Culture

Burying Acorns, Blooming Joy: Luqoom’s New Tale of Friendship and Wonder

Beirut’s boutique publisher Luqoom unveils The Little Boy Who Lost His Joy, a tender new picture book by founder Racha Mourtada with luminous art from Dania K. Set in Dyslexie—a font designed to ease reading for children with dyslexia—this color-rich adventure follows a forgetful squirrel and a bow-tied boy as they learn that joy, like an ...

The House of Worth Takes Over Paris Fashion History

For the first time, the House of Worth—considered the birthplace of haute couture—is featured in a Paris exhibition showcasing rare archival pieces and revisiting the story of one of France’s luxury icons. Organized in collaboration with Palais Galliera, Paris’ fashion museum, this retrospective at the Petit Palais, titled “Worth, ...

'Thunderbolts' Opens Strong with Explosive Box Office Debut

Marvel’s Thunderbolts stormed the North American box office with a spectacular debut, grossing $76 million in its first three days, according to data released Sunday by Exhibitor Relations. This team of unconventional and jaded anti-heroes falls into a dangerous trap, forcing them to join forces for a high-risk mission that will make them face ...

Lady Gaga Stuns Rio with Historic Copacabana Beach Concert

Lady Gaga rocked Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach on Saturday with a free mega-concert that the Brazilian city said drew about two million fans. "Brazil, I missed you so much," screamed the American pop star — in her first Brazil gig since 2012 — before launching into Poker Face on a monumental chessboard, one of many grandiose backdrops in ...

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz Star in The Bunker

Filmmaker Florian Zeller will reunite real-life couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz on screen in his upcoming film titled The Bunker, the production team announced Friday to AFP. Zeller, who comes from a background in writing and theater, gained international acclaim with his first film, The Father, which earned Anthony Hopkins an Academy ...

Egyptian Drama shatters Egypt’s silence on child abuse

In living rooms across Egypt, a television drama has shattered the silence around child sexual abuse, forcing a national reckoning with a subject long buried in taboo. The show, Lam Shamseya, follows school administrator Nelly, portrayed by leading actor Amina Khalil, as she confronts an unthinkable reality: her stepson has been abused by a ...

Louvre Abu Dhabi: Where Art Floats and Connects Civilizations

Just off the coast of Abu Dhabi, at the entrance to Saadiyat Island, a steel dome perforated with 7,850 geometric stars filters sunlight like a futuristic mashrabiya. Designed by Jean Nouvel, this architectural marvel shelters a museum unlike any other in the world: the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Born of an unprecedented partnership between France and the ...

'Delon & Elles:' Cannes Turns Its Walls into a Tribute to Cinema

In Cannes, spring is a season of cinematic rebirth. This year, from May 13 to June 13, 2025, one of the greatest legends of French cinema takes center stage: Alain Delon. As part of the 78th Cannes Film Festival and the 21st edition of Cannes fait le mur, the city of Cannes—alongside the Humann Prize, Alain Delon International Distribution and ...

Lady Gaga Ignites Copacabana, Rio Overflows with Fans

Behind his oversized black studded sunglasses, Victor Faro keeps his eyes fixed on the windows of the hotel where Lady Gaga is staying in Rio de Janeiro. He’s hoping to catch a glimpse of his idol before her massive free concert set for Saturday on Copacabana Beach. Wearing plastic goat horns on his head and a curled Dali-style mustache, the ...

Netflix's 'The Eternaut' Fights Tyranny with Argentine Grit

Survival through teamwork: it's a tale as old as time with particular resonance today, says Argentine actor Ricardo Darin of his latest project The Eternaut, which hit Netflix on Wednesday. Based on a 1950s comic with iconic status in the South American country, the sci-fi series tells the story of a mysterious, toxic snowfall that precedes an ...

‘To Exist Is to Be Different:’ The Birth of Individuality

“To exist is to not be confused with the surrounding environment, it is to be heterogeneous, it is to be different. Each color is only itself through the contrast with the color that faces it. It only has value in opposition.” This quote from biologist Albert Jacquard illustrates how a subject’s true identity is formed through otherness, ...

Jacqueline Harpman’s Forgotten Feminist Novel Finds New Global Fame

The reissue of I Who Have Never Known Men by Belgian author Jacqueline Harpman marks the unexpected resurgence of a feminist dystopian novel. Critically acclaimed upon its 1995 release, the book has found new life on social media in the 2020s. Following successful reissues in the UK and US, French publisher Stock is now bringing the haunting ...