The Frame

Hello from Park City! Host John Horn, editor Darby Maloney and producer Michelle Lanz check in to talk about a few of the standout films they've seen so far, as well as which filmmakers you can look forward to hearing on The Frame in the coming weeks.

The Frame host John Horn reports from Sundance on the festival's opening night and he interviews director Sydney Freeland (“Deidra and Laney Rob a Train”) and the husband-and wife team of Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman ("Lemon").

Sundance's new initiative, "The New Climate," features documentaries that are focused on the environment; Solange Knowles dissects “Cranes In the Sky” from her breakthrough album, “A Seat at the Table.”

Composer Nicholas Britell talks about combining classical music with hip-hop production techniques to create his compelling score; the 2017 Sundance festival is expecting nearly 50,000 movie lovers, Hollywood executives, filmmakers and entertainment journalists.

After John Lewis was criticized by President-elect Donald Trump, the Congressman's grahic novel trilogy about the Civil Rights Movement shot to the top of Amazon's best-seller list; Netflix has a new version of the Norman Lear sitcom that puts a 21st Century spin on matters.

Andrew Garfield, who can be seen in two current films,"Silence" and "Hacksaw Ridge," reflects on Meryl Streep's Golden Globes speech and opens up about how he finds meaning in his work as an artist; Oscar-winning editor William Goldenberg shares secrets from the editing room; and a new exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum has artists turning their attention to the news as a muse.

News that filmmaker George Lucas will build a museum for his personal art collection in Los Angeles has a lot of people talking about "Star Wars" but this passion project will house more than memorabilia, says L.A. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne; and Jeffrey Kahane, the musician and conductor who led the LA Chamber Orchestra for two decades now leads the Lift Every Voice music festival which challenges racial and religious injustice.

A new study reports that there is more violence in PG-13 films than ever — even more than in R-rated movies; you may not recognize Finn Wittrock by name, but you surely know his face from FX's "American Horror Story" to big films such as "The Big Short;" Sarah Megan Thomas is adapting her female-centric film, "Equity," for the small screen.

The new comic book anthology, "Love Is Love," was curated by Marc Andreyko, who marshaled an army of artists in the wake of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando; meet a music supervisor who worked with Issa Rae and Solange Knowles on HBO's "Insecure;" the Producers Guild of America makes its picks for the best films of 2016.

Is Hollywood pushing a liberal agenda through the entertainment it makes? If you watched Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes last night you might think so. Mary McNamara of the LA Times and James Poniewozik of the New York Times join The Frame to discuss; Then theater director Pam MacKinnon shares how she turned the beloved film "Amélie" into a stage musical with "Hamilton" star Phillipa Soo in the lead.

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.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are on a roll: they wrote song lyrics for "La La Land" and the music and lyrics for the Broadway hit, "Dear Evan Hansen"; more than 3,500 companies are debuting their futuristic products at the annual, massive technology trade show.

Actor and documentary filmmaker Fisher Stevens jumped at the chance to make a documentary about the iconic showbiz mother-and-daughter, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher; Sorting through the Jan/Feb TV premieres and comebacks to watch for in 2017 with TV critic Whitney Friedlander.