This is Beirut - culture

Fatih Akin Fears Jail, Blasts Turkish Government at Cannes

This is Beirut, 17:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Fatih Akin Cannes Film Festival France Cannes Cinema Culture

Acclaimed film director Fatih Akin said he fears ending up behind bars if he returns to Turkey, with his manager there in jail accused of attempting to overthrow the government. The Turkish-German auteur — a hero to many in the country for films like Head-On, In the Fade and the Istanbul music documentary Crossing the Bridge — told AFP late ...

Culture Wars and Chaos: Joaquin Phoenix Stars in Satirical 'Eddington'

This is Beirut, 15:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Cannes Cannes Film Festival France Culture Stars Cinema

Joaquin Phoenix stars in the darkly satirical Eddington, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, a biting take on America's culture wars set in a small New Mexico town. The film by fast-rising American director Ari Aster is an unsettling but often amusing Western-style thriller set amid America's toxic politics and conspiracy ...

From Power Ballads to Pyrotechnics: Europe Takes the Stage at Eurovision

This is Beirut, 12:35 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Eurovision Europe Contest Sweden Culture Music

In a blaze of laser lights, artists from 26 countries were preparing to rip the roof off at Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest final, the world's biggest live music television event. An estimated 160 million people across Europe and beyond are expected to tune in for the TV extravaganza, where kitsch, drama, pyrotechnics and histrionics take ...

Rushdie's Attacker Sentenced to 25 Years in US Prison

This is Beirut, 11:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Salman Rushdie US Iran Freedom Culture Writer

Hadi Matar, the American-Lebanese man who stabbed Salman Rushdie in 2022, was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison in the United States. Rushdie, a symbol of freedom of expression, sustained serious injuries in the knife attack. Matar, 27, who grew up in the U.S., was found guilty in February of attempted murder and assault by a jury following ...

Eurovision 2025: Will Celine Dion Return?

This is Beirut, 16/05 17:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Celine Dion Eurovision Prague Culture Music Art

As excitement builds for Saturday's Eurovision final, one question looms large: could superstar Celine Dion, now in fragile health, make a show-stopping appearance, 37 years after winning the competition? Dion became a global music icon, selling albums by the millions and staging groundbreaking sell-out concerts around the world. But she has ...

Eurovision Returns to Switzerland: A Legacy of Song Evolution

This is Beirut, 16/05 15:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Eurovision Switzerland Europe Music Culture Art

Switzerland is hosting Eurovision for the third time, with the extravaganza a world away from when it staged the inaugural competition in 1956—and also from 1989 when Celine Dion starred. The 2025 edition on May 17 in Basel will draw an expected TV audience of around 160 million, with viewers worldwide casting their votes. Here is a look back ...

Salman Rushdie’s attacker to be sentenced this Friday

This is Beirut, 16/05 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Salman Rushdie Writer Iran Culture Art Justice

Hadi Matar will be sentenced on Friday for trying to kill novelist Salman Rushdie in a 2022 knife attack at a New York cultural center. Hadi Matar, 27, faces up to 25 years in prison after being convicted of attempted murder and assault charges in February this year. During the trial, Rushdie told jurors about Matar "stabbing and slashing" him ...

New Cannes Festival Policy Bans Actor Accused of Rape

This is Beirut, 15/05 18:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Cannes 2025 Film Celebrity Women Agresssion Culture

The Cannes film festival barred an actor in a prominent French film from the red carpet on Thursday because of sexual assault allegations, unveiling a new policy under pressure from lawmakers and activists. Theo Navarro-Mussy plays a police officer in a supporting role in the film Dossier 137 by Dominik Moll, which is to premiere on Thursday in ...

Eurovision 2025: Spotlight on the Second Semifinal’s 16 Competitors

This is Beirut, 15/05 14:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Eurovision 2025 Music Semi-Final 2 Switzerland Culture

Sixteen countries are competing in the Eurovision Song Contest's second semifinal on Thursday, with viewers deciding which 10 go through to the grand final. Saturday's showpiece event takes place at the St Jakobshalle in the Swiss city of Basel. Ten countries have already qualified from Tuesday's first semifinal. The so-called ...

Tom Cruise’s Death-Defying ‘Mission’ Lights Up Cannes

This is Beirut, 15/05 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Tom Cruise Cannes Cannes Film Festival France Culture Cinema

Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning made its big grandstand premiere at the Cannes Film Festival Wednesday, with the first reviews saying it more than lives up to its steamroller hype. "What a rush!" The Guardian declared in its five-star love letter to Cruise's $400-million behemoth, calling him a modern "superhuman action ...

Top chef Georgiana Viou: blending cuisine across continents

This is Beirut, 14/05 19:25 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Benin Food Michelin Bistronomy France Culture Georgiana Viou

Georgiana Viou calls herself a "UFO", championing free and daring cuisine straddling two continents, from Cotonou's lively street markets to the kitchens of her Michelin-starred restaurant in Nimes, southern France. In the alleys of the historic Saint-Michel market in Benin's bustling economic capital, unchanged since her childhood, Viou goes ...

‘To Exist Is to Be Different:’ Creativity as Self-Affirmation

David Sahyoun, 14/05 18:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Exist Creativity Self-Affirmation Culture

For philosopher Jean Baudrillard, consumption is far more than an economic act – it is a system of communication and social control. We don’t consume merely to meet our needs; we consume to be like others, to belong to the collective. Behind the apparent abundance of choice hides an insidious conformity: you need to have this object to be ...

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