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Beirut hip hoppers sound out the rhythm of peace
"Hip Hoppers for Peace" was the slogan under which 11 artists of all political and religious backgrounds met Saturday night at the Student Lounge in Hamra to present and perform songs of their new album "Peace Beats." Lebanon's small but emerging hip hop scene flocked into the apartment-like rooms of Student Lounge.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 04-Dec-2008 01:21

A travelogue through the Palestinian condition
Rashid Masharawi has written an entertaining moment of crisis into his film "Laila's Birthday," an emotional meltdown for Enlightenment stalwarts, for whom the last resort famously attributed to frustrated postal workers ("Buy a gun and kill 'em all") won't do. Abu Laila (Mohamed Bakri), exhausted by the litany of insults.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 04-Dec-2008 01:06

Beirut's European Film Festival screens both disappointment and welcome surprise
This year's European Film Festival, is, above all, relevant. Many of this year's selection come right from the Cannes lineup, while others deal with some of the most pressing issues facing Europe today: immigration, an aging demographic, and integration. But some of the blockbusters fail, while other, less-touted films merit a second look.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 02-Dec-2008 01:18

Screening Lebanon's 'blissful journey into war and chaos'
Does this sound familiar? First, the enumeration of Lebanon's myriad tourist attractions, replete with the obligatory shot of a girl's bikini-clad butt. Then, the rhetoric. "We're a nationalist movement, above all," say the political leaders, one after the other. "But" - and there always is a "but," - "if it comes to it, we will defend ourselves militarily."
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 29-Nov-2008 01:21

The full effect of words
Joelle Khoury is not a woman willing to do things by halves. "When Antoine [Boulard] originally invited me to work with his poetry, I think he had in mind a recital with some piano music in the background. I was not interested. It was too tame," she says. Last week's performance of "Electroesie" at the French Cultural Center could certainly not be called tame.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 29-Nov-2008 01:06

Coaxing Egypt's venerable cinema toward a brave new world
"I was a musician before becoming an actor." Ezzat Abou Ouf, president of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), pauses to sip some Turkish coffee. "Back in the '70s, I was one of the revolutionaries changing the face of Egyptian music - our oriental, typical one-line-going type of music - to a Western style.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 28-Nov-2008 01:23

Jordanian TV series wins International Emmy
On Tuesday, Jordanian television producers celebrated the kingdom's first-ever International Emmy Award for a 2007 series on a love story during Israel's 2002 incursion into a West Bank city. "Al-Igtiyah" (The Invasion) won Emmy's new telenovela category, with producer Talal Awamleh accepting the award in New York on Monday night.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 27-Nov-2008 01:07

Lineup set for 15th European Film Festival in Beirut - and Tripoli, too
The 15th European Film Festival hits Beirut on Friday, and will be in residence at Cinema Sofil through December 7. A selection of films from 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union will be presented to Beirut audiences. The festival opens with an invitation-only event featuring French director Arnaud Desplechin's film "Un Conte de Noel."
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 27-Nov-2008 00:52

'The Moebius Strip' - loose rules from the football school of dance
"I like to make what I call 'suggestive' works. I want the audience members to be able to bring their own experiences so that the piece speaks to them in a unique way," Swiss choreographer Gilles Jobin told . After Friday evening's performance of "The Moebius Strip" at Theatre Monnot.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 26-Nov-2008 01:16

Oriental jazz band wows audience in Damascus
The stage at Al-Dummar Cultural Complex in Damascus promised great things on November 18: not less than 13 chairs and music stands graced the stage. The concert hall was filled to the last seat, with people sitting on stairs and standing in the aisles. When the show started, Irtijal, a Syrian jazz band formed in 2004 known for their love.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 25-Nov-2008 01:14

Qatar opens Museum of Islamic Arts with aim of showing faith's true values
The new Museum of Islamic Arts in the Qatari capital aims to show that Islam is a religion of "tolerance" and not "terrorism," guests were told at the opening ceremony on Saturday. Built on an artificial island 60 meters from the Doha Corniche, the museum houses 800 artistic and historical treasures from three continents.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 24-Nov-2008 01:01

Aiming the lens at 'Iran's darkest corners'
The Iranian photojournalist Kaveh Golestan once described his youth like this:"My childhood was spent among the wheatfields outside Tehran. My father built a solitary house, far away from the nearest neighbor. I was on my own. Life was the blue sky and the sound of crickets. Then came a television set, and with it, the rest of the world."
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 24-Nov-2008 00:46

Exploring the possibilities - mundane to prurient - of a spatial cinema
It is only when you decide to leave a place that you realize how many objects it has left with you. When choosing what to take, and what to leave behind, you recall some of the meaning lying latent within them. Since early November, a corner of UMAM D&R's Hangar appears to have been lent out as storage space for someone who's left town.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 21-Nov-2008 01:06

Khalifes give classic film new lease on life
The music arising from Rami Khalife's piano is by turns sinister and ethereal. Above him, the devilish Mephistopheles, or Mephisto (Emil Jannings), quarrels with one of God's Archangels over the Earth. They make a wager on the soul of the pious scholar Faust (Gosta Ekman), God's favorite earthling.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 20-Nov-2008 01:05

Bahraini prince no longer thrilled with Michael Jackson
The son of an Arab monarch has taken the "King of Pop" to court, charging that Michael Jackson took $7 million as an advance on an album and an autobiography that he never produced. Lawyers for Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Khalifa say their client paid Jackson expenses as an advance on the book and joint recording project with the sheikh.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 19-Nov-2008 01:17

Chamber music in a Damascene setting
When the Dutch classical singer Marcel Beekman visited Syria last week to rehearse and finally stage a classical chamber-music concert with Syrian students, he was greeted with an unexpected problem. Coming from differing cultural and educational backgrounds, Beekman and the Syrian students at first had trouble finding their footing.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 19-Nov-2008 01:02

Bringing the horrors of war home to the United States
Artist Jim Lommasson hates war. His exhibit of 1,500 photographs, taken by soldiers who served in Iraq, brings the war home to the United States, in a way he hopes will help bring it to an end. "It's all about the soldier's lives upon their return home," Lommasson, a soft-spoken man with kind, yet piercing eyes, told
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 18-Nov-2008 01:06

Music returns to streets of Baghdad as both Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists recede
After years on the run from Shiite and Sunni militias and "morality police," Iraqi musicians are slowly returning to the streets of Baghdad, looking to fill the silence left by the fading civil war. "The Mehdi Army and Al-Qaeda only ever agreed on one point - that we are servants of the devil," said Mohammad Rashid.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 17-Nov-2008 01:01

A moving movie love story from the Western edge of Iran
The opening sequence of Mehdi Torfi's documentary "Azadi Cinema" is a monochrome shot of a funeral. The keffiyyehs and thobes of the mourners, the snippets of dialogue and the dirge echoing in the background, suggest the solemnities are taking place somewhere in the Arab world.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 15-Nov-2008 01:17

Often imitated, 'Teorema' offers an Italian critique of universal bourgeois angst
Like so many of Pier Paolo Pasolini's works, the 1968 film "Teorema" ("Theorem") is one of the landmarks of cinema history. Beirut's Cinema Sofil hosted a revival of the work on Wednesday evening, as part of the Italian Cultural Institute's screening cycle "Ladies of the Italian Cinema."
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 14-Nov-2008 01:17

Marrakesh film festival to honor 'timeless female heroines'
This year's Marrakesh international film festival, which opened Thursday, will honor Hollywood stars Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Yeoh, whom organizers described as "timeless female heroines." Weaver made her name in Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic "Alien," while Yeoh is best known outside Asia for her roles in James Bond movie.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 14-Nov-2008 01:02

Afghan emigre picks up France's top literary prize for book about plight of women
France's top annual book prize, the Goncourt, has been awarded to Afghan writer and refugee Atiq Rahimi, best known for his novel "Earth and Ashes," which was adapted for the screen. Composed in a brief, dry, poetic style, the prize-winning "Syngue Sabour," ("Stone of Patience"), focuses on the plight of Afghan women.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 12-Nov-2008 01:18

Jamil Molaeb and the importance of working with nature
"Istiriha" ("rest"), the new exhibition of work by Jamil Molaeb at Gallery Janine Rubeiz, is comprised of 37 paintings of various sizes. The work is a mix of abstract compositions, portraits, and semi-representational pieces working in rural motifs. Oil, pastels and oil pastels, mainly on canvas, are the artist's preferred media.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 11-Nov-2008 01:12

Insights from the official tailor to the theocracy
Ultimately, it comes down to the films. Several exceptional documentaries emerged from Cinema Verite, the Iran International Documentary Film Festival, whose second edition ran in Tehran over October 15-19. By the end of the festival's award ceremony, three or four Iranian titles had emerged as jury favorites - in both the national and international competitions.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 10-Nov-2008 01:08

The transformative experience that is Tehran's Cinema Verite
Spectators at the Cinema Filistin (Palestine Cinema) stand rapt, eyes transfixed upon the screen above them. There is a sudden burst of movement within the frame then, and the crowd, mostly men, bursts into a loud cheer. It is the opening day of Cinema Verite, the Iran International Documentary Film Festival.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 08-Nov-2008 01:13

Projecting documentaries from the frontier between culture and politics
"I strongly believe that cinema is not an art in Iran." Sitting amid the chaos of film festival paraphernalia, Iranian filmmaker Massoud Bakhshi calmly sips a cup of tea. "It's a means of expression, mainly self-expression." Bakhshi is the international director of Cinema Verite, the Iran International Documentary Film Festival.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 06-Nov-2008 01:06

City lost, regained ... or should we even make the effort?
The UN Habitat agency estimates that this year, for the first time in history, more than half the world's population, or 3.3 billion people, will live in cities. Clearly, these migrant masses affect the city in ways not only quantitative but also qualitative. In this changing global context, three renowned architects came together last Thursday.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 05-Nov-2008 01:24

Who says you can't be pious and have fun at the same time?
There are few markers more revealing of our character than what we define as "fun," and where we go to have it. The seminar held last week for the 2008 edition of the American University of Beirut's (AUB) City Debates explored how leisure practices intersect with religious belief, focusing on the Muslim public sphere.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 04-Nov-2008 01:01

'I Want to See' asks audiences to think about what they're not seeing, too
The pivotal scene of "I Want to See," the new feature by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, is a moment of dialogue, most of it exchanged after the frame has been blanched of its image and faded to black. Actor Rabih Mroueh (playing himself) recites to Catherine Deneuve (playing herself) the interior monologue.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 01-Nov-2008 01:12

Creating a workshop space for critical practice, every two years
You've seen them them flopping down the streets of Hamra and Gemmayzhe - tight jeans, messy hair, vintage clothes. Like the high-rise buildings that speckle its skyline, Beirut's artists are a highly visible element, their presence and production often cited as evidence of the city's rebirth.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 31-Oct-2008 01:06

A glimpse of Lebanon's Civil War 'from the very edge'
With a Lebanese setting, a Canadian writer and an Irish production company, "Wedding Day at the Cro-Magnons'" was inevitably going to be a perplexing piece of theater. Staged at Dublin's Smock Alley Theatre Studios from October 15-25, this is the first Irish production of Wajdi Mouawad's work.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 30-Oct-2008 01:07

Hadid's work helps New York celebrate Chanel's
The iconic quilted leather Chanel "2.55" handbag with its golden chain is being honored by a new exhibition in New York's Central Park, housed in a snow-white spaceship-like mobile art gallery designed by Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid. The exhibition, which opened last week, doesn't exactly show a collection of handbags, though.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 29-Oct-2008 01:02

'Memories fade, but images stay ... as a reminder of bleak moments'
"I never considered myself a legend." Catherine Deneuve brushes aside the premise of the journalist's question with a casual tap of her cigarette. "My [filmmaking] choices have always been based on my convictions and view of things and I tend to opt for topics that are either hidden, or not discussed before.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 29-Oct-2008 00:47

Cleopatra set for $30 million return to big screen
The grandeur and glamor of Cleopatra are coming back to the silver screen as a three-dimensional rock musical, Hollywood media say. US director Steven Soderbergh is wooing British beauty Catherine Zeta-Jones to play the Egyptian queen and Australian star Hugh Jackman as her lover, Marc Antony, according to Variety.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 28-Oct-2008 01:08

Israeli official faces charges for stealing dozens of paintings
Israel is no stranger to political scandal. But rarely does the suspected wrongdoing involve an art heist. The deputy mayor of an Israeli town has been charged with stealing nearly two dozen paintings worth millions of dollars, including some by greats like Manet, Cezanne, Delacroix, El Greco and Tintoretto.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 28-Oct-2008 00:53

A bird's-eye view of the Earth's natural splendor
Traveling the world with his camera, French photographer and activist Yann Arthus-Bertrand visited Syria last week as part of his "Earth From Above" project, taking aerial landscape shots to show the beauty of nature and its ever-accelerating destruction. The 62-year-old visited Syria from October 19-21 for three days.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 28-Oct-2008 00:38

Two films that double as cutting commentary
Though the individual tends to be at the heart of cinema, it's not unusual for film - even auteur film - to turn its cameras on society. A number of Arab filmmakers have released work this year that might be considered aestheticized social commentary. Two particularly accomplished films stand out - "Aquarium," the latest work by.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 27-Oct-2008 01:16

Jordanian poet accused of 'atheism and blasphemy'
A Jordanian writer was charged this week with insulting Islam after incorporating verses of the Koran into a book of love poetry, "Grace like a Shadow," that he printed in June without government approval, his lawyer said. "The prosecutor general of a magistrate's court in Amman charged Islam Samhan with insulting Islam.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 25-Oct-2008 01:14

A less than unflinching look at one Arab country's darkest decades
"My past is here forever," says Hassan. "It won't be taken from me." Hassan pauses and, in the background, his television can be heard broadcasting the report of a commission assigned to investigate reports of state-sanctioned disappearances and illegal detentions. The camera frames his two young nieces as they listen to him, stone-faced.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 25-Oct-2008 00:59

Politics takes backseat as Palestinian footballers gear up for first real home game
When thousands of Palestinians gather in one place, it is usually for a demonstration against Israel's occupation and its treatment of the indigenous population. But on Sunday they'll be turning out to watch their national football team play their first ever home game ... at home.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 25-Oct-2008 00:44

Polish actor expects Palestinian refugees to be tough audience for play about war
As of Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m., Jarek Siejkowski, 39, an actor with the eight-person Polish theater group Teatr Biuro Podrozy, was afraid. Not because the set of the play he was due to perform on in seven and a half hours was still lying in bits and pieces around him, thanks to power cuts throughout the week that slowed construction.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 24-Oct-2008 01:24

Between tradition and modernity
As Frieze, London's mammoth annual contemporary art fair, opened this month in London, another, perhaps more ground-breaking show opened discreetly just a few tube stops away. "Edge of Arabia: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia" is a rare chance to see just how vibrant the art scene has become, in all four corners of the desert kingdom.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 23-Oct-2008 01:23

Finding an aesthetic of exclusion in the refuse of a discarded Palestine
The repetitive clacking emitted by the borrowed projector was at times louder than the volume of the film it was projecting, and the sugar-infused youngsters darting about proved challenging distractions to the audience. Nevertheless, "The Salt of This Sea," Annemarie Jacir's feature film debut, premiered in glorious 35-mm.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 22-Oct-2008 01:24

Art imitates life as Masrah al-Madina hosts play about Lebanese emigration
Moved by the emigration of her two sons, theater director Nidal al-Ashkar decided to highlight on stage the plight of thousands of youths heading abroad to escape Lebanon's political upheavals. Ashkar, a well-known figure in the Arab world, roped in popular movie and theater actress Nada Abu Farhat and a bunch of energetic amateurs.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 21-Oct-2008 01:10

Turkey's 'national bitch' talks about perils faced by female authors
"Of course Turkish women are stronger than men," says Perihan Magden with a laugh. Like her, many Turkish women writers provoke the wrath of officials with uncompromising works. "I'm the national bitch anyway in Turkey. I think they just want me to shut up," she told at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 20-Oct-2008 01:15

Weaving together the diverse narratives of Palestinians in exile
How many Palestinian engineers does it take to make a nine-hour documentary about Palestinian refugees? Two, plus one American-born Jewish activist, should just about do it. "Chronicles of a Refugee" is a six-part documentary series by engineer-turned-activist Perla Issa, Adam Shapiro, co-founder of the pro-Palestinian organization.
Source : dailystar.com.lb | 20-Oct-2008 01:00