What It Takes to Be Mister Lebanon

As opportunities shrink in Lebanon, contestants are pouring increasing amounts of time, money and effort into the country’s most famous male beauty pageant, and the possibilities it might unlock

5 Young Arab Designers Who Refuse to Blend In

The emerging cohort of designers transforming raw material into a living temperament

HinDidi: When Bollywood Invited Algeria to Dance 

In the aftermath of independence, Bollywood offered Algeria something revolution could not: the freedom to dream, to love, and to imagine a life beyond struggle. Decades later, one Indian film, Janitou, remains a tender relic of a future that never quite arrived

Salam, El Mehdi!

Pop star, filmmaker and now leading man, El Mehdi talks gatekeeping, going home and the peace that comes with choosing yourself

Eurovision, Samira Said, and Morocco’s Unreceived Love Letter

Revisiting Morocco’s choice to perform at Eurovision in 1980, the first and last Arab country to do so, reveals a complex web of forces at play in our history, and a legacy that stands in evidence of a confused national identity, much less healed from colonial violation than it purports to be

At SeeDjerba, the Tunisian Island Becomes the Gallery

At its 2026 edition, See Djerba turned a Tunisian island's fortresses, shrines and craft villages into a gallery that asks you to look at the place as closely as the art

Tripoli’s Rumman Music Festival Returns for a Fifth Edition

Running 4 and 5 September, the festival brings SANAM, EMSALLAM, Ma-Beyn, and Tripoli's own BILEL to the city's revived Art Deco cinema

Duette Studio One-Ups Itself with Duette+

The creative duo introduce a cultural clubhouse to Dubai Mall