This is Beirut

Saeed Roustaee at Cannes: Filming for Iran, Despite the Cost

This is Beirut, 23/05 13:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Cannes Film Festival Iran Cannes2025 France Culture Art

“It’s very important to me that my films are seen by people in my country,” said Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustaee in an interview with AFP. Three years after Leila’s Brothers, Roustaee is back in competition at Cannes with a film that received official shooting permits. After his previous visit to the Croisette in 2022, the 35-year-old ...

"Humans": The Poetry of Knowledge at Le Monnot Theater

Marie-Christine Tayah, 22/05 14:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Theater Culture Beirut France Art Le Monnot

From May 28 to June 1, Le Monnot theater welcomes Humans, a unique performance by Swiss artist Narcisse. Directed by Jean-Philippe Daguerre, this poetic-musical creation explores human knowledge through an innovative staging that blends poetry, music, and theater. Praised by French critics, Humans stands out for its intellectual richness, ...

Pierpaolo Piccioli Takes Over Balenciaga in Bold Shift

This is Beirut, 20/05 15:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Pierpaolo Piccioli Fashion Balenciaga Art Design Culture

Italian designer Pierpaolo Piccioli has been named creative director at fashion house Balenciaga, taking over from Georgian designer Demna, parent company Kering said Monday. Piccioli, who previously worked at Valentino, will present his first collection in October, after Demna left for Gucci, said the French conglomerate, which owns both ...

At Cannes and Beyond, Raphaël Quenard Is the Artist to Watch

Marie-Christine Tayah, 20/05 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Raphaël Quenard Cannes Cannes Film Festival France Culture Art

Raphaël Quenard wears many hats: actor, screenwriter, director, producer, and soon, singer. He broke through in 2023 with standout performances in Chien de la casse by Jean-Baptiste Durand and Yannick by Quentin Dupieux. His work in both earned him César nominations in 2024, and he took home the award for Most Promising Actor for Chien de la ...

Eurovision 2025: Will Celine Dion Return?

This is Beirut, 16/05 17:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Celine Dion Eurovision Prague Culture Music Art

As excitement builds for Saturday's Eurovision final, one question looms large: could superstar Celine Dion, now in fragile health, make a show-stopping appearance, 37 years after winning the competition? Dion became a global music icon, selling albums by the millions and staging groundbreaking sell-out concerts around the world. But she has ...

Eurovision Returns to Switzerland: A Legacy of Song Evolution

This is Beirut, 16/05 15:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Eurovision Switzerland Europe Music Culture Art

Switzerland is hosting Eurovision for the third time, with the extravaganza a world away from when it staged the inaugural competition in 1956—and also from 1989 when Celine Dion starred. The 2025 edition on May 17 in Basel will draw an expected TV audience of around 160 million, with viewers worldwide casting their votes. Here is a look back ...

Salman Rushdie’s attacker to be sentenced this Friday

This is Beirut, 16/05 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Salman Rushdie Writer Iran Culture Art Justice

Hadi Matar will be sentenced on Friday for trying to kill novelist Salman Rushdie in a 2022 knife attack at a New York cultural center. Hadi Matar, 27, faces up to 25 years in prison after being convicted of attempted murder and assault charges in February this year. During the trial, Rushdie told jurors about Matar "stabbing and slashing" him ...

Algeria Targets Author Kamel Daoud in Legal Dispute

This is Beirut, 13/05 13:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Algeria France Writer Culture Art

Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, who is the subject of two international arrest warrants from Algeria and a legal complaint in France, called the legal actions against him “a form of judicial persecution” in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro on Monday. Daoud, who won the 2024 Goncourt Prize, also described the legal saga as “a ...

The Daring Thefts of Munch’s 'The Scream'

Bélinda Ibrahim, 10/05 17:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Edvard Munch The Scream Art Culture Paintings

It is without a doubt one of the most recognizable paintings in the world: a pale face frozen in a silent scream, hands pressed against its cheeks, a burning red sky above a Norwegian fjord. Since its creation in 1893, The Scream by Edvard Munch has been the subject of endless interpretations, reproductions, and obsessions. A symbol of modern ...

At Long Last, Cannes Welcomes Klapisch, Filmmaker of a Generation

This is Beirut, 10/05 10:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Cinema Cannes Cannes Film Festival Cédric Klapisch Culture Art

From Le Péril jeune to L’Auberge espagnole, every generation has its Klapisch. Yet despite drawing over 17 million viewers to theaters, the French director had never been invited to Cannes—until now. At 63, that’s finally changing at the 78th edition of the Festival. His new film, La Venue de l’avenir, will be screened out of competition ...

Eurovision Sparks Creativity in Swiss Classrooms Through Song

This is Beirut, 09/05 17:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Eurovision Music Culture Concert Art Basel

Swiss schoolchildren are drawing inspiration from Eurovision and creating their own songs, to be performed before an audience of thousands in the build-up to this year's extravaganza in Basel. "It's exciting to see that we're all going to sing together" on stage on the sidelines of the Eurovision Song Contest, said Tessa Cajani, a pupil at a ...

'Remembering the Light' at Sursock Museum: The Poetics of Light and Memory

This is Beirut, 09/05 12:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Exhibition Sursock Museum Culture Art Film Photography

Sursock Museum presents Remembering the Light, a major solo exhibition by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. Spanning works produced mainly between 2016 and the present, the exhibition brings together installations, photographs, films, video and sculptures. It explores the vertigo of archaeology, constructed imaginaries, fragility and ...

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