Tea With Culture

In this episode, Hind Mezaina sits with Faisal Salah (https://twitter.com/EyesWOutAFais) from The National to talk about a film screening organised by the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, in conjunction with the Film and Visual Media in the Gulf conference (https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/events/2018/october/film-and-visual-media-in-the-gulf.html). The film "Bas Ya Bahr / The Cruel Sea" by Khalid Al Siddiq was released in 1972 and is the first feature film made in Kuwait. They talk about the film, why and how it was made, the controversy around it, its reception regionally and globally and its importance to Gulf and Arab film history. Faisal Salah's article about the film in The National https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/film/the-first-ever-gcc-film-and-the-story-of-how-sheikh-zayed-saw-it-1.785906 The Cruel Sea on IMDB imdb.com/title/tt0121994/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_3 The Cruel Sea on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cruel_Sea_(1972_film)

In this episode Wael Hattar interviews the artist Shaikha Al Mazrou. They discuss her art practice, how discomfort drives her, the directional change of her work and the effect of receiving an MFA. As a teacher at University of Sharjah, Al Mazrou also discusses art and higher Education in the UAE, and her role as an educator. We dive into the recent and upcoming projects, from Sharjah Art Foundation's artist residency March Projects, the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation(ADMAF) commission, her current solo exhibition at Lawrie Shabibi, and her upcoming piece for Jameel Arts Centre opening in Dubai in November. lawrieshabibi.com/artists/134-shaikha-al-mazrou/overview/ sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/exhibitions/march-project-2018

In this episode Wael Hattar interviews the artist Daniele Genadry. They talk about art, education and the evolution in her work. The discussion includes Daniele's techniques and thoughts behind her work and how she has been able to grow as an artist within the region in the past few years. Daniele Genadry also teaches at the American University of Beirut, and she shares how education impacts artists and how an artist impacts education, and within that how her work has taken the form it did. Daniele Gendary's current exhibition "Slow Light" can be seen at the Beirut Art Centre, until 7th October 2018. More information can be found here http://www.beirutartcenter.org/en/exhibitions/daniel-genadry-slow-light. Other links: www.danielegenadry.com/ www.salehbarakatgallery.com/ instagram.com/dgenadry/

In this episode, Wael Hattar interviews Wafa'a Celine Halawi the Director of the Lebanese Film Festival. This is the 13th edition since it launched 17 years ago. Wafa'a Celine Malawi discusses the idea behind the start of the festival, its current iteration, the festival's audience, the effect on the film industry, plus the theme of this year's festival, "Lebanese Women in Cinema". www.lebanesefilmfestival.org twitter.com/lebfilmfestival instagram.com/lebanesefilmfestival/ facebook.com/lebfilmfest youtube.com/user/LebaneseFilmFestival

In this episode, Wael Hattar sits with Nisrine Wehbe, Programmer at Metropolis Cinema and Nour Ouayda, Co-ordinator of it's new project, Cinematheque Beirut; to talk about how the two organisations promote Lebanese and Arab cinema heritage and documenting the Lebanese movie production. Both Nisrine and Nour discuss with Wael what each does and their role in the film community in Lebanon, from creating a film database for Cinematheque Beirut, to programming film retrospectives, and organising film screenings and education for young viewers and also within the film industry. They also discuss budgeting and censorship challenges and their efforts in audience building. For all their latest news, events and updates: www.metropoliscinema.net metropoliscinema.net/page/theproject/ Social media links: twitter.com/metropolislb instagram.com/metropoliscinema/ facebook.com/MetropolisCinema/ twitter.com/cinemathequebei instagram.com/cinemathequebeirut/ facebook.com/cinemathequebeirut/

Wael Hattar sits with Joy Mardini, director and owner of Joy Mardini Design Gallery, one of the few design galleries in the Arab world, and Jessy Bustros, director of House of Today, an NGO dedicated to the enrichment of Lebanon’s design culture. They discuss product design in Lebanon, covering the general understanding of the market, production, education and its exchange with the world including the Arab and Gulf countries. Both Mardini and Bustros share their thoughts on the design scene in Beirut and across Lebanon, and explain some of the details within the market and the growth of the industry. houseoftoday.com twitter.com/HouseofToday instagram.com/houseoftoday facebook.com/HouseofToday jmdesigngallery.com instagram.com/jmdesigngallery facebook.com/jmdesigngallery

In this episode Wael Hattar interviews artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan. We discuss Hamdan's practice in general, and cover his young but powerfully growing career from his first interest in Sound Art and how his work has developed into multiple media. Along with the winning of many prizes regionally and globally, we talk about the way people perceive his work (We have a few audio extracts from the works within the interview,) as well as his own development of what he sees and hears to his his different and current curatorial collaboration. http://sculpture-center.org/exhibitionsExhibition.htm?id=138467 You can read about his most recent prizes here artdubai.ae/abraaj-group-art-prize-2018/ sculpture-center.org/exhibitionsExhibition.htm?id=138467 You can find more of his work in the following links lawrenceabuhamdan.com https://vimeo.com/user7053630 https://iffr.com/en/persons/lawrence-abu-hamdan and find him socially here instagram.com/lawrence_abu_hamdan/ twitter.com/LAbuHamdan

This episode is about Tashkeel, a Dubai based multi-disciplinary studio, work space and gallery. Established in Dubai in 2008 by Lateefa bint Maktoum, Tashkeel enables creative practice, experimentation and dialogue among practitioners and the wider community. Hind Mezaina interviews Lisa Ball-Lechgar (Deputy Director) and Jill Hoyle (Manager)to talk about how it started, its recent milestone of celebrating its 10th anniversary, its role in the art community in the UAE and some of its future plans. http://tashkeel.org https://twitter.com/tashkeel https://www.facebook.com/TashkeelStudio https://www.instagram.com/tashkeelstudio

In this episode Wael Hattar speaks to Alexander Gray from Alexander Gray Associates, a New York based contemporary art gallery that represents Hassan Sharif (1951 - 2016). Alexander Gray shares with us how he was first introduced to Hassan Sharif's work in the United Arab Emirates and his thoughts about the artist and his work. http://www.alexandergray.com/artists/hassan-sharif http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/exhibitions/hassan-sharif-a-retrospective http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/events/hassan-sharif-interexchange-symposium instagram.com/alexandergrayassociates/ facebook.com/alexandergrayassociates/ twitter.com/agrayassociates You can see more images of the work on our Instagram page instagram.com/p/BjR3Qh7Hq0D/?taken-by=teawithculture Images courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates.

In this episode Hind Mezaina interviews Jannis Stürtz, co-founder of Jakarta Records and Habibi Funk record labels (based in Berlin). Habibi Funk focuses on re-releasing old music from the Arab world, with a particular focus on funk, jazz and obscure music from the 1970s and 80s. Music, photos, text and album covers from Habibi Funk are showcased at an exhibition titled "Habibi Funk: A spotlight on Arab Grooves" exhibition at East Wing Gallery in Dubai. Some images can be found on our Instagram page instagram.com/p/BirY2y3H3iZ/?taken-by=teawithculture They discuss how Habibi Funk started, how the music is found and re-released, the role of music conservation and archiving and the exhibition at East Wing Gallery in Dubai. Habibi Funk: A spotlight on Arab Grooves exhibition at East Wing, Dubai is on from March-May 2018 http://east-wing.org/habibi-funk-a-spotlight-on-arab-grooves-ezp-189.html Music from Habibi Funk record label can be found on https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com https://soundcloud.c

In this episode we have Nawar Al Qasimi, the Development Manager at Sharjah Art Foundation. She shares with us the history and role of the foundation, how it is funded and its different initiatives over the years. Located in Sharjah’s historic Art and Heritage Areas, Sharjah Art Foundation's activities and events take place throughout the year and include exhibitions featuring Arab and international artists, performances, music, film screenings and artist talks, plus art education programmes for children, adults and families. The Foundation hosts the annual March Meeting and every two years presents the Sharjah Biennial. Latest exhibitions can be found here: http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/exhibitions Latest events can be found here: http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/events http://sharjahart.org https://twitter.com/SharjahArt https://www.facebook.com/SharjahArt https://www.instagram.com/sharjahart You can find images on our Instagram instagram.com/p/Bh_VTuIHySO/?taken-by=teawithcu

In this episode we discuss the cultural growth and development in Sharjah through its consistently growing and developing Sharjah Museums Authority. Wael Hattar interviews Manal Ataya the Director General of Sharjah Museums Authority and Alya Al Mulla the Curator for Sharjah Art Museum and they discuss the over all idea of managing the museums and collections, and how they have adapted over the years and how they currently navigate world of marketing and the community. We also focus on Sharjah Art Museum's history being the first art museum in the gulf region and its growth over the years. They explain to us how their collection has grown and been shown, their latest long term loan of the collection from the Barjeel Art foundation as well as the shows they are having in 2018. Link to the app: Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sharjah-museums-authority/id1358328320?ls=1&mt=8 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sma.sharjahmuseums www.sharjahmuseums.ae twitter.com/sharjahmuseums

Overnight Film Festival is a communal cinema experience at the legendary Queens Hotel in the seaside town of Eastbourne in the UK. The festival includes guest curators, a programme of unique screenings (many on 35mm prints), communal eating, immersive discussions and fabulous parties. The festival started in 2016 and for its second edition in February 2018, Hind Mezaina attended it and sat with two of its founding members Chloe Trainer and Isabel Moir to talk about how the festival started and what it hopes to achieve. http://overnightfilmfestival.com https://twitter.com/OvernightFF https://www.facebook.com/overnightFF/ https://www.instagram.com/overnight_film_festival/ You can see photos from the festival on our Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg0LEq4Bvy0/?taken-by=teawithculture

In this episode our guest Ala Younis has a conversation with Hind Mezaina about her latest exhibition "Plan for Feminist Greater Baghdad" at the Art Jameel Project Space in Dubai, which is on until 14th March 2018. Plan for Feminist Greater Baghdad builds on Younis’s 2015 work, Plan for Greater Baghdad, which looked at monuments, (by) architects, (for) governments, and the short state of empowerment they gained as politics shifted in Iraq. The project anchored itself within the history of a gymnasium in Baghdad that was designed by Le Corbusier and named after Saddam Hussein. Heavily based on archives, found material, and the stories of its male protagonists, the project explored issues relating to the protection of monuments for posterity, and the creation of plans for Baghdad as either an expression of power or as a necessity. Plan for Feminist Greater Baghdad brings to the fore the significant contributions made by female artists, architects and other influential characters to the development of Baghd

An interview about Ana Contemporary Arab Cinema, the annual film series at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville in Westchester County, New York since 2012. We interviewed Lina Matta who is the Curator of Ana contemporary Arab cinema and discussed it’s history and current interaction as well as the state of festivals, series and other film viewing situations. Lina talked about how she goes about finding films, selecting the films and creating a film series, as well as discussing with us the cinema experience in general. You can find more about the film festival on their website: www.anaarabcinema.com as well as additional info on their facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ANAarabcinema/ twitter: @AnaArabCinema insta: @anaarabcinema pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/anaarabcinema/

Serge Attukwei Clottey talked with Wael Hattar about his art practise, focusing on his more recent works in performance and social interaction, as well as his interest in working on topics of migration and gender. They also discussed the art scene in Ghana with it's community and politics. The show "The Displaced" at LawrieShabibi is on from 20 January until 3 March 2018, and part of a Gallery Takeover by Gallery 1957 from Accra, Ghana. You can find more information on their web page. http://www.lawrieshabibi.com/exhibitions/57/overview/ - You can view more images on our Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/p/BetHKGWBdB7/?taken-by=teawithculture. All images courtesy Gallery 1957 and the artist - You can find the link to the Video piece discussed "The Displaced" through this link from a review last year in Sleek of his show at Jane Lombard Gallery in NewYork http://www.sleek-mag.com/2017/01/18/serge-attukwei-clottey/

In this episode we talk to Dana Sadek, one of the co-founders of Reel Palestine Film Festival, launched in 2015 and takes place across the UAE. Reel Palestine aims to "allow viewers to cinematically travel to Palestine, sans restrictions" by screening films sharing Palestinian culture and the tenacity of its people, and to learn about stories that slip under the radar, We discuss the origins of the festival and its growth over the past few years. The 2018 edition takes place between 19 and 27 January in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Visit http://www.reelpalestine.org for more details. Follow Reel Palestine on: https://www.facebook.com/reelpalestine https://www.instagram.com/reelpalestine/

We speak to Fadi Baki aka The Fdz about his film Last Days of the Man of Tomorrow which recently screened at Dubai International Film Festival 2017. We discuss what inspired him, the making of the film and sci-fi in the Arab world. Fadi (The Fdz) Baki is a filmmaker, comicbook writer and animator. He is the co-founder of Samandal (http://www.samandalcomics.org), one of the Middle East’s premier comic magazines, and a co-founder of Beirut Animated (https://www.facebook.com/BeirutAnimated/), the Lebanese animation film festival run by Metropolis Cinema (http://www.metropoliscinema.net). About the film Last Days of the Man of Tomorrow: A young filmmaker investigates the legend of ‘Manivelle’, an automaton gifted to Lebanon in 1945 that still haunts an abandoned mansion in Beirut. After being coaxed back into the limelight, the people who knew him come forward to speak out and the myth that ‘Manivelle’ has constructed around himself starts to unravel. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-6q7gigtss You

In our second part about Dubai International Film Festival 2017, we are joined by Faisal Al Jadir, film journalist from Empire Arabia. We discuss the following films (and included at which we minute we start each discussion): Arab films - Wajib - 1:36 - Cactus Flower - 4:33 - Kiss me Not - 6:50 - Beauty and the Dogs - 8:53 - Until the End of Time - 10:52 - Sharp Tools - 12:05 Documentaries - Panoptic - 15:20 - Man Behind the Microphone - 16:45 Short Films and the quality of short films in the Arab region 17:55 - The Remaining Time - The Last Days of the Man of Tomorrow - A Drowning Man - Bonboné - Into Reverse Cinema of the World - The Square - 29:41 - A Gentle Creature - 31:59 - The Seen and Unseen 34:17 - The Death of Stalin - 36:12 - You Were Never Really Here - 38:40 - The Disaster Artist - 41:25 - Three billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouri - 45:51 - I, Tonya - 49:16 You can follow Faisal Al Jadir on Twiiter https://twitter.com/faisalaljadir and Emipre Arabia on https://twitter.com/empi

Dubai International Film Festival 2017 took place between 6-13 December. In our first report, we share our overall impressions, highlights of the festival, favourite films and discuss things that could be improved. We are joined by Christopher Alario, a special collections librarian/archivist and cinephile who lives and works in the region and attended the festival with us. We discuss the following films in this episode: The Last Days of the Man of Tomorrow (dir. Fadi Baki) The Square (dir. Ruben Östlund) The Death of Stalin (dir. Armando Iannucci) The Disaster Artist (dir. James Franco) The Seen and Unseen (dir. Kamila Andini) I am Not a Witch (dir. Rungano Nyoni) You Were Never Really Here (dir. Lynne Ramsay) The Message (dir. Moustapha Akkad, 1977)