Category: culture and media

The Tunisian production “Al-Haribat” (The Runaways) was the standout winner at the 26th Carthage Theatre Days (JTC), taking home the prestigious Golden Tanit during the festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday. Held at the City of Culture’s Chedli Klibi Opera House, the event drew a crowd of prominent artists, creators, and theatre enthusiasts from across Tunisia, the Arab world, and Africa. Directed by Wafa Tabboubi, “Al-Haribat” achieved a triple victory, also securing the awards for Best Actress, awarded to Lobna Noomen, and Best Script, which went to Tabboubi herself. This marks…

For the twelfth consecutive year, the Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAF) is launching its initiative to support and fund film projects in the development stage through its Industry Days platform. The project support fund aims to assist feature and short films at various production phases, while also creating opportunities for co-production and collaboration between Arab filmmakers and their counterparts in the Nordic region. The industry forum will also feature a rich program of seminars, workshops, masterclasses, and professional networking sessions, establishing it as a comprehensive platform for project development and…

The Red Sea Souk, a cornerstone of the upcoming Red Sea International Film Festival, has unveiled its 2025 program, boasting a significant increase in global reach. Scheduled for December 6-10, the industry platform will host over 160 exhibitors from 45 countries, representing a 20% surge in pavilion participation from the previous year. The Souk aims to connect emerging filmmakers with established industry leaders through an expanded lineup of panels, workshops, and training sessions. A key focus will be the high-level “Talks” series, featuring discussions on critical industry trends such as…

 In a keynote address for the 26th edition of the Carthage Theatre Days (JTC), renowned French theorist Patrice Pavis captivated a packed audience at CinémAfricArt with a profound exploration of the modern stage. The session, moderated by Moroccan researcher Saïd Karimi, drew a diverse crowd of artists, intellectuals, journalists, and theatre students. Pavis, a leading voice in performance theory, positioned theatrical adaptation as a complex, three-part process—translation, adaptation, and transposition—far exceeding a simple transfer of text from page to stage. “Adaptation is not about slavish fidelity to an original text,”…

The 2025 Carthage Theatre Days (JTC) festival has cemented its reputation as a premier stage for innovative and politically resonant work, featuring two standout productions that reimagined classic and contemporary themes with striking visual and musical force. A Rock-Metal Reworking of a Shakespearean Tragedy Following the festival’s opening Egyptian production, the Opera Theatre hosted Iranian director Elika Abdolrazzaghi’s audacious take on Shakespeare’s “King Lear” on November 26. Despite the language barrier for some, the production’s power was undeniable, rooted in its driving rock music, bold scenography, and a masterful blend…

The 26th edition of the Carthage Theatre Days featured a powerful lineup of plays operating outside and within the official competition, using the stage to dissect pressing political and social issues across the Arab world. Jawad Al-Asadi’s “Circus”: A Metaphor for a Shattered Iraq Playing outside the official competition, Iraqi director Jawad Al-Asadi’s “Circus” presented a bleak, abstract vision of a society destroyed by war. The play, devoid of traditional circus elements, unfolded in a dimly lit space haunted by the sound of a distant dog. It centered on a…

The third and final day of the international theatre forum, “The Theatre Artist: Their Time and Works,” featured compelling discussions that challenged classical canons and explored the role of theatre in the Arab world. In a standout presentation, Tunisian philosopher and novelist Oum Ezzine Ben Sheikha posed a radical question: why must Arab theatre “kill” Western classics like Othello and Lear to find its own voice? She argued that theatre and philosophy are intertwined disciplines that both interrogate human existence. “Theatre is the place where our minds and bodies, tamed…

Algerian Play “Roman Carnival” Critiques Art World Exploitation at Carthage Festival ——————————————————————————————————————– The third day of the 26th Carthage Theatre Days (JTC) showcased a range of theatrical productions, underscoring the festival’s role as a premier platform for Arab and international stage art. The day’s lineup featured compelling performances from across the region, including: The diverse programming highlights the festival’s commitment to presenting works that tackle universal human experiences through varied artistic lenses, from stark social realism to poetic visual metaphor. Algerian Play “Roman Carnival” Critiques Art World Exploitation at Carthage…

The second day of a major theater forum was dominated by the provocative and unscripted remarks of veteran Tunisian director Taoufik Jebali, who delivered a sweeping critique of censorship, fickle audiences, and a lack of direction among the new generation of artists. Speaking to a packed audience of international professionals, Jebali, a foundational figure in Tunisian theater, pulled no punches in his assessment of the current cultural landscape. A “Failed” Artist by Choice Jebali, who famously rejects the “emblematic figure” label, preferring to call himself “a theatre man who is…

From a pool of over 192,000 applicants, six readers from five Arab countries have reached the final stage of the tenth annual “Iqra” Reading Competition. The prestigious event, organized by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), an Aramco Saudi initiative, has become a regional beacon for literary passion, culminating in the selection of these finalists whose personal stories testify to the transformative power of books. Each finalist’s journey to the finals reveals a unique relationship with literature: The “Iqra” competition continues to demonstrate that its mission extends far…