Arab Women Bring Spring to the Screen
Women have been at the forefront of each uprising in the Arab world. Last week, the ‘8 Arab Women Filmmakers' festival offered a platform to Arab women directors to give their perspectives on the...
View ArticleAcid Survivors Fight Back: A Story of Hope Amidst Despair
When the Oscar-nominated film "Saving Face" won an Academy Award in Hollywood for Best Documentary (Short Subject), it was the triumph of several "firsts": the first time ever that a Pakistani...
View ArticlePorn in the Land of the Pure
Dark and smoky, the cinema hall reeks of hashish. An overly made-up woman on screen in provocatively figure-hugging clothes dances suggestively to the beat of loud music. The audience, all men, cheer...
View ArticleSaving Face for Pakistan
By winning an Oscar at this year's Academy awards, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has brought home the genius of Pakistan's women as well as the extreme violence they often suffer in a male-dominated...
View ArticleTaliban Face the Music in Pakistan
Not so long ago, Gul Pana's pursuit of a career as a professional singer in Khyber Pakthunkhwa (KP) province would have invited certain death at the hands of the Taliban.
View ArticleChina Puts Middle East Differences on Ice
In a first in years, snow blessed the Holy City last month. For a moment, hail metamorphosed into a paltry three-millimetre layer of white, liquid, light. Children and parents and snowmen relished the...
View ArticleAfter the Murder, a New Act at Freedom Theatre
Actors, musicians, activists and friends gathered in various locations throughout Israel and the West Bank this week to commemorate the life of actor and theatre director Juliano Mer-Khamis.
View ArticleIsrael-Iran Matters Get Worse in Verse
A lyrical attack by Germany's acclaimed novelist and essayist Günter Grass in which he labelled Israel's alleged atomic arsenal and looming pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear installations a threat...
View ArticlePakistani Jazz Touches New Chords
The silencing of music in the name of Islam led Pappu to give up the cello and set up a tea stall. But Pappu and other musicians survived the Islamist regime for former dictator Zia ul-Haq and the...
View ArticleChinese Dissidents Silenced for London Book Fair
A dissident Chinese author has expressed dismay at the lack of independent and exiled authors represented at this year's London Book Fair (LBF), where China is guest of honour. An ensuing public spat,...
View ArticleParamilitary Killings in Bangladesh Dragged into the Light
What is a journalist to do when simply providing information is not enough to bring about the desired change? Why, turn to art, of course.
View ArticleBOOKS: Controversy and Deadly Destruction Arising from Drone Use
Grasshoppers and other insects might become the next generation of drones, if researchers with the Israeli research centre Technion who are studying the movements of these insects succeed. Ultimately,...
View ArticleBreaking the Silence on Racism in Cuba
Gloria Rolando has been revealing hidden chapters of Cuban history since the 2010 premiere of the first part of her documentary series "1912: Breaking the Silence," about the virtually unknown story...
View ArticleMuslim Extremists Go Gaga in Indonesia
A sell-out concert by controversial U.S. pop star Lady Gaga scheduled for June 3 in the Indonesian capital was called off by the concert promoters on the weekend citing security concerns. This has...
View ArticleDesert Opera Finds New Meanings
The imposing stronghold is almost transparent, barely noticeable, in the pitch- black desert. On top of the stands, with a thousand kilowatts at his finger's tip, Avi Yona Bueno turns the night into...
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