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CULTURE WEEKENDS

PROFILE: The underrated Palestinian actor Ali Suliman (Arab News)

William Mullally writes: "It’s about time someone shouted it from the rooftops: Ali Suliman is one of the best actors working today."

"Since his landmark role in Hany Abu Assad’s Oscar-nominated 2005 film “Paradise Now,” Suliman has had a career like few others — hopping back and forth between Hollywood blockbusters and intimate Middle Eastern arthouse cinema, imbuing each role with emotional complexity and deeply felt humanity, but all appearing so effortless that he has yet to get the credit he so richly deserves."

And he’s just turned in arguably the best performance of his career. In Ameen Nayfeh’s “200 Meters” — Jordan’s official submission to the 2021 Academy Awards — Suliman plays Mustafa, a man who lives on the opposite side of the separation barrier between Palestine’s West Bank and Israel from his wife and children.
Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi reacts to being shortlisted for an Oscar (Esquire Middle East)

William Mullally writes: "Two Arab women have just been shortlisted for the 93rd Academy Awards. Palestinian-British filmmaker Farah Nabulsi’s short film “The Present” and Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s feature The Man Who Sold His Skin are both up for the industry’s top prize in separate categories."

"Nabulsi tweeted that she was “overjoyed!” at the news of her film’s short listing. “I never imagined I would be saying the words ‘FOR YOUR CONISIDERATION – BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT’,” she said, thanking the Academy for the honour."

"The story of “The Present” centers around a man and his daughter who attempt tobuy a gift for the man’s wife while in Palestine’s West Bank."
WKND Conversations: 'We export so much talent to the West': Palestinian writer-performer Dana Dajani (Khaleej Times)

"Dana Dajani, an award-winning Palestinian writer-performer, has carved out a niche for herself on stage and in the literary firmament. Dajani, who lives and works between Amman, Jordan, and London, has a home-grown style to express her creative outpourings. She uses the spoken-word, gesture and body language to convey a gamut of emotions..."

Which of the creative pursuits do you enjoy the most — writing or acting?

"I love transforming into various characters, and theatre has taken me across the world. I have performed on stages across the globe, from the Sydney Opera House, Australia to the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain. I will never fall out of love with theatre. The thrill of being on stage, where the show “must go on”, feeling the energy of the audience connected as one. It’s my first love."
Muqata’a – Kamil Manqus (Pitchfork) 

Jemima Skala writes: "The Ramallah-based electronic musician’s fifth album uses sampling and noise as tactics for disrupting official narratives and defending Palestinian historical memory."

"The Palestinian DJ Muqata’a’s alias has various translations: “boycott,” “interference,” “disruption.” He also uses his music as a form of political and cultural disruption. As a former member of the collective Ramallah Underground, Muqata’a has been fiercely critical of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank."

"The glitches on Kamil Manqus كَامِل مَنْقوص vary from the mechanical bleeps of musical hardware to manipulations of short sung samples; every time a glitch appears, the melodic elements shift and change, making the essence of each track difficult to hold onto. “Shay’an Fa Shay’an شَیئاً فشَیئاً” is twitchy and nervous; its central motif morphs rhythmically as it’s interrupted by shouts and spoken fragments."
Capturing Gaza through pictures (We Are Not Numbers)

Yara Jouda writes: "I don’t blame anyone for loving photography, but when it comes to us Gazans, we look at this from a different perspective. Here, people click the button to capture a moment that they never want to forget, whether it is a happy one, a comic one or a sad one. We capture the love in the eyes of newlyweds, we capture their joy. We capture the laughter of children playing on the sand and in the narrow streets of a refugee camp. We capture a selfie when we go out with our friends and family to a beautiful place.  We always try to capture happiness in every corner we can reach."

"But we also capture the sadness in the eyes of those who have lost their hearts in a sudden bomb. We capture the tears of a martyred mother when she says goodbye to her son. We capture the masses of sad men saying goodbye and walking through a martyr’s funeral. We capture the frights that we face when we are forced to flee from our homes in war. We capture the crimes that are done to us."

CAUSE OF THE WEEK:


"PCRF envisions a world where all children in the Middle East have access to quality medical care, regardless of nationality, religious or political affiliation, and specialized health services for children are independent and developed at the highest standards."

"Our Mission is to provide medical and humanitarian relief collectively and individually to Arab children throughout the Levant, regardless of their nationality, politics or religion."
WATCH: Gaza's Boxing Gym for Women (Middle East Eye)

"There aren’t many spaces in Gaza for women to practice sports, but these young women are challenging cultural norms by opening up the city’s first female boxing gym."
 
BECAUSE CONTROVERSY DESERVES CONTEXT & CACOPHONY DEMANDS CURATION
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