A lot of questions one might ask about the annual Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, letters, drama, and music are answered in filmmaker Kirk Simon's interesting documentary. Joseph Pulitzer, the 19th-century newspaper publisher and father of "yellow journalism," sought to turn press writing into a profession with recognizable high standards. Besides founding a journalism school at Columbia University, Pulitzer established the annual prizes to link the news trade with noble artistic pursuits such as fiction, poetry, playwriting, and music composition. The Pulitzer at 100 celebrates past recipients of the prize in various disciplines, featuring interviews with novelists Michael Chabon, Junot Díaz, and Toni Morrison; playwrights Tony Kushner and Paula Vogel; journalists David Remnick and Carl Bernstein; and musicians Wynton Marsalis and John Adams. Along the way, various luminaries recite passages from Pulitzer-winning literature: John Lithgow reads Robert Frost; Natalie Portman the poetry of Jorie Graham; and Yara Shahidi an excerpt from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Some of the most interesting moments involve comments from winners about the prizes themselves, such as New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof noting that his award for coverage of atrocities in Darfur and elsewhere were made possible because of the suffering of others. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
The Pulitzer at 100
(2017) 91 min. DVD: $24.95. First Run Features (avail. from most distributors). Volume 33, Issue 2
The Pulitzer at 100
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