"Iran plans to release first feature film about the life of the Late Imam Khomeini, who led the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
"The film, Farzand-e Sobh (The Morning's Child) will be released in Iran in February during the official celebrations for the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
"The movie, one of the most impressive film projects in Iran, is directed by veteran Iranian director Behrouz Afkhami. [...]
"The film focuses on Khomeini's childhood in his parents' home in the central city of Khomein, with a few glimpses of him returning from seminary studies in Arak.
"It also covers Khomeini's sermons railing against the rule of the Shah ( Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) in the 1960s, which led to his arrest by the notorious SAVAK secret police and his subsequent exile from Iran. [...]"
"Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal inaugurated in Obhur yesterday the 29th Jeddah summer festival, entitled Jeddah Ghair (Jeddah Is Different), which is to run for 45 days and include 250 social, entertainment, sports, cultural and shopping activities.
"Over three million people from within Saudi Arabia and abroad are expected to visit Jeddah during the festival. [...]"
"Fine art photography in Yemen still lags behind other art forms such as painting and music.
"Portraiture and studio photography are the most common forms of photography in Yemen. This type of commercial photography usually involves taking posed pictures of people in a studio or commemorative photos at weddings, graduations and other ceremonies.
"Only a handful of fine art and commercial photographers can be found in Yemen, a nation with a population of more than 20 million. [...]"
"Tourists, unaware of local sensitivities, are creating a scene at public beaches with increasing displays of nudity.
"Residents have been complaining about female beach-goers going topless on the shores of Jumeirah Beach Park.
"Some who visit the beach on women-only day (Mondays) said they were upset by the indecent show on the beach, saying such behaviour is driving others away. [...]"
Princess Reem Al-Faisal (born in New York 1968) is a grand-daughter of the Saudi King Faisal. She is a photographer and has shown in the Middle East, France, Egypt, China and Korea.
"Not too long ago, the greatest Arab thinkers and artists came from and resided in the Levant and North Africa. To Arabs today some names are instantly recognisable, such as Gibran Khalil Gibran, May Ziadé, Taha Hussein, Amin al Rihani, Mohammed Mahdi al Jawahri, Nizar Qabbani, Rose al Youssef, et al.
"These were the shining lights of Arab intellectualism. They inspired music and movies, books and broadsheets, poems and paintings, and countless sleepless nights of passion. Today, the Arab world is witnessing a migration of Arab creative minds from these very countries to the relative calm and tranquillity of the Arabian peninsula. The warm Gulf waters and the peaceful desert nations are now attracting more than just tourists and American troops.
"The Mediterranean Arabs are assisting their brethren in the Gulf in forging their very own renaissance. Most Egyptian and Syrian television series are financed by Gulf money, and many of them are now filmed here. Following in the footsteps of the all-national Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra that started in 1985, Doha introduced its 80-member strong Qatar Symphony Orchestra to the world, and although it is being led by the Iraqi Dr Salem Abdul Kareem, [...]
"This year alone witnesses the opening of two Islamic museums, one in Doha and the other in Sharjah. Incidentally, it was the relatively poor emirate of Sharjah that Unesco chose to honour as the very first Arab Cultural Capital in 1998, before Cairo, Beirut or Damascus, the traditional citadels of Arab intellectualism.
"Dubai, the city of merchants, has launched several cultural initiatives including the redevelopment of its historic old Creek, with the promise of an opera house, the Prophet Mohammed Museum [...]
"Abu Dhabi, by far the most ambitious of all the Gulf states, has already hosted such world class exhibitions as the priceless David Khalili collection of Islamic art as well as a Pablo Picasso exhibition that would feel as at home in the Tate Modern as it does in Gallery One of the Emirates Palace. These are small steps that will lead to realising the grand vision of hosting a Louvre, a Guggenheim and several other museums and cultural centres on Saadiyat Island.
"The Gulf cultural festivals are slowly becoming fixtures in international events calendars; both Dubai and Abu Dhabi host world class film and jazz festivals, for example. Doha and Bahrain host world class cultural celebrations. Even Kuwait, which has as yet neglected to restore the National Museum that was looted during the 1990 invasion, boasts a Museum of Modern Art as well as several private collections that are open to the public.
"The mecca of Arab culture is indeed slowly shifting south-east away from the Mediterranean basin. [...]"
"Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader, has filed a lawsuit against the government to counter allegations that he sexually assaulted one of his male aides.
"Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, filed the defamation suit in Kuala Lumpur through his lawyers on Monday.
"The legal action is to clear Anwar's name amid a scandal that could tarnish his political aspirations of becoming prime minister [...] On Saturday a 23-year-old male aide filed a police complaint accusing Anwar of sodomising him.
"Anwar, rejecting the sodomy accusation as "a complete fabrication", had taken refuge in the Turkish embassy in Kuala Lumpur, claiming his safety was in danger and accusing the government of trying to thwart his rising political clout.
"He left the embassy on Monday after insisting the government must guarantee his safety. [...]
"Sodomy is outlawed in Malaysia and carries a maximum 20 years jail sentence. [...]"
"The hit Turkish soap 'Nour' which is being aired on MBC has sparked a rash of divorces in countries across the Middle East as women compare their real-life husbands to the TV heart throb, according to press reports.
"The trouble centers around the lead male character called Muhannad – played by Turkish actor Kivanç Tatlitug – whose good looks and charms have left many Arab women weak at the knees.
"Fed up with his wife's obsession with Muhannad and constant complaints that he should be as romantic as the TV hunk, a Saudi husband from Dammam divorced his wife and threw her out of the marital home, Saudi newspaper Al-Yawm reported.
"A Jordanian daily said a husband divorced his wife after she uploaded Muhannad’s picture on her cell phone.
"And a Syrian website reported that there were four divorces in Aleppo because of the steamy soap.
"In one case, a husband divorced his wife after they had a heated argument about the actor while watching the series, which MBC has dubbed into Arabic to suit Middle Eastern audiences.
"According to a neighbor, the wife reportedly told her husband: 'I want to sleep with Muhannad for only one night and die afterwards.'
"In another case, a husband divorced his wife after she hung a picture of Muhannad – the character Mehmet in the original Turkish version – on their bedroom wall.
Nour, which airs on MBC, the parent company of Al Arabiya, is about a woman who is married to Muhannad after he loses his true love in a tragic accident.
Muhannad is then forced to marry Nour by his family. The series traces the hardships Nour must go through to win her husband’s heart and to prove herself on a professional level. [...]"
Source: Alarabiya.net (Dubai-based, Saudi-owned), June 29, 2008
Writer, director and producer, born in Morocco (Settat) on April 12th, 1950, Hassan Benjelloun’s first feature film “The Others’ Feast” was released in 1990.
Then, followed in 1994 “Yarit”, “Yesterday’s Friends” in 1997, “The lips of silence” in 2000 and “Judgement of Women” in 2001. This film, which discussed the situation of women in Morocco, has been honoured in many international festivals. In 2004, “The Dark Room”, that presents the difficult years of Morocco in the ‘70s, received the top prize at the African Festival of Khouribga and the Silver Yennenga prize of the Fespaco Festival.
Hassan’s latest film “Where are you going Moshé?” presents the Jewish exodus from Morocco towards Israel in the ‘60s.
In the early 1960s, after Morocco’s independence from France, many of the country’s Jews clandestinely left for Israel. In Finemachiyamoshe (Where Are You Going Moshe?, known also as Al-Hana, the Bar), the Jews of the little town of Bejjad plot their departure with the help of their rabbi. One thing, however, worries them: Will Berbeq’ha, the idiot who thinks he’s a general, leave too? Once he learns of the Jews’ plans, Mustapha, the bar-owner, panics; if all the non-Muslims leave, the Law will make him close the bar. How will he avoid such a disaster? He’ll have to hold back one Jew. That’s Hassan’s idea, Mustapha’s son and lover of Rachel.
"Trying to catch a cab in Dubai? Make sure you are well dressed and 'white' otherwise it's possible the cabbie will ignore you and leave you stranded [...]
"Cabbies in the booming UAE emirate of Dubai admit they use racial profiling to decide whether or not to pick up a passenger, to avoid heavily congested roads which hinder their efforts to meet their quota, UAE paper XPRESS reported.
"'All Africans want to go to Al Nasr Square. But there, we get stuck in traffic…(and) we work on a commission basis," the paper quoted a Pakistani cabbie as saying.
"Westerners or 'white people' are preferred passengers as they usually go to the upscale part of town, meaning less or no traffic, and 'they don’t like traffic and give tips,' the cabbie added.
"The paper said Indians, Bangadeshis, Sri Lankans and Pakistanis were also considered undesirable because they usually head to old Dubai, meaning bumper-to-bumper traffic.
"Arabs and Eastern Europeans are classified as "risky" because many of them go to Sharjah—a neighboring residential emirate—which, during rush-hour, means hours of traffic. [...]"
Source: Alarabiya.net (Dubai-based, Saudi-owned), June 27, 2008
Gnawa Festival between June 26 and 29, Essaouira, Morocco
"The Gnawa of Morocco, whose origins are bound up with the poignant story of black African slavery of the distant past, is one such musical experience. The story of this slavery goes back, way back — perhaps to the 10th century or even before — it antedates the better known slave trade to the Americas.
"The saga of this slavery involved the capture and forced transportation of black African peoples from sub-Saharan and West African Regions to serve at the will and pleasure of the Sultans and Pashas of Maghreb or present day North Africa. To either become servants or to become Guards or at times just to labour in the villas and palaces of their captors. During the time of the Berber rulers of the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties in Moorish Spain, Black African Regiments took part in victorious battles displaying great bravery and valour. They played a pivotal role in the rout of Alfonso VI of Castile in 1086.
"And just as the destinies of the captors and captives coalesced to charter a new course into history, the uprooted people caught between the tensions of trying to preserve their ancestral memory and coming to terms with their imposed surroundings while reinventing a new identity, created this unique music. Thus it combines African animism and Sufi Islamic elements to produce this singular blend of rhythm and swing. The Gnawa music is considered to be spiritual. Its practitioners believe that it can heal, soothe and keep the evils spirits away.
"The displaced Black Africans were from regions that are modern day Senegal, Niger, Chad and Mali — although they integrated into the Islamic cultural and religious mosaic of North Africa and Andalusian Spain; they retained their spiritual distinctiveness by keeping alive their own mystical traditions enshrined in the Gnawa. [...]"
"Albert Cossery, an Egyptian writer who, in his adopted Paris, wrote with humour about the life of common people in his native Cairo, died Sunday in Paris at the age of 94 [...]
"Cossery, whose eight books were translated into 15-odd languages, passed away in the modest streetcorner hotel that was his home for more than 60 years on the Left Bank, the literary heart of the French capital. [...]
"His books -- which blended humour, sarcasm and Oriental wisdom -- included 'Proud Beggars,' 'A Room In Cairo,' 'Men God Forgot,' and his last novel, 'The Colours of Infamy,' published in French in 1999 and made into a comic book.
"Fans nicknamed him 'the Voltaire of the Nile' and his stories were peopled with humble folk and misfits -- streetsweepers, thieves, prostitutes -- who mocked authority.
"'He writes in a French that belongs entirely to him about a Cairo that exists in his memory and imagination -- he left Egypt decades ago,' said scholar and translator Alyson Waters in New York magazine, which last year named 'Infamy' one of the world's best novels not yet published in English.
"Born on November 3, 1913, the son of a newspaper-reading Cairo landlord father and an illiterate "mother, Cossery's early writings first appeared in French-language periodicals in Egypt in the 1930s. His childhood was spent at a time when French was the lingua franca of the middle classes in Cairo.
"He went to sea with the Egyptian merchant marine during World War II, then turned up in Paris in the late 1940s to write and live alongside a galaxy of literary friends that included Lawrence Durrell, Jean Genet and Albert Camus. 'I love this language,' he once said of French, although he added that he 'thought in Arabic'. [...]"
"A lack of good quality children's books in Arabic means that parents are reading to their children from English books, said a publisher.
"Isobel Abul Houl, publisher for Jeroboam books that publishes children's books in both English and Arabic, said: 'There's a lack of good children's books in terms of illustration, quality and imagination, so the majority of children's books in Arabic are often translated or they're poor quality.'
"Isobel felt that there's 'a belief that books should be cheap but parents will happily pay Dh42 for a children's book in English, but won't pay this for the Arabic equivalent, because it's perceived as too expensive. Why should it cost less money because it's in Arabic?'
"Isobel is also the Director of the first Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature, which will take place in Dubai from February 25 to March 1, 2009, and director of regional book store Magrudy's.
"She said: 'There's not a lack of Arabic writers, but I think that authors and writing are not valued in Arabic. It's not that there are no good writers in Arabic, it's just that there's no industry and no one's going to buy the book if it's written in the language.' [...]"
"Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has revealed that during his childhood he was never good at studies, so his mother was always worried about his future.
"In a TV documentary A dinner with the President aired by Geo News, Musharraf talked about wide ranging issues, from his childhood days, politics and the prevailing law and order situation in the country.
"His mother was shown as saying that her son was very patriotic, and that he had had leadership qualities since childhood, reported the Daily Times. [...]"
Source: Asian News International, Thaindia News (Indian Commuity in Thailand), June 23, 2008
"Geo Television has said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is behind a move by the United Arab Emirates government to stop its transmission.
"Geo TV said it had received 'communications' from the Dubai administration asking it to stop two popular current affairs talk shows or else close down. The Pakistani channel is headquartered in Dubai and has had a troubled relationship with the government there since the 2007 Emergency in Pakistan.
"Dubai’s authorities pulled the plug on the channel in November 2007, allowing it back soon after severe international condemnation, though the channel remained banned in Pakistan until January 2008.
"The two talk shows that the Dubai authorities want off air, Capital Talk and Merey Mutabiq (According to Me) came back on Geo only in March, after the elections.
"The channel, owned by the Jang media group, said it had been told the programmes, which have come out openly in support of the restoration of the judges sacked by the retired General Pervez Musharraf, were damaging relations between Dubai and Pakistan. [...]"
"Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled, the Minister of Interior [of Kuwait], said that the decision to grant visit visas to residents in GCC countries would not make Kuwait easily accessible to prostitutes. Kuwait will remain a clean country, reported Al-Rai. He also emphasized that visas would be limited to people 'holding high profile jobs and visiting Kuwait for business,' he said.
" 'Women will not be allowed to enter Kuwait unless accompanied by their husbands or arriving for official business with a major company,' he reassured. [...]"
"With the aim of generating a sense of social responsibility among young Saudi adults, the Summer of Luthan camp for girls has been established at Luthan, the first women-only hotel in Riyadh.
"The three-week camp, which begins on July 5, is a new concept in summer camps. Among its many programs include visits to workplaces where women are taking the lead. It will also present workshops to enhance the girls’ knowledge of many aspects of life and to build their self-esteem and confidence. [...]"
"Egypt's Youssef Chahine, Arab cinema's most celebrated director, was to fly to Paris on an emergency flight on Monday after falling into a coma following a brain haemorrhage. [...]
"Chahine won official plaudits for his pioneering role in Egypt's film industry and was awarded the Cannes film festival's 50th anniversary lifetime achievement award in 1997. But he has never shied away from controversy during his long career, criticizing US foreign policy as well as Egypt and the Arab world.
"Chahine made his first film in Egypt in 1950 and it was there that he also discovered and launched the career of Omar Sharif, who shot to stardom with 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Doctor Zhivago.'
"He claimed Cairo stopped subsidizing his movies after his 1973 cult movie Al-Asfur (The Bird) which attributed the Arab defeat in the 1967 war against Israel to the corruption of the political classes at the time.
"He also made three highly acclaimed films in the late 1990s -- Al-Muhajer (The Emigrant), Al-Masir (Destiny) and Al-Akhar (The Other) -- which focused on tolerance and the distinction between Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism.
"Despite his often abrasive tone, Egyptian authorities -- officially at least -- hailed Chahine's contribution to the nation's cinema and his "daring" representation of its society.
"His last film, 'Chaos,' was typical of the man who sought to uphold the rights of the oppressed, depicting a popular uprising in a Cairo district against a corrupt police officer and his abusive subordinates.
"Born in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on January 25, 1926, Chahine received a French schooling and studied briefly at university there before moving to the United States to study theatre. [...]"
"Crime fiction aficionados have been waiting for the release of 'The Final Bet,' the first Arabic detective novel published in English. 'The Final Bet' is the dark tale of a handsome young Moroccan lawyer, Othman, accused of killing his much older French wife. The author, Abdelilah Hamdouchi, is a Moroccan crime novelist and an award-winning screenwriter for television and cinema. All of his eight police novels including 'The Final Bet' have been produced for Moroccan television.
"Crime fiction is not popular in the Arab world. In fact, some Arab writers take a dim view of detective stories and do not consider the genre a noble one. The Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour (who is married to Mourid Barghouti) admits she was humiliated when she was asked why she did not write crime novels with a wide readership. She believes that she does not have to be read at any cost and so bow to market conditions.
"However, a growing number of Arab writers are turning to the West, looking for both, recognition and a wider readership which eludes them at home. As they face the prospect of being known abroad, Arab writers have to deal with the problem of finding a good translator. The global success of 'The Yacoubian Building' was widely due to Humphrey Davies superb translation. Arab writers who want to be read abroad are also reminded by western publishers that global trends influence readers’ tastes. Moreover, few publishers are ready to take the risk of releasing a book which will not sell because of its unappealing content.
"Jonathan Smolin provides us with a useful translator’s after word in which we are told that the first modern Arabic police novel originated in Morocco during the mid-1990s. 'This new form of writing directly engages hard-hitting issues such as crime, human rights and state authority, providing a powerful medium for social critique. In 'The Final Bet,' originally published in 2001, Abdelilah Hamdouchi continues this literary experiment by engaging the themes of police reform and legal rights by means of the fictional story of Othman, a young Moroccan accused of murdering Sofia, his much older wife,' Smolin explains.
"The title of the novel is partially explained in the final pages of the novel when Alwaar, the police detective, challenges Othman’s lawyer, Hulumi to a bet. He asks him to find the element in his report which proves Othman’s innocence: 'Sofia wasn’t trying to pull the picture toward her,' said Alwaar with determination, staring at Hulumi. 'She was pointing to her son as the killer.' Hulumi let out a ringing laugh. 'You wouldn’t have noticed that, Alwaar, if Othman was convicted,' said Hulumi. 'You’re interested in it only because he was proven innocent. Sorry, you lost the bet!' In an interview to the Moroccan daily 'Al Sabah,' Hamdouchi explained that 'The Final Bet' is 'the bet that Morocco now faces, a bet on democracy, human rights, and establishing a state of law.' [...]"
he took her master degree in Acting & Directing and graduated in 1999.
Since her very first play at University, Carole has been chosen for the leading female role in most important musicals in Lebanon as well as T.V. series.
"Chameleon" is the word most artists and directors who worked with Carole use to describe her.
Carole is currently essentially focusing on her singing career.
Munirah Al-Mulhim is in the 9th grade at Dammam's Al-Bassam Schools in Saudi Arabia. He first book, Owraq Wardiyah (Pink Petals), has just been published by her school.
How Poor their Minds Are
By Munirah Al-Mulhim
Translated from Arabic by Mohammed Fareed Shinwari
I beg here and there,
I sleep on the sidewalk.
Everyone looks at me with disgust.
Most of them in their air conditiones cars are mocking me:
"Oh son of the streets clean my car!"
How poor their minds are,
They think I am beneath them.
But if they knew that when I am in the streets,
The earth becomes my bed,
And the sky with its stars becomes my cover.
Then, when I look at their palaces I remember my grand bed.
It makes them insignificant.
Because they are not grander than the sky and the earth.
"Yemeni journalist Mohamad al-Mokaleh has been in prison for two months for... laughing in court during the trial of another journalist.
"State prosecutors have accused Mohamad al-Mokaleh of "attacking and defaming the judicial system" for his outburst of laughter last April during the trial of fellow dissident journalist Abed al-Karim al-Khiwami. [...]"
Source: Menassat, Yemen Times (Yemen), July 12, 2008
"Across the Kingdom, solemn looking and shabbily dressed Afghan children often sell gum to diners and shoppers leaving restaurants and supermarkets. While many people harbor ill thoughts about the parents who send their children to work on the streets, very few understand the poverty that forces these parents to do so.
"Afghanistan has seen conflict for decades, leading to thousands of Afghan refugees coming to Saudi Arabia. Although many Afghans here are legal, others reside illegally. [...]
"Mariam Muhammad, an Afghan woman, had come to live in Makkah with the help of smugglers two years ago. She traveled from her native Afghanistan via Pakistan and Yemen to join her husband who had come here four years before her.
'' 'My husband pays SR5,000 [more or less 1,335 dollars] a year to rent a squalid two-room flat, which we share with his first wife, his parents, two sisters and all of our children. There are a total of 22 people living here,' she said.
"Mariam said Afghans generally have large families and that her husband’s children — from her and his first wife — range between four months and 28 years. [...]
" 'The women make handmade products at home, such as woolen gloves, socks, men’s trousers, caps, scarves and veils. We also make prayer beads, bracelets and necklaces, and snacks such as mantu, farmoza, sambosak and cakes,” she said.
"Afghans generally depend on their kids to sell the items they make. [...]"
