Baghdad: Arab Capital of Culture 2013
Terrorist attacks, corruption and scandals are casting a dark shadow over the celebrations to mark Baghdad's year as Arab Capital of Culture, as Birgit Svensson reports from Iraq's capital More »
Mohammed Rasoulof's ''Manuscripts Don't Burn''
The Islamic Republic's intelligence service is unmasked for the first time in a film based on a series of murders of Iranian writers and intellectuals in the late 1990s. Stefan Buchen introduces the new movie by director Mohammed Rasoulof More »
Islam in European Classical Music
We cannot say precisely when the musical penetration of East and West began, but one thing is certain: composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and others could not resist the fascination of the Orient. Thus elements of Turkish music, Persian poetry and Arabic storytelling found their way straight to the heart of European culture. By Nadja Kayali More »
Interview with Syrian Writer Nihad Sirees
Syrian author Nihad Sirees has written seven novels and several plays and TV dramas. After increasing pressure from the Syrian government, Sirees left Aleppo in early 2012. Marcia Lynx Qualey met him at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair, just as he was leaving his exile in the US and moving to Egypt More »
Film on the Case of Murat Kurnaz
"Five Years" examines the fate of the German Guantanamo prisoner Murat Kurnaz. Director Stefan Schaller's film exposes viewers to the horrific abuse of human rights endured by camp detainees. Jochen Kürten reports More »
Lebanese Victims of Torture
They were abducted and tortured. Now they have taken to the stage: In "The German Chair", Lebanese survivors of Syrian jails recreate the horrors of the civil war in a play. By Jannis Hagmann More »
Interview with the Tunisian Theatre Director Meriam Bousselmi
The young Tunisian lawyer, dramatist and director, Meriam Bousselmi, was born in Tunis, where she still lives, in 1983. She's currently making a name for herself with sharp, critical works for the theatre, such as her latest production, "Sabra". She spoke to Suleman Taufiq More »
Salah Saouli: The Days of the Blue Bat
The work of German-Lebanese artist Salah Saouli repeatedly draws on strands of recent Lebanese history and examines how these are perceived in the individual and collective consciousness. By Charlotte Bank More »
Interview with the Saudi Filmmaker Ahd Kamel
The film Sanctity tells the story of Areej, a young, pregnant Saudi widow, who will do anything to protect her unborn child. Kamel not only wrote and directed the film, she also played the leading role. It was shot on location in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and is her second film. Igal Avidan met her in Berlin and asked her about women's rights and film-making in a country that has no cinemas. More »
Afghan Comedian Asif Jalali
According to Afghan comedian and TV star Asif Jalali, it is much easier to make people in Afghanistan cry than it is to make them laugh. In his TV show he sets out to do the latter, with great success. By Tobias Matern More »
