Author: Susan Vahabzadeh

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Director Nabil Ayouch at the Cannes Film Festival (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Langsdon)

Nabil Ayouch's film "Much Loved"

Sinner or saint?

Screenings of Nabil Ayouch's new film "Much Loved" have been banned in Morocco. Described as "an insult to all Moroccan women", the drama focuses on the lives of three prostitutes in Marrakech. It was a big hit at this year's Munich Filmfest. By Susan VahabzadehMore

Nabil Ayouch's Film ''God's Horses'': Ostracised and forgottenMoroccan cinema: The difficulty with taboosQantara.de dossier: Arab Cinema
Scene from "Chicken with Plumbs" (source: PR)

Marjane Satrapi's "Chicken with Plums"

Magical Gallows Humour in Tehran

Expectations have been enormous for the follow-up to Persepolis. Would it be a new masterwork full of rebellion and subversion? Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud have instead taken a completely different trajectory with their new film "Chicken with plums." The result is a wonderful, surreal melodrama. By Susan VahabzadehMore

Marjane Satrapi's ''Persepolis'': Stars and BombsThe Comic World of Marjane Satrapi: Yearnings for a Lost Homeland

In brief

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Most Recent Photo Essay

Culture vultures: Tehran's galleries are very popular among Iranian young people and the cultural scene is constantly diversifying. According to a 25-year-old photographer, "government restrictions play an important role in this phenomenon. Art is seen as a means of emancipation"

Faces of Iranian youth

Behind a suffocating political system and inquisitive cliches, Iranian youth dream of a break with the system while proudly defending their culture. By Gwenvaël Engel