This is Beirut

Adidas Accused of Cultural Appropriation Over Oaxaca-Inspired Sandals

This is Beirut, 10:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Adidas Fashion Heritage Culture Art Mexico

US fashion designer Willy Chavarria said Saturday he regrets that sandals he created together with Adidas “appropriated” a traditional design from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Local authorities had complained that the Oaxaca Slip-On sandals were a “reinterpreted” model of huarache sandals, particularly one found uniquely in the ...

Fire Swiftly Contained at Cordoba’s Historic Mosque-Cathedral

This is Beirut, 09/08 12:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

UNESCO Architecture Culture Art History Heritage

A fire broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba on Friday, but the monument was saved as firefighters quickly contained and then extinguished it, the Spanish city's mayor said. Widely shared videos had shown flames and smoke billowing from inside the major tourist attraction, visited by two million people per year. "The ...

Disney and Actress Gina Carano End High-Profile Legal Dispute

This is Beirut, 08/08 13:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Cinema Actress Disney Star Wars Culture Art

A Star Wars actor who sued Disney for firing her over inflammatory social media posts about the Holocaust, the pandemic and trans rights has reached a settlement with the Hollywood studio, the entertainment giant announced Thursday. Gina Carano, a prominent Donald Trump supporter who had a major role in the hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian ...

Scandal-Plagued Director Kechiche Returns with Festival Premiere

This is Beirut, 08/08 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Film Cinema Culture Art Abdellatif Kechiche

A new film by award-winning but scandal-prone French director Abdellatif Kechiche has been selected by a Swiss film festival, marking a comeback six years after his last widely panned feature, organizers said Tuesday. The third film of his Mektoub My Love trilogy — titled Mektoub My Love: Canto Due — is to show in competition at the Locarno ...

Luc Besson’s Dracula: A Timeless Tale of Love

Marie-Christine Tayah, 07/08 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Dracula Movie Cinema Art Culture Luc Besson

Luc Besson’s latest film, Dracula, is generating buzz among audiences and critics alike. Inspired by Bram Stoker’s classic novel, the French director elevates the literary and historical roots of the story into a sweeping, gothic cinematic ode to love. With Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, and Zoë Bleu in the leading roles, this ...

Forgotten First Edition of ‘The Hobbit’ Sparks Bidding Frenzy

This is Beirut, 06/08 14:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

The Hobbit Movie Book Trilogy Culture Art

A rare first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit was expected to sell for thousands of pounds on Wednesday after it was found during a house clearance in southwest England. The book is one of 1,500 original copies of the British author's seminal fantasy novel that were published in 1937. Of those, only "a few hundred are believed to still ...

Giotto, Padua, Jerusalem: The First Kiss in Art History

Bélinda Ibrahim, 05/08 18:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Giotto Jerusalem Padua Kiss Art History

Within the sacred dimness of the Scrovegni Chapel, this scene immediately draws the eye with its unexpected tenderness. Two faces nearly touch, two foreheads gently meet and two lips reach for each other. This is neither Romeo and Juliet nor Tristan and Isolde, but Joachim and Anne, the biblical couple and parents of Mary, the future mother of ...

Chopin’s Spirit Fills Polish Mountain Town at Festival

This is Beirut, 05/08 12:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Chopin Festival Music Art Piano Culture

A few hundred people gather in front of a large white tent in the peaceful spa town of Duszniki-Zdroj, nestled on the Polish-Czech border. Inside, the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra is preparing to open the 80th edition of the International Chopin Piano Festival. "I've loved Chopin for so many years!" said Erin Gao, a 33-year-old from ...

From Beirut’s August 4 Tragedy to 'Blooming Joy' by Rana Hatem Slim

Marie-Christine Tayah, 04/08 19:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Painting August 4 Beirut Culture Art Beirut

Gemspace Art Gallery, tucked in the heart of Beirut, is hosting the solo exhibition of artist Rana Hatem Slim. Titled Blooming Joy, the collection invites visitors into a luminous, sensory world where color and emotion intertwine to celebrate joy in all its forms. Rana Hatem Slim spoke to This is Beirut about her work. In the gentle chaos of ...

Italy’s Fast Fashion Hub Turns Into Chinese Mafia Crime Battleground

This is Beirut, 04/08 13:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Fashion Italy China Culture Art Fast-fashion

When Zhang Dayong lay in a pool of blood on a sidewalk in Rome after being shot six times, few suspected a link to Italy's storied textile hub of Prato. But a "hanger war" is raging in the city near Florence — turning Europe's largest apparel manufacturing center and a pillar of Made in Italy production into a battleground for warring Chinese ...

'Fantastic Four' Holds Box Office Lead for Second Weekend

This is Beirut, 04/08 10:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Cinema Film Box Office Culture Art

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Disney’s debut of the rebooted Marvel Comics franchise, continued to outperform the competition for a second straight weekend at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday. Actor-of-the-moment Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Emmy-winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn star as the titular ...

Indian Filmmakers Rush to Cash In on Cross-Border Conflict

This is Beirut, 03/08 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Cinema India FIlms Pakistan Culture Art

Indian filmmakers are locking up the rights to movie titles that can profit from the patriotism fanned by a four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people. The nuclear-armed rivals exchanged artillery, drone, and air strikes in May, after India blamed Pakistan for an armed attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. The ...

Art