It was Eyal Weizman’s collaboration with fellow architects and geopolitical theorists Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti that first caught my attention years ago and incited my enduring admiration.

Nilo Cruz’s simple and effective play recounts the plight of two sisters who hope to obtain freedom from the oppressive Castro regime.

Poet Simon Ortiz and Tribal Councilman Petuuche Gilbert on Indian country—the Acoma Pueblo—memory, history, and colonialism.

Written in a young girl’s unschooled voice, Push (Knopf) is a harrowing story of a brutalized child’s journey to redemption and relevance. It’s a searing indictment. A sensational read.

Writer Ariel Dorfman addresses his pan-American past, the threshold of insanity, and the literary stakes of exile.

“The power of cinema lies in its ability to cut across social barriers. That’s what we’ve been trying to do. Literacy is not necessary—the upper classes should not be the guides for you to understand and appreciate a film. It has to be direct human contact. It can communicate with the psyche.”