"The Arab Archive: Mediated Memories and Digital Flows," which took place over the past two days at John Cabot University in Rome, was advertised as an examination of "the political economy of the Arab Image" which "reflects upon the materiality, ethics, and aesthetics of filming, distributing and archiving post-2011." The workshop more than lived … Continue reading The Arab Archive: Mediated Memories and Digital Flows
Tag: Syria
I went to see Philippe Van Leeuw's much-acclaimed Insyriated recently, with that by now familiar conflicted feeling about the lines between entertainment and reality. After the most recent events in Ghouta -- so difficult to watch, so easy to scroll past on social media timelines -- that unease was all the more present as we … Continue reading Insyriated
The Segal Centre's recently held an event on contemporary theatre in Lebanon. The centre has previously showcased readings of plays by Arab dramatists Rama Haydar and Bashar Murkus. On the 17th of October, to celebrate a new exchange partnership with the Theatre Initiative at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the Segal Centre invited Sahar Assaf, Assistant Professor … Continue reading Sahar Assaf on Theatre in Lebanon Today
There are films from 92 countries entered for the Foreign Film category of the Oscars. Among these are eight films from Arabic-speaking countries. Several of the films deal in various ways with the impact of the conflict in Syria. There is the documentary from Syria, “Little Gandhi,” which follows the life and death of Syrian … Continue reading Arab Films Entered for Oscars
Ahdaf Soueif once said that “the use of English by Arab authors is expanding at a faster rate than the use of French." I haven't seen any empirical evidence for this, but it seems likely -- or if not exactly faster than French, than at least at an equal rate. Watching 47soul’s recent release “Raf Etair” … Continue reading On the Use of English in Arab(ic) Music
Amanda Bailly's film 8 Borders, 8 Days follows a Syrian woman, Sham, and her two children as they travel from Lebanon to Germany. In the beginning, during the parts in Syria and Lebanon, animation is used effectively to describe the problems Sham is fleeing in trying to reach Europe, and why the notion of … Continue reading Film: 8 Borders, 8 Days
As part of the 2017 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, The Segal Center is showcasing play readings by nine dramatists, including the following two plays by Rama Haydar and Bashar Murkus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHDZgDHjctM Desert of Light Written by Rama Haydar (Syria) Translated by Rama Haydar & Rebekah Maggor Directed by Rebekah Maggor … Continue reading Plays by Rama Haydar & Bashar Murkus
‘On Arab Geographies’ brings together screenings of eight critically-acclaimed contemporary Arab films from across the region, as well as Q&A sessions and panel discussions on filmmaking in the region. The program runs from May 4-6. See the full schedule here. It is curated by Rabih El Khoury, who described it as a "travelogue": “This program aims to be a travelogue … Continue reading “On Arab Geographies”: Film Screenings in Abu Dhabi, May 4-6
BBC Radio 4 has a series called The Museum of Lost Objects presented by Kanishk Tharoor, and produced by Maryam Maruf which "traces the stories of 10 antiquities or ancient sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria." There are currently five episodes available to listen to or download, and you can subscribe … Continue reading Museum of Lost Objects
Re:Orient in Stockholm, which arranges cultural events focusing on the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans, is celebrating Music Freedom Day as well as International Women's Day with their week long Revolutionary Voices program from March 2-8. The program includes documentary screenings, a couple of panels and a concert, featuring Rim Banna, Tania Saleh, Dina … Continue reading Revolutionary Voices, Stockholm, March 2-8
The exhibition Looking at the World Around You: Contemporary Works from Qatar Museums is being held from 9 February to 19 June 2016 at the Santander Art Gallery in Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, the "first major loan exhibition in Europe of works from Mathaf, the Arab Museum of Contemporary Art in Doha." This selection, more … Continue reading From Mathaf to Madrid
This year, the shortlist for the IPAF (International Prize for Arabic fiction) includes "a Syrian novel about Islamic State’s occupation of Raqqa to an Egyptian dystopian thriller" among other novels that “address the tragedy of the present-day Middle East.” The Syrian novel is A Sky Close to Our House by Shahla Ujayli, although since we … Continue reading International Prize for Arabic fiction shortlist
Sean McAllister's A Syrian Love Story, filmed over 5 years, has been described as a documentary that "charts the journey to freedom in the West by Raghda, Amer, and their family." What it actually does is chart the disillusionment experienced by a pro-revolution Syrian-Palestinian couple through the years following the 2011 uprising, and the effect this disillusionment … Continue reading A Syrian Love Story
Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Said Esber, better known by the name Adonis, will present a poetry reading at DePauw University on September 30, and the next day will take part in a question-and-answer session with the title "Poetry and Freedom: A Conversation with Adonis." The session will be led by Joseph Heithaus poet and professor of English at DePauw. I … Continue reading Poetry and Freedom: A Conversation with Adonis
On September 19, the National Arab Orchestra will perform at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit, with special guest composers Kareem Roustom and Wael Binali. The NAO (which used to be called the Michigan Arab Orchestra) has for a while now been one of the best Arab orchestras in North America, along with the New … Continue reading Haflah! Arabic Music in the Diaspora
In a wide-ranging article which provides an overview of the Arab art scene in the West, Lana Asfour writes about the commission and performance of an opera based on the acclaimed novel Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif as part of this year's ongoing Shubbak festival. As Asfour writes, Cities of Salt is "arguably [Munif's] greatest work, … Continue reading Highlights of Shubbak 2015
On May 29, at the the Painted Bride Art Cente in Philadelphia, two Syrian-born artists, Ayman Alalao and Kinan Abou-afach, will be part of a "non-linear storytelling" performance, which involves linking music and visuals to illustrate themes of Arab history and heritage. Here is a preview: Kinan Abou-afach has been involved in other collaborations between musicians and visual artists, such … Continue reading {De} Perception: Live Art and Music
Malmo Arab Film Festival is coming to Uppsala on May 6th and 7th before the final stop at Stockholm on the 8th and 9th. The films to be shown are: Letters from Al Yarmouk Villa 69 Excuse my French The story of this film, about a boy who transfers from private to public school in … Continue reading Scandinavia’s Arab Film Festival
Where does tongue-in-cheek parody end and self-exoticization begin? At what point does the Arab woman artist, stepping into the so-often imagined space of "The Harem" risk pandering to an audience that seems to have a never-ending appetite for orientalist remediations? Lebanese photographer Rania Matar's wonderful and insightful A Girl in Her Room series (capturing teenage girls in … Continue reading When Arab Women Artists “Revisit The Harem”
In its second Film Week, The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) is bringing works by filmmakers from seven Arab countries (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia) to Cairo. The week-long programme will run between 15 and 22 April at Zawya cinema. The films to be shown include: Return to Homs by Talal Derky … Continue reading The Second AFAC Film Week
Syrian artists are continuing to work amidst the horror of war and the difficulties of exile, Tim Cornwell writes. Among the artists discussed in the article are Thaier Helal and Mohannad Orabi both of whom have struggled with visas and travelling to exhibitions. These artists' work has undergone a transformation as they have been affected by the war. … Continue reading Syrian Artists Amid the Horror
Arab Hyphen 