Art & Culture
Art & Culture
Milwaukee Film Festival explores Arab community fears, hopes and culture
November 20th, 20180 MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — The 10th annual Milwaukee Film Festival hosted a range of motion pictures that celebrated the diversity of the Arab and Muslim communities from October 18 to November 1. Films were selected across a range of topics and groups, ranging from Palestinians to Somali Americans and old-age traditions to new-age...
‘FBI’ star Zeeko Zaki on the importance of playing an Arab American protagonist
October 16th, 20180 Reflecting that his résumé leans "toward the terrorist side of things", Egyptian American actor Zeeko Zaki couldn’t be happier with his role as FBI special agent Omar Adom "OA" Zidan on Dick Wolf’s latest crime drama FBI. Seeing someone like himself — Arab American and Muslim — as "a protagonist in law enforcement is definitely...
Looking for Oum Kulthum: An Iranian take on the Arab experience
October 16th, 20180 Shirin Neshat’s “Looking for Oum Kulthum” tells of an Iranian artist’s effort at making a film on the life and career of the late Egyptian legendary singer. Though the project was made with pure intentions, it has been met with distaste and skepticism from the Arab world. A main criticism of the film is Neshat’s role as...
WCCCD celebrates diversity with performance by Syrian opera singer
October 15th, 20181 TAYLOR - Lubana Al Quntar, a Syrian classical Arabic and western opera singer, will perform “A Celebration of Arabic Classical and Folk Music” at Wayne County Community College District’s Heinz C. Prechter Educational and Performing Arts Center on Sunday Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. Al Quntar studied Western opera and became the first...
Artists denied visas to attend Arab Film Festival in Minneapolis
September 29th, 20180 MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. denied visas to two artists planning to attend the Arab Film Festival, while a third encountered a delay which kept her from getting her visa in time to travel. According to a report by City Pages, a fourth still waits to get back his passport after receiving his visa. The festival has never faces visa denials...
YallaPunk: A response to racism
September 24th, 20180 By Marrim Akashi PHILADELPHIA — Rana Fayez’s inaugural YallaPunk festival hit Philadelphia this past month and it has been revolutionary, to say the least. Self-described as “A direct response to negative depictions of populations of Middle Eastern and North African descent in mainstream media”, this is not another effort...
Contemporary Arab Cinema series premiers at Jacob Burns Film Center
September 10th, 20180 PLEASANTVILLE, NY — The Jacob Burns Film Center is premiering its Contemporary Arab Cinema series, in partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Sept. 20-27. This year’s selections reflect the diversity of the multifaceted situations and feelings Arab directors have within their cultural and political environments,...
Documentary: How ‘Brooklyn, Inshallah’ excited Arab voters
September 8th, 20180 BROOKLYN, NY — Ahmed Mansour’s film “Brooklyn, Inshallah” documents Khader El-Yateem’s 2017 campaign for New York City Council. Not only did El-Yateem’s position as a Lutheran pastor make him distinguishable from other candidates, his identity as a Palestinian American immigrant did so as well. From that, he was even...
Arab festivals are popular everywhere, when will Dearborn’s return?
September 8th, 20183 DEARBORN – Between 1995 and 2012, thousands flocked to the capital of Arab America for a taste of their homeland’s culture, where nostalgia for music and food alike would meet their match at the Arab International Festival. It was a kind of celebration one could only experience in a city in which nearly half its residents are of...
Arab American Portland Festival aims to shatter stereotypes, promotes culture
September 7th, 20180 PORTLAND, Oregon — From Algeria to Yemen to Portland, Oregon, it takes a big, big tent at the festival to welcome everyone who's a part of the Arabic culture. Expats, immigrants and tabbouleh lovers from all over gathered for the Arab Mahrajan Festival on Saturday, Sept. 1 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Oaks Amusement Park in Southeast...
‘Kite Runner’ author pens tribute to refugees who die fleeing war
September 5th, 20180 LONDON — “Kite Runner” author Khaled Hosseini urged world leaders to “act with compassion” towards refugees as he launched his new book inspired by a Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Greece. Hosseini said on Wednesday there was a “deeply concerning” shift in attitudes in Europe - where several...
Lana Del Ray cancels Israel festival appearance
September 5th, 20180 Pop singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey has canceled her September 7 appearance at Israel’s Meteor Festival. Del Rey (real name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant) had pulled out of an earlier engagement in 2014. According to Variety Magazine, the entertainment trade paper, “the organizers are said to be livid”, especially since Grant...
The Arab supergirl fighting crime and smashing stereotypes
August 31st, 20180 By Heidi Pullyard A new vigilante supergirl is defying the genre. Emara doesn't wear spandex, skintight leather or masks — instead, she dons a hijab. The first homegrown female Emirati superhero, Emara is gaining attention around the world. By day, she's a typical teenage girl named Moza. By night, her fearless alter...
Yemen’s ancient architecture threatened by war
August 18th, 20180 SANAA — Yemen’s three-year war has taken a heavy toll on Sanaa’s historic Old City, a dense warren of mosques, bath houses and 6,000 mud brick houses, which date from before the 11th century. Part of the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been razed by bombing. Now only rubble and straggly palm trees remain, where...
Fewer Arab films and filmmakers at Traverse City Film Festival, but still impactful
August 3rd, 20180 TRAVERSE CITY – The Traverse City Film Festival, which runs through Aug. 5, will screen more than 100 new and classic films for movie-goers. Five of them will feature Arab filmmakers or stories featuring Arabs. Last year the festival had a “Travel ban sidebar” that featured seven films from countries affected by President......
Arab American stars in new CBS prime-time series
July 28th, 20180 NEW YORK— An Arab American immigrant will play a leading role in the upcoming CBS series “FBI”, created by Dick Wolf — best known for the “Law and Order” franchise. Zeeko Zaki, who plays Agent Omar Adom Zidan in the show, emigrated from Egypt at just 1 month old in 1990. He grew up primarily outside of Philadelphia in...
Hamtramck Historical Museum unveils new mural celebrating city’s diversity
July 21st, 20180 HAMTRAMCK — On Thursday, July 19, the Hamtramck Historical Museum held an official dedication of the “Coming to Hamtramck” mural installed inside the museum’s main gallery walls. The 150-foot-long by 6-foot-high mural was made possible by a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council amounting to $15,000. Since Hamtramck's...
Arab American doctor who uncovered Flint Water Crisis writes memoir
July 6th, 20180 FLINT — Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, known as the primary whistleblower in the Flint water crisis, documented her personal experience of seeking proof of lead poisoning in Flint’s children in her book “What the Eyes Don’t See.” The book not only describes her struggle bringing the Flint Water Crisis to the public, but includes...
Nine Arab rappers feature in Anghami’s first-ever hip-hop cypher
June 23rd, 20180 BEIRUT — In collaboration with nine renowned international Arab rappers and artists, Anghami — the region's premier music streaming platform — launched its first-ever English/Arabic hip-hop cypher on Wednesday. Directed by the platform's hip-hop editor, Hassane Dennaoui — aka Big Hass — the "Anghami Exclusive"......
Egypt hopeful on Salah as fans remain in suspense
June 14th, 20180 CAIRO/YEKATERINBURG ― Egypt coach Hector Cuper said Mohamed Salah had a “great chance” of playing against Uruguay but no decision would be taken until Thursday’s training session as the Pharoahs flew into Yekaterinburg for the start of their World Cup campaign. “I am optimistic that he will be with us, I think he has a great...
Trump calls De Niro ‘very low IQ individual’ for Tony Awards outburst
June 12th, 20180 LOS ANGELES - President Trump on Tuesday hit back at Robert De Niro, calling him a “very low IQ individual,” after the Oscar-winning actor’s expletive-laden attack on the American president on live television. Two days after De Niro’s outburst on the stage of the Tony Awards ceremony in New York, Trump said he had watched the......
Mona Mansour brings fallible Arab American characters to stage
June 8th, 20180 By Hanan Daqqa Fairfax County Times "You never know where something takes you as a writer… you think you want to write about one thing and it leads you to another path." These are the words of Mona Mansour, a Lebanese American playwright who set out to write a play about her father's choice not to go back to...
Survey: 80 percent of American Muslims observe Ramadan by fasting
June 2nd, 20180 The Pew Research Center has found that 80 percent of U.S. Muslims say they observe Ramadan by fasting during daylight hours. More of the U.S.’s 2.15 million Muslim adults say they do this than say that they pray five times a day (42 percent) or attend mosque weekly (43 percent). More Muslim women say they observe Ramadan in this way......
