WNYC tracked down the legendary cameraman behind Andy Warhol's 1964 film "Empire" to find out what was happening behind the scenes of this iconic, lengthy film.

Usually you'd have to make a trip to South Asia to see independent films made in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. But in the next few weeks, you can check out films from the region at not one but two film festivals in New York City.

A festival on Virginia Woolf begins Tuesday at the New York Public Library. WNYC previews the three-day event and shoots a video of the library's Wertheim Study.

You could say it’s in the air: Uptown, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is hosting its fifth annual National Design Week and honoring National Design Award recipients. Downtown, Tribeca is hosting its first annual Architecture and Design Film Festival, through Sunday.

After 21 years with Queens Theatre in the Park, founding Executive Director Jeffrey Rosenstock announced he'll be step down in June, after the company's 2011 season. Rosenstock has been with the theater since 1989 and oversaw the recent completion of a $27 million renovation.

This new conversation series will debut on Wednesday with “Elegies for Our Lost Asylum.” All talks, which are free and open to the public, will be held at The New School.

Nicknamed the "Genius Grant," the honor is a no-strings-attached gift of $500,000 distributed to individuals who exhibit creativity and originality in their fields. This year's bunch includes, among others, writers, scientists and a type designer.

The 48th Annual New York Film Festival opens Friday and nearly 50,000 cinephiles are expected to turn out for the 17-day event. The festival is going to feature works by both veteran filmmakers and new talent.

This November, the American Ballet Theatre will perform in Cuba for the first time in half a century. The company, based in New York City, has long had ties to the island: Cuba’s prima ballerina, Alicia Alonso, moved to the United States, and then joined the ballet theatre in 1940.

Tuesday evening, August 17, at 8 p.m., Broadway theater marquees will dim their lights for one minute in memory of Tony Award-winning actress Patricia Neal, who passed away on August 8 at the age of 84. “As the last surviving winner from the first Tony Awards ceremony,” says Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League, “her presence at subsequent Tony telecasts represented Broadway’s singular history.”

Dave Eggers and Amiri Baraka are among more than a dozen winners of the 31st annual American Book Awards, which were announced on Thursday. The awards, first established by the Before Columbus Foundation in 1978, are given for literary works that cover "the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community."

In honor of National Poetry Month, supported by the Academy of American Poets, we're closing April with the morning playlist of poet Major Jackson. Submit your playlist in the comments section below so that we can put together a crowdsourced map of the MTA using your songs!