middle east
MENA Film Festival is a cinematic journey of Middle East and North African narratives
January 23, 2024By: Sude Guvendik, Staff Writer Content warning: mentions of war and genocide. The awaited 2024 Middle Eastern and North Africa (MENA) Film Festival is set to captivate audiences from January 27–February 1 at the VIFF Centre. The fifth annual selection boasts 42 feature and short films hailing from 25 countries from the MENA/SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa) region and its diaspora, standing out as one of the most diverse MENA festivals to date. Arman Kazemi, festival director at MENA, emphasized the deliberate choice of naming the festival “MENA Film Festival in Vancouver” rather than the “Vancouver MENA Film Festival.”…
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Food for Thought: Tabbouleh
November 7, 2023By: Omar Nsouli Tabbouleh is a magical salad. No, I’m not talking about the kind with cucumber and quinoa. I’m talking about a fresh and summery salad usually shared over a warm moment with our loved ones. Tabbouleh is the…
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SFU alum, Hasan Namir, on Islam and intimacy
January 23, 2017[dropcap]F[/dropcap]earlessly and unapologetically, SFU alumnus Hasan Namir tackles homophobia, religion, and coming-of-age in his award-winning debut novel, God in Pink. The novel is set in Iraq in 2003 and tells the story of Ramy, an orphaned homosexual university student who…
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Facebook values Western lives over Middle Eastern ones
November 30, 2015[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n light of the Beirut and Paris tragedies that occurred November 12, there has been, to say the least, a media frenzy. Millions of Facebook users have overlayed their profile picture with a French flag — an option that Facebook…
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