The Frame

The singer/songwriter wrote his Grammy-nominated album, "American Utopia," prior to our recent political discord, but he remains determined to find the silver lining in society; studio executives are talking the talk but not walking the walk when it comes to hiring women directors.

Kit Steinkellner talks about creating the Facebook Watch series about a widow dealing with her husband's unexpected death; the 2019 Coachella headliners include Childish Gambino(!) and Ariana Grande(?); Janelle Monáe breaks down a song from her Grammy-nominated album, "Dirty Computer"

The stage director made history with "The Lifespan of a Fact" by assembling the first all-female design team for a Broadway show; Netflix has pulled an episode of Hasan Minhaj's "Patriot Act" from its service in Saudi Arabia after a protest from the Saudi government; Mary Gauthier's "Rifles and Rosary Beads" has a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album.

The former Monty Python member revisits his life and career in the memoir, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography"; Luciana Souza puts Leonard Cohen poems to music.

José James pays tribute to singer/songwriter Bill Withers with his new album "Lean on Me."

Alfonso Cuarón reveals the intense process of mining his own memory, and those of his siblings and childhood nanny, to recreate their shared story for the screen in "Roma."

Rosamund Pike reveals how she channeled the late war reporter Marie Colvin in the film "A Private War."

Afghan-American artist Ariana Delawari documents the process of recording an album of music in her family's homeland; Max Baca of the band Texmaniacs on covering the Woody Guthrie song "Deportee"; Boz Scaggs still sings the blues.

We bring you some of our favorite interviews from the year — covering television, movies, music and the arts. Guests include Tessa Thompson, Riz Ahmed, Lena Waithe and Hannah Gadsby.

John C. Reilly joins "Stan & Ollie" director Jon S. Baird to talk about making a movie about the legendary comedic duo Laurel and Hardy. Then, Joanna Kulig stars in "Cold War," Poland's official submission for Oscar which is also the story of filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski's parents.

Lin-Manuel Miranda may have turned Alexander Hamilton's life into a hit Broadway show, but he tells us that passion, not politics, drives his art, "Your job as an artist is to chase what inspires you and finish it"; Gaby Moreno's fusion of R&B with Spanish lyrics has earned her a Grammy nomination; The FTC calls out Vizio for using their TVs to collect data on their users without their consent.

"Moonlight" director Barry Jenkins has gone from virtual unknown to eight Academy Award nominations; "Saturday Night Live" finds comedy gold in the Trump presidency; veteran R&B singer William Bell has two Grammy nods for his comeback album.

Zoe Lister-Smith directed “Band Aid,” a hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival that just got picked up for distribution; Fox's new “24” reboot is being criticized because the villains on the series are from the Middle East; Andrew Lockington talks about his untraditional score for the new movie, “The Space Between Us.”

For bands, landing a song in a Super Bowl ad (or any other televised event) is a HUGE pay day; how 'Jackie' composer Mica Levi created a mesmerizing score for Pablo Larrain's psychological drama; Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck could have made a conventional documentary about James Baldwin, but instead he uses only Baldwin’s words to create his powerful film, “I Am Not Your Negro."

The madcap "Billy on the Street" TV series has added a political edge; arts leaders from Western states visit D.C. to advocate for the National Endowment for the Arts; the latest Hollywood story from USC has more dire news for women in the industry.

Muslim-American writer, producer and author Reza Aslan's family fled the Iranian Revolution when he was 7-years-old — now believes that the best way to change American hearts and minds about Islam is through entertainment; Sony Pictures is reporting a $1 billion loss in its third quarter alone. The report comes as the company embarks on a new head for the studio, which executives in Japan maintain is not for sale.

How SAG Award winners used the platform to comment on Trump's executive order barring refugees from select Muslim-majority countries; one L.A.-based concert promoter had to cancel shows with Iranian musicians planning to play in the U.S.; "Cries from Syria" filmmaker wants to generate understanding and empathy for Syrian refugees with his new doc, airing on HBO in March.

"Nobody Speak" looks at free press issues through the Hulk Hogan lawsuit and the presidential election; "The Salesman" is the latest from Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi; the Wallis Youth Theater Company is breaking new ground.

How Late Night host Seth Meyers is seizing the Trump era for political commentary and comedy; rapper Roxanne Shanté's life is the basis of a new Sundance biopic "Roxanne Roxanne;" Bryan Fogel is a cyclist who set out to document his experiments with performance-enhancing drugs only to find himself making a movie that uncovers a massive doping scandal inside Russia.

Director David O. Russell remembers working with Mary Tyler Moore in his 1996 dysfunctional family comedy "Flirting with Disaster," then the married couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon turned their real-life love story into the new romantic comedy "The Big Sick" which just sold to Amazon at the Sundance Film Festival.

The Frame host John Horn reports from Sundance where he interviews Lakeith Stanfield (“Atlanta” and "Crown Heights"), and talks Oscars nominations with Vulture's Kyle Buchanan.

The Frame host John Horn reports from Sundance where he interviews Jessica Williams (“The Incredible Jessica James”), and documentary director Peter Bratt ("Dolores") and the subject of his film, activist Dolores Huerta.