A British drama directed by Ralph Fiennes and a 3D documentary by Wim Wenders on the late German choreographer Pina Bausch will premiere at the Berlin film festival in February, organizers said Wednesday. Fiennes will unveil "Coriolanus," a contemporary reworking of the Shakespeare tragedy about a Roman general who mounts a rebellion against the empire, …

A destination for frazzled Cairenes looking for a more relaxed pace accompanied by a fresh sea breeze and great seafood, Alexandria is often overlooked as a destination for art lovers. This is unfortunate, as Alexandria, and in particular it’s famed Bibliotheca Alexandrina, have a lot to offer in the way of cultural enrichment — from …

Modern art reveals a society to itself, laying bare the bones of fleshy discourse. Art never simply is— it asks of us questions we have to search within to answer. Since its inception in 1984, the Cairo Biennale has sought to explore contemporary art, inviting artists this year to shed more light on questions that …

DUBAI: A 1,400-year-old monastery that is the only known pre-Islamic Christian site in the United Arab Emirates has opened to visitors, The National newspaper reported on Sunday. The monastery on Sir Bani Yas island in Abu Dhabi emirate is "believed to be the only permanent settlement ever established on the island" and "the only pre-Islamic …

By Sarah Atwood A disparate compilation of scenes and verses borne of brainstorming sessions on the streets of London, “No Idea” — starring the Improbable Theater Company’s Lisa Hammond and Rachael Spence — presents a thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining show about public perceptions of and reactions to difference and disability. Hosted by the British Council …

US megastar Johnny Depp says he has mostly learned to tame the media "beast" which constantly stalks him — but makes no bones about what he would do if the paparazzi overstepped the mark. And while acknowledging the demands of global fame, the 47-year-old former "enfant terrible" also lamented the "voyeuristic sensationalism" of modern media …

Oman’s music-loving Sultan Qaboos is building an Italian-style opera house, a temple dedicated to classical music that will be unique in the Arabian Peninsula. "It is a truly 16th-century Italian opera," Iman Hindawi, general director of the Royal Opera House in Muscat, told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of celebrations marking the sultan’s …

Midway through this year’s edition of the infamous Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), I came to one stark realization: I’ve never watched so many mediocre films in one festival before. Any wishful presumption that Egypt’s biggest film event might finally get its act together this year quickly went down the drain. The Fest’s permanent ailments …

Young musicians from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the United States gave three concerts in Cairo over the weekend. The concert series, which consisted of two public performances along with an interactive workshop with Egyptian youth, was organized by Yasmin Tayeby, an Egyptian-American Berklee graduate. Tayeby’s nascent company, Nile Promotions, organized the event …

By Jacques Clement / AFP BAGHDAD: Performing before a half-empty room at Baghdad’s Alwiyah Club, Taha Gharib is conscious that the music he has passionately played for decades — traditional Iraqi maqam — is dying. Victim of the country’s growing modernity and years-long violence, the poetic form of music that came to symbolizes the newly-born Iraq …

Roman Polanski’s political thriller "The Ghost Writer" swept the board Saturday at the European Film Awards, the continent’s version of the Oscars. The movie won six of the seven categories in which it had been nominated, including best film. Polanski, meanwhile, was named best director, to add to the Silver Bear he won at the …

VIENNA: More than 250 papyri recently discovered in Austria’s national library have shed new light on the Arab conquest of north Africa and northwest Asia in the 1st century AD, say experts. The collection of documents, written in Greek and Coptic and dating from 643 and 644 AD, contain precious information on what the library …

Alchemy Cairo, the new furniture line that is headed and designed by Karim Mekhtigian, one of Alchemy Design Studio’s three partners, debuted at the studio’s new store located in furniture retail mall Designopolis last month. Mekhtigian’s signature contemporary take on local design themes of geometric patterns, traditional items such as the local ahwa (coffee shop) …

Karim Mekhtigian is not new to the field of design in Egypt. On the contrary, he has for quite some time played a large role as one of the three partners of design firm Alchemy Design Studio. Alchemy has been responsible for some of the North Coast’s most novel beach homes, and in Cairo, designing …

A Washington art gallery pledged a round-the-clock protest Thursday against what it calls censorship by the Smithsonian Institution for removing a video that shows ants crawling on a crucifix after the Catholic League and members of Congress complained it was sacrilegious. Transformer Gallery manager Barbara Escobar said the small, nonprofit gallery will show the video …

"New Wave" director Jean-Luc Godard, who turned European filmmaking upside-down in the 1960s and who counts the likes of Pedro Almodovar and Quentin Tarantino as his modern-day heirs, turns 80 on Friday. The French-Swiss director shot to fame in 1960 with "Breathless" in which Jean Seberg played a cropped-haired American in Paris, following up with …