The kitchen is a notoriously difficult place to forge a successful career and Lebanese chef Ruby El-Chaer is not one to downplay the heated drama that takes place behind closed doors in restaurants around the world. The 26-year-old chef, who received a double diploma in pastry and cuisine from the famed Cordon Bleu cooking school in London,…
The kitchen is a notoriously difficult place to forge a successful career and Lebanese chef Ruby El-Chaer is not one to downplay the heated drama that takes place behind closed doors in restaurants around the world. The 26-year-old chef, who received a double diploma in pastry and cuisine from the famed Cordon Bleu cooking school in London,…
Cannes winner ‘For Sama’ — a moving and vital documentary of Aleppo’s fall DUBAI: At the heart of “For Sama” — the documentary about the fall of Aleppo by filmmakers Waad Al-Khataeb and Edward Watts that just won the Golden Eye Documentary Prize at Cannes — is a scene that brought me to tears. Doctors…
Cannes winner ‘For Sama’ — a moving and vital documentary of Aleppo’s fall DUBAI: At the heart of “For Sama” — the documentary about the fall of Aleppo by filmmakers Waad Al-Khataeb and Edward Watts that just won the Golden Eye Documentary Prize at Cannes — is a scene that brought me to tears. Doctors…
CANNES: A thief, running from the police, buries his money in the Moroccan desert, disguising it as a grave. Years later, after getting out of prison, he comes back to the same spot to retrieve it—only to find an elaborate tomb built over his buried treasure, an entire town built around it filled with people…
Ordering in with Lugmety: Try Twina & Baked in Jeddah for your seafood and sweet fix JEDDAH: I found myself stuck at the office with iftar fast approaching this week. Instead of panicking, I reached for my phone and opened up food delivery app Lugmety. In Jeddah, we love our seafood, so my colleagues and…
Grace Talusan’s memoir The Body Papers bravely explores her experiences with sexual abuse, depression, cancer, and life as a Filipino immigrant, supplemented with government documents, medical records, and family photos. “Much of Talusan’s memoir will be familiar to any reader of immigrant narratives. But what renders the book memorable — perhaps what earned it the…
DUBAI: Sara bin Safwan founded the Banat Collective in 2016 to connect with other like-minded people, championingtheir art through the group’s website, banatcollective.com.The group aims to help society to rethink the way women of color are perceived by showcasing contemporary art, poetry and other writings. The collective publishes artistic works in print and online and…
DUBAI: Tucked away in Dubai’s artistic and cultural Alserkal Avenue, Saudi brand The Nou Project announced the latest re-design of its classic sneakers — the all-new ultra-low tops. In a one-night only pop up in KAVE café, the brand’s founder, Nour Al-Tamimi, and co-designer, Basma Chidiac, announced the re-design that came in three new colorways: Grey,…
INTERVIEW: Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki on heading a Cannes jury and the surprise success of 'Capernaum' in China DUBAI: The success that Lebanese director Nadine Labaki’s third film, “Capernaum,” continues to find across the world is astounding — even to her. Just one year ago, “Capernaum” won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival…
INTERVIEW: Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki on heading a Cannes jury and the surprise success of 'Capernaum' in China DUBAI: The success that Lebanese director Nadine Labaki’s third film, “Capernaum,” continues to find across the world is astounding — even to her. Just one year ago, “Capernaum” won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival…
DUBAI: Palestinian film “Ambiance” headed into a podium finish at the 22nd Cinéfondation Selection, the Cannes Film Festival’s top film school shorts awards, beating out more than 2,000 submissions. The film, which is directed by Wisam al-Jafari of Palestine’s Dar Al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture, landed third place with Polish entry “Duszyczka” by Barbara…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: High-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX company launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida on Thursday on a mission to carry the first batch of five dozen small satellites into low-Earth orbit for his new Starlink Internet service.The rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at about 10:30 p.m. local time…
Grace Talusan’s memoir The Body Papers bravely explores her experiences with sexual abuse, depression, cancer, and life as a Filipino immigrant, supplemented with government documents, medical records, and family photos. “Much of Talusan’s memoir will be familiar to any reader of immigrant narratives. But what renders the book memorable — perhaps what earned it the…
MUSCAT: Omanis on Wednesday hailed writer Jokha Alharthi’s “historical achievement” and praised her for bringing “honor” to their Gulf nation after she became the first Arab author to win the Man Booker International prize.“It is a huge historic achievement for the author, for Oman and for Arabic culture in general,” said Saif Al-Rahbi, an Omani…
MUSCAT: Omanis on Wednesday hailed writer Jokha Alharthi’s “historical achievement” and praised her for bringing “honor” to their Gulf nation after she became the first Arab author to win the Man Booker International prize.“It is a huge historic achievement for the author, for Oman and for Arabic culture in general,” said Saif Al-Rahbi, an Omani…
Benjamin Franklin is the Founding Father of the US who rose up the social ladder, from a leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In bestselling author Walter Isaacson’s vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin seems to turn to us from history’s stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles, says…
Cannes Diary: The world’s glitziest film festival through the eyes of an industry insider Film director Hadi Ghandour takes us behind the scenes at the Cannes Film Festival with his revealing diary entries. Day 1 I am on a train from Paris to Cannes. A middle-aged woman maneuvers her way around my legs and sits…
CHIBAYISH, Iraq: Thirty years after Saddam Hussein starved them of water, Iraq’s southern marshes are blossoming once more thanks to a wave of ecotourists picnicking and paddling down their replenished river bends.A one-room home made of elaborately woven palm reeds floats on the river surface. Near it, a soft plume of smoke curls up from…
Artist Rana Samara explores a new symbolism in the intimate lives of Palestinians DUBAI: At the age of 33, Palestinian visual artist Rana Samara has grown tired of the repetitive — often combative — themes most commonly found in modern and contemporary Palestinian art, including the symbolic motif of olive trees and the political act…
