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The Sundance Film Festival opens Thursday in Park City, Utah. But so far, festival organizers have largely ignored an independent film genre thriving in their backyard: Mormon cinema. As NPR's Howard Berkes reports, films with Mormon-centered themes fill a niche market, and some have won critical acclaim.

After a record-setting Christmas, Hollywood wraps up the year with more than $9 billion in the till -- the second biggest box office total in its history. Film critic NPR's Bob Mondello says a large part of that money was well-earned: some of 2003's most popular movies were also among the year's best. He offers a list of his top movie picks for the year.

A religious service held in a public school ignites a debate about the separation of church and state.

Western culture has long romanticized the image of the young artist, but for some people, creative inspiration comes at the other end of life. A new exhibit at Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum pays tribute to the late onset of creativity, showcasing the works of 50 elderly artists. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

Astronomer Ian Griffin of Baltimore, Md., is the guest on a new edition of "What Are You Listening To?" His musical selections range from Bruce Springsteen to themes from 1960s British TV shows. NPR's Steve Inskeep listens along.

Hollywood studios back away from a ban on sending promotional videos to Oscar voters. The ban was meant to stop piracy, but it angered many who said it would have given studio films an advantage over smaller, independent features. NPR's Rick Karr reports.

New movies being released are increasingly violent, offering graphic views of death and gore. NPR's Bob Mondello surveys the current blood offerings in theaters, and analyzes why anti-violence advocates don't seem to be seeing red.

Actor Will Geer is perhaps best remembered as grandpa on The Waltons. But in the 1950s, he founded an outdoor theater in California. Iris Mann reports.

In Brazil, a theater director is charged with indecent exposure for his unusual response to an unhappy audience. Responding to a rain of boos and catcalls, director Gilbert Thomas mooned the audience of a production of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. NPR's Martin Kaste reports.

Mom and pop bookstores vie for your literary dollar this season, hoping you'll shop sooner rather than later. NPR Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg talks to three independent booksellers about their best bets to expand the mind and open the wallet.

People over the age of 35 tell market researchers they'd buy more music if they didn't have to wade through racks of CD geared for 18-year-olds, read magazines tailored to 15-year-olds, or listen to radio aimed at 12-year-olds. NPR's Rick Karr talks with a former corporate turnaround specialist who sees the music industry in need of an intervention, and a publisher and editor who think a new magazine for older listeners is the key.

Years ago, the tombstones of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith -- the two killers portrayed in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood -- mysteriously disappeared. Now they have resurfaced at a museum that won't put them on display. Harriet Baskas reports on a Kansas museum's dilemma as part of the "Hidden Treasures" series.

Fans of New York Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams know him as an elegant runner and a smart hitter. Now, he's showing a different side with his new CD, The Journey Within. Trained as a classical guitarist in Puerto Rico, Williams says the album is influenced by the music of his childhood.

Nearly four decades after the end of the Civil War, W.E.B. Du Bois set out to collect images that accurately portrayed the spirit of America's blacks. He wanted the photographs to help counteract stereotypes of African Americans as poor and uneducated. NPR's Michele Norris talks with the author of a new book about Du Bois' collection.

A new version of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf is now available in the United States. The music comes in a boxed set with a storybook illustrated by Bono. The rendition does away with the orchestra and instead brings the story to life with a mandolin, banjo, accordion, and percussion of all kinds. NPR's Melissa Block talks with musician Gavin Friday. (Publisher: Bloomsbury USA)

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Maggie Balistreri, author of the The Evasion English Dictionary. The book describes the use of language to evade speaking directly. Balistreri defines the many subtly different ways Americans pepper our speech with euphemisms and oblique references.

Artist and humorist Bruce McCall has a new collection of drawings, All Meat Looks Like South America. McCall uses his skills as a draftsman to create unlikely cultural designs, such as "Golf Carts of the Third Reich." He says he grew up seeing schematic drawings of the future in magazines such as Popular Mechanics, and uses that aesthetic in his art. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel.

Technically speaking, the Greek film Hard Goodbyes: My Father is a contender for the Oscars and the Golden Globes. But with runs in only two U.S. theaters, the odds are against it. The film is a coming-of-age story about a 10-year-old boy living in Athens, and Liz Yuan liked it enough to try her hand at distributing it. Hear NPR's Michele Norris.

Sid Caesar talks to Susan Stamberg about his long career in show business — and gets cajoled into performing her mother-in-law's cranberry relish recipe (you must listen to the end of her report to hear it).

In the new Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Daffy Duck sets a plot in motion that involves secret agents, out-of-work stuntmen, half of Las Vegas -- and Steve Martin as the head of the Acme Corporation. NPR's Bob Mondello says the cartoon comes with post-modern antics and nearly non-stop jokes.

Bill signings and handshakes are the norm for White House photographers. Capturing the personal moments of presidents and their families is more difficult. Time photojournalist Diana Walker spent decades taking presidential pictures, often snapping scenes other photographers missed. See a gallery of her work.

Philanthropic organizations offer to help raise $150 million to move the Barnes Foundation's treasured art collection to downtown Philadelphia. Two-thirds of the sum would go toward the move and a new gallery. Skeptics worry the plan doesn't provide enough money to rebuild the collection's endowment and ensure its future. Joel Rose of member station WHYY reports.

Los Angeles' new Walt Disney Concert Hall is meant to be not only a grand space for orchestral music, but also to attract people who may never have visited a concert hall. The Frank Gehry-designed facility makes its debut Thursday, and its architectural and cultural appeal will be tested. Hear NPR's Mandalit del Barco.

Prior to the Civil War, some free black people owned slaves. Author Edward P. Jones picked up on that little-known fact and has written a vivid first novel that looks at slavery through a different lens. On Morning Edition, hear an interview with Jones and a review of The Known World. Read an excerpt of the book.

The group, which is a rebrand of a group that attended the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., has created an image of Americana bolstered by racism, antisemitism and neo-fascism.