Looted Art

“A sweeping resolution passed by the parliament on 17 January addresses colonial- and Nazi-era looted art, as well as art looted in recent Middle Eastern conflicts. It proposes a pan-European meta-database of looted art, funding for provenance research, the establishment of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and exemptions from statutes of limitations for Nazi-looted art claims.” – The Art Newspaper

A Survivor Of The Real USSR Looks At The Pseudo-USSR Of ‘DAU’

“Born of infinite resources and expectations and hubris, the project’s formal artistic failure as cinema was as dialectically preordained as was the failed realization of the Soviet Communist utopia. Yet the Soviet-style command economy mobilization of resources needed to forge the institute in Kharkiv and the art installations in Paris succeeded.” – Tablet

Old Soviet-Style Cafeterias Are Becoming Popular In 21st-Century Moscow

The ingredients are more consistent in quality and the kitchens are cleaner than back then, but otherwise, the new stolovayas are remarkably like the old ones, with people waiting in long lines to get served mashed potatoes, stuffed cabbage, herring, and borscht by surly workers. Nostalgia for the superpower USSR? Not exactly: it’s comfort food, and far more affordable than most restaurants in Moscow. – Atlas Obscura