It is said that a great film should make you walk out of the cinema feeling like a better person. But with his latest oeuvre Omar, Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad made me want to be a better person.

Omar...

There is luxury all around Cannes during this year's 66th edition of the most famous film festival in the world. From the Chanel windows strategically placed right across from the Palais de Festival, to the ever-flowing lavish new coffee blends served at the Nespresso bars inside the grandiose...

There have been quite a few momentous changes at the Doha Film Institute in the past 12 months, including a switch in management, an allegiance dissolved and a clear trend to return to its well-intentioned roots -- helping to build on a cinematic culture in the Arab world...

As a daughter of divorce, I'm painfully aware of how kids can be made pawns in the games their parents play. But what if out of that pain we managed to created another game of our own, this time as adults, recreating...

If you're like me, you wonder what the celebrities are doing, wearing and eating at Cannes. Turns out, for those who have films in the festival or are on one of the juries this year, the event is as much about food and gifts as it is about...

There is a collective question currently being asked around the world: What does it mean to belong to a country, to be a certified, true citizen somewhere?

Haider Rashid, a multicultural filmmaker who was born in Florence of an Iraqi father...

There's been incredible buzz about crowdfunding these days, particularly after "the Veronica Mars movie project" by Rob Thomas reached over 5.5 million dollars in 30 days on Kickstarter and some mainstream Hollywood names, Zach Braff for example, are also getting in on the action. But most of this...

"For a collective censorship, for an oppressive mentality, making films about politics that seem very progressive, very revolutionary is much more comfortable than making films that question you, as a human being. And that's where the real censorship lies." Meeting Yousry...

Sooni Taraporevala's film Little Zizou -- which can be watched for free these days on Hulu -- always makes me yearn for my first true love: Bombay. Because Little Zizou represents the perfect template of the city known to...

If you're reading this expecting to hear praises about the jewelry in Abu Dhabi, the wonder that is Burj Khalifa in Dubai, or the beauty of Arabian horses, you'll be disappointed. I'm all about cinema from, in and about this region and...

Sitting in conversation with Abdulhamid Juma, the Chairman of both the Dubai International Film Festival and the Gulf Film Festival, is a film-lover's dream come true. It's unique to find a perfect businessman who is also full...

I dreamed of a day when I could get everything I need from one single online site -- all the art, film, music, culture and fun I crave constantly in one place, neatly. Then I discovered HiBROW.

Launched in 2012, HiBROW is a free, curatorial, digital arts platform...

A couple of years ago, on a springtime visit to the Emirates, I read an article in a local newspaper about Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami's master classes in occasion of the Gulf Film Festival. The legendary filmmaker armed his students with the...

In person, Pascal Diot is as kind as he is insightful. A great mix of knowledge and class, Diot's soft French accent certainly helps in getting his point across with that extra bit of sophistication. But don't let his casual elegance...

Argo deserved the Best Picture Oscar, but perhaps not for all the obvious reasons. I personally found in Ben Affleck's film another reminder that when we don't pay close attention to our history - particularly the kind that could destroy lives -...

I'll admit, I love a good myth. And when the myth involves Cannes, a feel-good film about a culture I'm yet unfamiliar with and Harvey Weinstein, my fancy...

"Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul, and shows to people these secrets which are common to all." Leo Tolstoy, from his diary.

Art, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder. But even more importantly, art resembles love, in that one...

It is said that girls are always looking for a knight in shining armor -- and perhaps that's true. But from the looks of a few recent cinematic projects, it seems we are all, men and women alike, looking for a...

Ever wonder how this world of ours would be if we supported and promoted artists instead of wars and arms dealers? My guess is pretty great, and although it is within the nature of man to pick a fight from time to...

There are two outstanding events that shaped a personal Italian renaissance for me in 2012. One was interviewing the great Nanni Moretti in his office, after having been mesmerized by his latest film We Have a Pope at the