Iran

The Associated Press reports: German media are reporting that prosecutors are investigating suspicions that Iran might be planning attacks on American targets in the country. Get the full story at chicagotribune.com .

It's only been two years since Anahita Ghazvinizadeh moved from Iran to the U.S. to pursue a film-focused master's in studio art at the School of the Art Institute Chicago, but the 23-year-old filmmaker already has racked up a nomination for the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Cinéfondation Prize. “I was really surprised and very happy,” Ghazvinizadeh said. “We worked really hard on this film, but I wasn't expecting that it would get into a great festival like Cannes.” Ghazvinizadeh's 21-minute short film, “Needle,” the story of a preteen girl getting her ears...

It's only been two years since Anahita Ghazvinizadeh moved from Iran to the U.S. to pursue a film-focused master's in studio art at the School of the Art Institute Chicago, but the 23-year-old filmmaker already has racked up a nomination for the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Cinéfondation Prize. “I was really surprised and very happy,” Ghazvinizadeh said. “We worked really hard on this film, but I wasn't expecting that it would get into a great festival like Cannes.” Ghazvinizadeh's 21-minute short film, “Needle,” the story of a preteen girl getting her ears...

The Associated Press reports: German media are reporting that prosecutors are investigating suspicions that Iran might be planning attacks on American targets in the country. Get the full story at chicagotribune.com .

The 48th Chicago International Film Festival, the country's oldest competitive film festival, has announced its first round of movie titles that will be featured at this year's event. The film festival, which takes place Oct 11-25 and is themed "A Year of Discovery," will feature more than 150 films from more than 50 countries. "Our programmers have been working non-stop all year in search of the best films from around the world," said Michael Kutza, founder and artistic director of the Chicago International Film Festival.

***1/2 (out of four) When two couples, two kids, a tutor and an ailing father become embroiled in a complicated debate over who's to blame for a woman's miscarriage, “A Separation” becomes what could be described as a lose-lose-lose-lose-lose situation. Everyone has an agenda, and deception has a way of unraveling even the best, most subjectively defensible intentions. Culturally specific but universally relatable, this slowly escalating Iranian drama boasts incredibly impressive motivational clarity.

*** (out of four) It's not easy to make a reality-based, political, action-comedy that stretches from Tinseltown to Tehran and covers everything from Hollywood satire to public hangings. In his first directorial effort not set in Boston, Ben Affleck (“Gone Baby Gone,” “The Town”) delivers a compelling movie, if not a perfect one. “Argo” leaves you wanting to know more, rather than feeling fully informed about an event that President Clinton declassified 15 years ago. Before your eyes glaze over at the phrase “Iran hostage...

With the Republican primary season under way, it's time for an intervention for my fellow young people who have decided to support the cult of personality that is Ron Paul. Once considered a curiosity, Paul's most radical views have increasingly edged into the mainstream in a pathetic Republican field. Even if, like me, you sympathize with his opinions that we should legalize most drugs and not immediately start a war with Iran, these "youth-popular" stances have allowed him too much cover for his disturbing economic and domestic policy positions.

Years after Ben Affleck directed critical and commercial successes “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Town,” many stories still peg the director/actor's latest effort “Argo” as a comeback. “That narrative has been going around for a while. I was like the GQ 2006 Comeback Man,” says Affleck, who does admit that he'd take back some of the movies he starred in if he could. “I guess I'll know if a movie doesn't work because they'll be like, 'You're not coming back with this one; this isn't the comeback one.'” That storyline should be played out for...

There is something about the lemming-like quality of the public discourse that renders presidential debates into these circular talking point showdowns in which not much is illuminated and nothing important challenged. Here following are some obvious questions about the great challenges of our times that one of those “undecided voters” or, you know, a professional journalist could or should have asked Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. • Governor Romney, do you believe that human activity is causing climate change?

"Portlandia,""Homeland,""Game of Thrones,""Parks and Recreation,""Treme"and "The Colbert Report"are among the TV winners of the 71st annual Peabody Awards announced Wednesday. The Peabody board picked 38 winners, including several PBS specials and the game show "Jeopardy!," as the best in electronic media for the year 2011. They were named by recipients were named by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The prestigious awards will be handed out at the May 21 event hosted by Sir Patrick Stewart at the Waldorf Astoria in New York...

Extremely foolish and incredibly upsetting. That's my diagnosis of the surprising inclusion of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,"  one of the year's worst films, in both the Best Picture race and the Supporting Actor category (Max Von Sydow). BTW: In case you think I'm alone here, the movie has only a 46 score on Metacritic, including an F from the Onion A.V. Club . And that's not the only travesty from Tuesday morning's Oscar nominations. How can the Academy omit Michael Fassbender from the Best Actor race for his role in"Shame," which was the best...