Radio Tania

Wim Wenders and Steven Soderbergh and me

OK, so I have a couple of exciting interviews coming up in the next week and while I normally don't voice my excitement over these sorts of things (people had to pry it out that I had interviewed His Holiness the Dalai Lama), this time I am changing my ways. Maybe it's a 2009 thing, the year of the ox supposedly, a year of great struggle and great work. Maybe it's just that I am really looking forward to these two interviews with Steven Soderbergh and Wim Wenders. Regardless, I wanted to share a few things about each director. First, Philip and I just got through seeing CHE, Soderbergh's epic film about the legendary, near mythical revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, played by a subdued and potent Benicio del Toro. It was an interesting role for him, and one that must have meant a great deal to him since he co-produced CHE. It takes great passion and drive to produce a film. I also wonder about the challenges of making films about legendary figures. The film was gorgeous and deserved the four plus hours of screen time because it offered the pace and sense and challenge of starting revolutions. From the lush, jungle quality of Cuba's countryside to the arid mountains of Bolivia, the cinematorgraphy was magnificent and real. For those interested in revolutionaries or in Che himself, I recommend it. Then next week, I am speaking with Wim Wenders about his recent film Palermo Shooting. I have interviewed Wenders before but I have always worried that in that interview I confused him with Werner Herzog. I think I might have said, "in your previous film, Grizzly Man...." Oops! I hope that didn't happen but at least I have a second chance to redeem myself!

 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In July, I had the honor of interviewing His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with acclaimed scientist Dr. Paul Ekman. Dr. Ekman traveled the world, observing facial expressions and discovered several things—facial expressions are universal, our face reflects our emotions with tiny little muscles, those tiny little muscles also stimulate emotions. That's why in India, they have places devoted to laughing because even if you're feeling down, the act of laughing stimulates chemicals in your body that bring about joy. Ekman and the Dalai Lama wrote a book together and it was for this reason, the release of the book, that the interview opportunity came about. I flew to Bethlehem, PA to do the interview. The Dalai Lama was speaking for five days there and people had come from all over the country to hear him. If you would like to hear some tape of the people that had come to see him, click here. To hear the interview, click here and to hear the piece for Weekend America, go here.