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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Arab women to explore modernity's impact on the arts

Everything from literature to the cinema will be discussed at an upcoming festival in Tunisia, as Arab women grapple with how modernity has altered their artistic fields.

By Houda Trabelsi for Magharebia in Tunis – 14/04/10

To celebrate the success of the arts in the age of modernity, Arab women in fields ranging from literature to the cinema will meet on Thursday (April 15th) in Tunisia.

Participants in the 15th annual Festival of Creative Arab Women, set to unfold over two days in Sousse, will discuss how modernity has affected arts and literature.

"Ever since the foundation of the festival in 1996, the most important goals have been to shed light on creative outputs by Arab women," Mestiri told Magharebia. She also expressed the hope that the festival will continue to forge bonds between female Arab artists and allow them to benefit from each other's experiences.

Thirty female artists from Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Palestine and Kuwait are scheduled to attend the festival.

Tunisian First Lady Leila Ben Ali and the Arab Women Organization are officially sponsoring the gathering, which will spotlight submissions from students in order to mark "International Year of Youth" activities. Students will also be invited to discuss the impact of the on child development, Mestiri said.

Artists and writers will present papers on a variety of cultural topics to stimulate discussion of modernity and the arts.

Tunisian poet and sociology researcher Amel Moussa will focus her talk on how modernity should be embraced by artists, as it calls for turning the page on the past. This change, Moussa said, opens up a wide berth of creativity for female artists.

Also representing Tunisia, Saniye Shafie will give a talk on the presence of women in her country's cinema, while Iraqi director Aida Chlifer will discuss the impact of modernity on women working in Arab cinema as a whole.

Emirati journalist and poet Berouin Habib is scheduled to present on how the media has played a critical role in ushering in a new era of modernity.

Loubena al Kentar, who as Syria's first female opera star went on to found the Classical Arab Singing Band, will present on the consequences of Arab creative modernity.

The festival will include a field trip to the landmarks of old-town Sousse and a soiree featuring male and female poets from Tunisia and other countries. Participants will also attend a forum on the role of creative women in refining public tastes.

Tunisian singer Lamia Erriahi is scheduled to perform at the event.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/14/feature-03.

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