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

It's a man's world: photos and videos emerging from Afghanistan show bustling activity returning to the streets of cities – as at this restaurant in Herat, where customers are being welcomed back. But there is one conspicuous difference from before: at the tables are men and men alone, often wearing the traditional knee-long tunic. Women have become a rarity in the urban landscape

Afghans' altered life under the Taliban

Despite all the drama around the Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan, daily life carries on there. But that day-to-day life has certainly changed – particularly for women. By Claudia Dehn & Sonja Angelica Diehn