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Lebanese film director Khalil Zaarour to appear at Michigan screening

Lebanese film director Khalil Zaarour is set to appear at a Michigan film screening of his 2017 drama “Nour,” which follows the story of a 15-year-old girl forced into marriage.

The Lebanese American Club of Michigan (LACOM) is hosting the screening Oct. 24 at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, Mich., about 15 miles from Detroit.

The event begins at 7 p.m. with a meet-and-greet with Zaarour, who is traveling from Lebanon. Tickets are $15 per person.

According to its website, “Nour” features the story of a young girl forced to marry a boy she despises.

“Her carefree summer days morph into claustrophobic confinement and household chores,” the film’s synopsis said. “Nour mourns her lost childhood and scattered dreams. Easy summer days full of dreams, love and joy were the world of Nour and her group of friends who are torn apart by an event that changes Nour’s life forever.”

WATCH: Trailer for “NOUR” a film by Khalil Dreyfus Zaarour:

Zaarour is an award-winning writer and director known for his films, “Malaki” and “The Window,” which received the Best Film Award during the 13th European Film Festival.

Khalil Zaarour is an award-winning screenwriter and director. (Facebook/Nour)
Khalil Zaarour is an award-winning screenwriter and director. (Facebook/Nour)

For tickets to “Nour” in Royal Oak, Mich., click here. Zaarour is also appearing at a Washington, D.C. screening of the film, hosted by the LAU Alumni D.C. Chapter. Tickets to the D.C. event can be purchased here.

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 Lifestyle

Forgotten luxury hotel from Ottoman Empire re-opens in Lebanon

A forgotten luxurious hotel built under Ottoman rule over 100 years ago, in the village of Sofar east of Beirut, officially reopened its doors to the public on Sept. 16 as it celebrated works honoring its past by British artist Tom Young, according to AFP.

AFP offered a look inside the grand space and spoke to Young about his exhibition paying homage to the hotel’s glamorous past, before the civil war forced the building’s doors closed.

“This place is just full of history… it was once one of the greatest hotels in the Middle East,” Young, a 45-year-old painter who has been living in Lebanon for a decade, told AFP.

A sneak peak inside the Grand Sofar Hotel before it opened for public viewing. (Facebook/Tom Young Art)
A sneak peak inside the Grand Sofar Hotel before it opened for public viewing. (Facebook/Tom Young Art)

“It was where kings and princesses and emirs and generals used to meet — also the most famous singers of the day.”

The paintings on display for Young’s exhibition showcase the exclusive parties of high society, lively dance scenes in the ballroom, card games played by the rich and powerful as well as historic political meetings — sometimes held in secrecy.

“Breezing through the Grand Hotel’s seventy five roomed corridors you can almost hear the secret deals being made between generals and ministers as celebrity love affairs nestled in the corners of the Monkey Bar,” Young wrote on his website.

The Grand Sofar Hotel is open to the public for a special art exhibition until Oct. 14. (Facebook/Tom Young Art)
The Grand Sofar Hotel is open to the public for a special art exhibition until Oct. 14. (Facebook/Tom Young Art)

Young’s show will run through Oct. 14, but programming at the Grand Sofar Hotel will also include: music, dance performances, kids workshops and art workshops.

The hotel and exhibition are featured in a video shared by Young on YouTube, take a look inside:

Throughout the exhibition, Young’s website says shuttles to the hotel are available every Saturday of the week from Beirut. Pick-up is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the return is set for 7 p.m.

For more information, visit tomyoung.com or email grandsofarhotel@gmail.com.

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 Lifestyle

Lebanese street artist decorates abandoned Murr Tower with sun clothes

Lebanese street artist Jad Khoury decorated the abandoned Murr Tower with sun clothes to transform a ‘memorial of internal conflicts’ into public art.

The famous building is a symbol of the Lebanese Civil War, which began construction in 1974 and remained unfinished. The war began in 1975.

The 40-story building, located in downtown Beirut, remains abandoned.

Khoury told the French lifestyle outlet L’Agenda Culturel that sun clothes added color to the building and provides a paradox to the memories of conflict.

The sun clothes are set to remain on the building until September, the outlet added.

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 Lifestyle

American photographer transforms Beirut into minimalist artwork

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — American photographer and artist Matt Crump made Beirut his canvas recently, when he took to the streets to photograph local landmarks and transform them into minimalist artwork.

Crump is known for creating a movement called #candyminimal, a photography project which separates subjects in a photograph and edits them into a candy-colored image.

minimalist beirut

Crump collaborated with Beirut-born fashion designer Ryan Houssari to “glamorize reality” and showcase Beirut landmarks. Houssari is also the creative director of PLASTIK magazine, an independent art and fashion publication.

Crump’s work was recently published in the latest edition of PLASTIK, which was founded in 2009. The magazine’s highly stylized editorials have been acknowledged by the The Printing Industries of America in New York City with the “Premier Print” award in 2010, and the Golden Award for “Best Publication in the Middle East” by the DCCI Publishing Group at the 2009 Dubai Printing and Press awards.

minimalist beirut

minimalist beirut

Matt Crump is a full-time artist with a social-media following of over 125,000. Crump attributes his success to his distinctive use of candy-colored negative space and surreal compositions. He open-sourced his brand of photography with the hashtag #candyminimal, inspiring his international audience to create and tag over 50,000 of their own candy-colored photos.

minimalist beirut

minimalist beirut

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 Lifestyle

Lebanese video artist listed in Art Review “Power 100”

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(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese video artist Akram Zaatari was listed number 94 on ArtReview’s influential Power 100 list.

Zaatari, who is included for the first time, stands as the sole Lebanese figure and one of only three Arabs on the annual list of the most powerful people in the contemporary art world.

The Power 100 is selected by a committee of 26 art critics, museum directors, and artists from around the world.

According to the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Mark Rappolt, there are four basic criteria that determine who makes the cut: Selected figures must have an influence on the kind of art that is being produced, have been active in the past 12 months, have an international influence and have an influence over the public perception of what constitutes art.

Art Review wrote:

Zaatari, whose work involves a self-reflective examination of photography and documentary, has been busier than ever these past 12 months. His use of archival research and history as both subject and material, with a deft nod to the longstanding political turmoil of the Middle East, has won him curatorial fans far beyond his base in Beirut. Besides 2014 shows at Salt, Istanbul, and the Power Plant, Toronto, he had a survey at Wiels, Brussels, centring on the artist’s recurring motif of the letter. Last November he had a well-received exhibition of photographs and multimedia installations at Thomas Dane, London. That show included the 38-minute film On Photography People and Modern Times (2010), which, in part, is a portrait of the Arab Image Foundation, an expanding collection of over 600,000 vernacular and studio photographs from the Middle East, North Africa and the Arab diaspora, which the artist cofounded in 1997.

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