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The CD The Soul Sessions is making a major impression on the music world. The singer is Joss Stone -- white, British and just 16 years old. Stone's mentor and producer is African-American soul legend Betty Wright. Hear Stone, Wright and NPR's Scott Simon.

Wenlan Chia isn't as big a name as Anne Klein, Perry Ellis or Bill Blass, but the up-and-coming designer known as Twinkle is getting a chance to show her new collection alongside them in New York this week. Her story is the first of a week-long Morning Edition series looking behind the scenes of the style industry.

In a summer of effects-laden movies, basic documentaries are proving surprisingly popular with audiences. Maybe people are looking for something other than kids' flicks, but films as diverse as the visually stunning Winged Migration and the simple-but-charming Spellbound continue to attract audiences. Hear NPR's Renee Montagne and Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan.

After 10 years of marriage, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur for a dentist who believes his wife may be cheating on him. Alan Rudolph's new film, The Secret Lives of Dentists, explores the emotional and psychological bonds of marriage. Hear Rudolph's interview with NPR's Melissa Block.

Director Ridley Scott's career has been marked by oversized, epic films like Alien and Gladiator. In his latest effort, Matchstick Men, Scott makes a major departure by creating a comic study of a neurotic con artist, played by Nicolas Cage. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Scott.

The Passion, a film project co-written and directed by actor Mel Gibson, comes under fire from Roman Catholic and Jewish religious leaders. The unfinished film is about the death of Jesus, and critics say the movie fuels anti-Semitism. David D'Arcy reports.

A main trend in this fall's movie selection seems to be book adaptations. Some well-known tomes are headed for the big screen, from The Cat in the Hat to Cold Mountain to The Human Stain. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan.

Leni Riefenstahl, renowned and despised for her depiction of Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Triumph of the Will, dies at 101. Riefenstahl maintained she should be above criticism for the 1934 film, which has been called the best propaganda film ever made, but she spent more than half her life apologizing for it. NPR's Bob Edwards has a remembrance.

The new documentary OT: Our Town follows the production of the timeless Thornton Wilder play about a small New England town as it is produced at a high school in Compton, Calif. Los Angeles Times movie critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

The daughter of acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola made her directorial debut with the well received Virgin Suicides. Her new movie, Lost in Translation, which features Bill Murray as a TV star struggling to find himself, is already generating Oscar talk. NPR's Bob Mondello has a review.