The Nightingale’s Prayer: One of the Best Egyptian Films Ever Made
The Nightingale’s Prayer – or Do’aa el Karawan – is an icon of Egyptian Cinema’s Golden age. Mayra Nassef writes about its strong female characters and its pioneering feminist themes that address gender inequality and cultures of shame.
Daftar Digest
We select the best from the Arab world each month, and put it in your inbox.
Curated Recommendations
Every time a guest joins us on one of our podcast series, they leave us with breadcrumbs to further explore some of the topics that they covered in the episode. Browse through some of the best recommendations for films, books, and music from the Arab world.
Staff Pick: Podcast Episode
Sonja Mejcher-Atassi
We did a deep dive into this episode of our This Is Not a Watermelon podcast with the author of "An Impossible Friendship: Group Portrait, Jerusalem Before and After 1948," professor Sonja Mejcher-Atassi.
Tsawwar
Tsawwar is a visual series enclosed monthly in our Daftar Digest and explores the stories behind a photograph taken in the region or by an Arab photographer.
Sah El Nawm: An Iconic Syrian TV Comedy Series
Mai J Abbassi reminisces about Sah El Nawm — a Syrian comedy series from the 70s — from huddling round windows to catch the newest episode to its satirical undertones and the love triangle at the heart of the show.
Kuwait's Drive-In Cinemas of the 1970s
A nostalgic personal essay in which Ghada Al-Bahar takes us back to the drive-in cinemas of 70s Kuwait.
The Baron: Syria's First Hotel After the War
A vibrant personal essay and travelogue that transports us to Aleppo’s iconic Baron Hotel, weaving together its history with its present.
QUARTERTONES MIXAPE“I want to represent some of the music of today that will be the past archive of tomorrow." DJ, producer and composer Jihed Khmiri (aka Pan-J) compiled an all-Tunisian mixtape for us this month.
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