How much do we need to know about the lives of writers to appreciate their work? Is the life all — or is it nothing? Should we read poetry, for example, with an eye on biography, or merely focus on ...

In Star Trek there’s the “prime directive,” Starfleet’s code of noninterference. What do filmmakers abide by? Should documentaries interfere with their subjects’ lives? But how could they not? I don’t ...

One hundred years ago this December, "The Waste Land" was first published. T.S. Eliot’s famous poem has been described as highly influential, irregular, and innovative. Its theme — the spiritual and ...

Photo from the film "Waste Land," Artwork Courtesy of Vik Muniz Studio. Jeffrey Brown spoke with "Waste Land" director Lucy Walker last year about the film for NewsHour Art Beat. Since its release, ...

“We are not pickers of garbage; we are pickers of recyclable materials,” Tião, an impoverished Brazilian catadore, or trash picker, declares to a talk-show host in Lucy Walker’s inspiring documentary ...

Can art change lives? Waste Land is an inspiring documentary that follows Brazilian artist Vik Muniz in his attempt to do just that. Lucy Walker directs the film about trash as art, and art as a ...

This article has been updated below. “Waste Land” is a vibrant and exciting documentary about the unlikely collaboration between Vik Muniz, a prominent Brazilian-born artist who now lives and works in ...