Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ... Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits

The illusions of an Oscar winning actor about Che

“Del Toro was fascinated with Che Guevara from the first time he heard his name mentioned in the Rolling Stones song Indian Girl,” reads the introduction to an interview with Benicio del Toro last month in Britain's The Guardian. “Of course he found himself fascinated by Ernesto Che Guevara - he loved the Stones, and Emotional Rescue was the first album he'd bought. "I hear of this guy and he's got a cool name. Che Guevara!" Del Toro as good as swoons when he says it. “Groovy name, gro

Two Henry VIII exhibitions opening soon in London

The most English of kings is about to undergo a battle of exhibitions, 500 years after his coronation, a respect he would have no doubt have thought deserved. Henry VIII treated a succession of wives with regal cruelty - divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived - and his courtiers no more gently. Thomas Moore and Thomas Cromwell both died under his axe. He has swaggered through the centuries in Hans Holbein's portraits, successively larger and more brutal - England's Stalin, carele

Film: The Young Victoria ... we were amused

On a beautiful Sunday morning in St James's, London, the cobbled street outside the gateway to Lancaster House is empty but for two men smoking cigarettes. They are soon joined by two women who, in turn, light cigarettes and join in the muffled conversation, interspersed with gales of laughter. Nothing out of the ordinary, except that the men (both of whom are sporting huge moustaches and sideburns) are wearing red and gold brocade frock coats and the women (with middle partings and ringlets ove

Berlinale Devotes Film Series to Fall of Communism

A special series of films at this year's Berlinale film festival commemorates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Under the motto, "After Winter Comes Spring," documentaries, animations and feature films made in eastern Europe in the years leading up to the fall of communism are to be screened at the Berlinale film festival. According to the Museum for Film and Television in Berlin, at the time of their production, the films gave an honest vie

Top LA Curator Breaks the East-West Divide in German Art

Cold War art from both East and West Germany is the focus of a new exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which has already received considerable attention. DW-WORLD spoke with curator Stephanie Barron. DW-WORLD: What is the exhibition's aim? Stephanie Barron: The purpose of the exhibition is really to look freshly with a distance of twenty years and of being outside Germany at the remarkable range of art created during the Cold War in both Germanys.

Pagan cult mosaic found under cathedral

A Roman mosaic floor filled with scenes depicting pagan rites and oriental gods has emerged from the ground of a Catholic church in Italy, archaeologists announced. The mosaic pavement, which measures 140 square feet and dates to the fourth century A.D., was unearthed at a depth of about 13 feet below the the ground's surface during archaeological investigations in the crypt of the Cathedral of Reggio Emilia, in central-northern Italy. "The size and design of the m

Protecting Barack’s Brand

Wake up, drink a cup of Barack-O coffee, shower with an Audacity of Soap bar, and slip on your Obama-themed running shoes to start your day. After a proliferation of products relating to Barack Obama's presidency hit the market—Yes Pecan ice cream and beanie babies named after Sasha and Malia, among others—White House lawyers are working to protect his reputation from blatant commercialism. "Our lawyers are working on developing a policy that will protect the presidential image while being

Relatives of art historian fight with Munich over Klee painting

The mayor of Munich says he's not going to allow the return of a Paul Klee painting, seized during Nazi rule from a German museum, to the relatives of the art historian who lent it to the museum. Sumpflegende (Swamp Legend) was one of 15 works on loan to the Provinzialmuseum in Hanover in 1926 by Sophie Lissitzky-Kueppers. Shortly after, she left Germany to join the Russian artist El Lissitzky near Moscow, and married him. Now her heirs are, once again, demanding the re

Alexander Rodchenko's Russian revolution coming to the Tate Modern, London

It's a bold statement, but one of the curators at the Pushkin Gallery in Moscow is not afraid to say it. "Alexander Rodchenko and Lyubov Popova were the first designers," she says. And looking round at the room dedicated to the man and woman who are considered two of Russia's most important avant-garde artists, you know what she means. Wooden mobiles in circles and squares hang from the ceiling, paintings and photographs line the walls, and furniture and ceramics make up

Picasso fever keeps Parisians up all night

Parisians, who are legendarily allergic to queuing, waited patiently into the early hours over the weekend to see the final, all-night sessions of a triumphantly successful exhibition of Picasso paintings. Despite sub-zero temperatures, crowds besieged the Grand Palais, just off the Champs Elysées, until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights – part of a recessionary boom in demand for cultural activities which is puzzling, and delighting, the French arts industry. There h

Picasso paintings to remain in New York museums following settlement

Two famed early works by Pablo Picasso will stay in New York City museums after the institutions reached an out-of-court settlement over a lawsuit alleging the previous owner was forced by the Nazis to sell his artworks in the 1930s. The settlement was announced in Manhattan federal court today as the case was about to go to trial. Details of the settlement were not released. The museums had denied that the paintings were obtained under Nazi duress. The fam

Fans mark 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death

The trio of talented young stars died on Feb 3 1959 when their Beechcraft Bonanza plane went down near Clear Lake in Iowa. Holly was aged just 22, Valens 19 and Richardson 28. The tragedy was immortalised in Don McLean's song American Pie as "the day the music died". Terry Stewart, president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which is co-hosting 50 Winters Later, a series of events in Clear Lake for the anniversary, told CNN the cras

Silent Beatles film is auctioned

A silent two-and-a-half minute film of the Beatles is expected to fetch up to fetch £12,000 when it is auctioned in Berkshire later. The rare footage was shot in 1964 during the band's tour of Scotland. It is the most expensive lot going under the hammer at Cameo Auctioneers in Midgham, on Tuesday afternoon. The 8mm colour film features clips of the band and their entourage at the Four Seasons Hotel in St Fillans on the banks of Loch Earn.

Rare Second World War pictures go on sale for Bomber Command appeal

A collection of previously unpublished pictures by one of Britain's most famous war photographers is to be reproduced for the first time to raise money for the Bomber Command Memorial Appeal. The pictures by Charles Brown vividly capture the essence of the RAF during the Second World War, ranging from candid images of airmen on operations to ground crew hard at work on maintenance and female WRAF drivers delivering bombs to aircraft. The collection, which will be launch

Goering's lost art

As Hitler's right-hand man, Hermann Goering committed some of the most horrific crimes in history. Yet he surrounded himself with beauty, exploiting his power to loot some of the world's most fantastic works of art and using them to to adorn the walls of Carinhall, his country retreat near Berlin. Now, for the first time, all the paintings have been documented, after a seven-year research project. Photographs of every painting ever possessed by Goering will be publishe

Artists jubilant as £50m Titian saved for nation

The sculptor Antony Gormley has welcomed news that a campaign to raise £50m to buy a painting by Titian from the Duke of Sutherland has been successful. The purchase will be announced officially tomorrow. Mr Gormley, one of 40 artists who signed a petition calling for the nation to buy two Titians being sold by the Duke, said the works – Diana and Actaeon and its partner Diana and Callisto – were "divine". He said: "They are an inspiration for everyone... a fixed poin

The day the music died America's apple-pie order began to crumble

A long, long time ago . . . I can still remember How that music used to make me smile. I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride, But something touched me deep inside The day the music died. So said Don McLean in his iconic 1971 song "American Pie," about the death in a light-plane crash of three of my generation's childhood heroes: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, who was known as The

“Cornbury: The Queen’s Governor” (NY Theater/Review)

Three centuries before Eliot Spitzer was brought down by liaisons with a prostitute, a governor of the territory encompassing New York and New Jersey was scandalizing the populace by publicly appearing in drag, according to some accounts from that period. Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, a cousin of Queen Anne of England, was sent across the sea in 1702 to rule a colony recently wrested from Dutch control. Lord Cornbury was firmly convinced he looked better in queenly get-ups than his co

Che the revolutionary hero? Ruthless serial killer more like it.

Like those tall tales, Fidel's myth of Che bears a superficial resemblance to historical facts, but the real story is far darker. Some Robin Hood probably did brutalise the rich and, to cover his tracks, give some of his loot to the poor. In medieval Spain, Quixote-like knights probably did roam the countryside, ridding it not of dragons but of the land's few remaining Muslims. The same goes for the legendary Che. No teenager in rebellion against the world or his parents seems able

A Look at the Coming Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial in D.C.

Through a series of sketches, animation and video walk-throughs, this video provides an overview of the next major memorial to be constructed on the National Mall in Washington D.C. The Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial site is a four-acre plot on the north east corner of the Tidal Basin within the precinct of the Jefferson Memorial and north of the memorial to President Roosevelt. It was designe