Tag: Tunisian French

SHARJAH, UAE / LEBANON / TUNISIAN-FRENCH: 19th ‘UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture’ Honours Winners Kassem Istanbouli and Hajer Ben Boubaker in Paris

Kassem Istanbouli, Lebanese actor-director, and Hajer Ben Boubaker, French researcher and sound director, were awarded the 19th UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture at an award ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 26th June 2023.


The event, organised by the Sharjah Department of Culture in collaboration with UNESCO, celebrated the achievements of two winners.


The ceremony was attended by Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Owais, Chairman of the Sharjah Department of Culture; Ernesto Ottone Ramirez, Assistant Director-General for Culture at UNESCO; Mohammed Ibrahim Al Qasir, Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs in Sharjah; Ahmed Al Mulla, Deputy Ambassador of the UAE to France, and Aisha Al Kamali, Representative of the Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of the UAE in France, along with dignitaries, writers, intellectuals and accredited diplomats to the United Nations (UN).


Al Owais and Ramirez presented the 19th edition of the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture to Istanbouli, winner of the Arab Personality Award, and Ben Boubaker, winner of the Non-Arab Personality Award.

The UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture recognizes recipients’ outstanding artistic achievements celebrating Arab art and culture globally. Core to UNESCO’s anti-racism and anti-discrimination agenda, the Prize promotes peace and dialogue to foster intercultural understanding and celebrate diversity.

For this 19th edition of the Prize, the international jury recognized Mr Istanbouli and Ms Ben Boubaker’s extraordinary contributions to promoting the arts and Arab culture and supporting their local communities.

Kassem Istanbouli is a Lebanese actor and director. Since 2014, he has led the rehabilitation of historical cinemas in Lebanon, including Stars Cinema in Nabatieh, and Al-Hamra and Rivoli in Tyre, abandoned or destroyed during civil war.

Mr Istanbouli is involved with several international projects focused on skills enhancement, youth empowerment and collaborative partnerships. In 2020 he co-founded the Arab Culture and Arts Network (ACAN) to design and implement online cultural activities across the Arab region. The Network includes over 700 organizational and individual members from across the world.

Mr Istanbouli is also director and founder of the Lebanese National Theater in Tyre and the Lebanese National Theater in Tripoli and has been a project manager at the Tiro Association for Arts in Lebanon since 2014.

Hajer Ben Boubaker is a French-Tunisian independent researcher and sound director. Her research focuses on a socio-historical analysis of Arab music and the cultural history of the Maghreb community in France and around the world.

In 2018, she created and self-produced the Vintage Arab podcast, which explores Arabic musical heritage. At the intersection of research and art, the podcast allows her to keep a foot in each sphere.

Ms Ben Boubaker is a producer and documentary director for France Culture, where her work questions the sound and political memory of immigration. As a researcher, she is associated with the Arab and Oriental music collection at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and continues to write for scientific journals, including “Paris, capitale maghrébine: une histoire Populaire” in October 2023.

Created in 1998 and run by UNESCO at the initiative of the United Arab Emirates, the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize awards two laureates per year — individuals, groups or institutions — in recognition of their contribution to Arab art and culture, or for participating in the dissemination of the latter outside the Arab world.

The initiative contributes towards the Organization’s objective of fostering inclusive, resilient and peaceful societies. The Prize carries a monetary value of USD 60,000, which is equally divided between the two laureates.

source/content: wam.ae (headline edited)

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SHARJAH, UAE / LEBANON / TUNISIAN-FRENCH

Tunisian-French Nadia Dhouib is Paco Rabanne’s New General Manager

Tunisian-French Nadia Dhouib has been named the new General Manager of Paco Rabanne. The former Galeries Lafayette Champs-Elysees managing director succeeds Bastien Daguzan, who served in the role for five years.

Dhouib will report to Vincent Thilloy, chief brands officer of Paco Rabanne and Jean Paul Gaultier, another fragrance brand owned by Spanish firm Puig.

Dhouib, founder of RethinkRetail Advisory, has aided designers in their shift from Galeries to RethinkRetail.Advisory. “Retail isn’t dead – it’s boring,” she explained to Vogue Arabia at her Galeries appointment, saying that she wanted to create an experience for clients. Keep an eye on this place to observe the transformation she brings to Paco Rabanne’s property.

The maison was founded in 1966 and rapidly developed an avant-garde and current identity. Its Spanish founder, Francisco Rabaneda y Cuervo, was the son of Balenciaga’s head seamstress. He fled Spain’s Civil War for France, where he took the name Paco Rabanne. He began his career as an architect before transitioning to avant-garde accessory design and creating one-of-a-kind pieces for haute couture houses. In 1966, he started his eponymous label, which featured outfits comprised of moulded plastics, hammered metal, aluminum jersey, and knitted fur. His eponymous chainmail gowns—as worn by Françoise Hardy—remain emblematic of the house to this day.

source/content: carthagemagazine.com (headline edited)

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FRANCE / TUNISIA

ARABS in PARIS: A Walking Tour of the French Capital’s Celebration of Middle Eastern Personalities

Back in 1729, the Parisian authorities introduced the French capitals iconic blue-and-green street name plaques, topped with a little “Napoleon’s hat” containing the number of the street’s arrondissement.

The plaques honor France and the world’s leading politicians, philosophers, artists, writers, and scientists, including a number associated with the Arab world. French President Emmanuel Macron has previously proposed renaming some of the capital’s streets to include more personalities from ethnic minorities, but that has not yet happened. Still, there are enough Arab names to comprise a walking tour around Paris — including a president, a poet, a pop star and more. 

Esplanade Habib Bourguiba, 7th arrondissement 

With a wonderful view of the Grand Palais, this large, peaceful stretch of greenery is named after independent Tunisia’s first president, Habib Bourguiba. The secular leader was in charge between 1957 and 1987, and was famously a supporter of women’s rights. Next to his plaque, there is a bronze bust of the leader looking towards the River Seine, with his name written in Arabic underneath. 

Promenade Gisèle Halimi, 7th arrondissement

Gisèle Halimi in Paris. (AFP)

An admirer of Bourguiba, Halimi was a Tunisian-born French lawyer, feminist, and former member of the National Assembly in France. She died in 2020, aged 93, and this sloping pathway was named after her last year. Halimi’s life of hardships shaped the respected career she had. When she was born, her father hid her — ashamed of her gender. She went on a hunger strike at 10 and, at 16, rejected an arranged marriage, going on to study law in Paris. Halimi is perhaps best known for a 1972 trial, in which she defended a minor who had an abortion after being raped. It was a key event that propelled the country into legalizing abortion in 1975. 

Place Mahmoud Darwich, 6th arrondissement 

Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe (second from right) and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (second from left) unveil on June 14, 2010 in Paris the new Mahmoud Darwich esplanade named after the Palestinian poet who died Aug. 9, 2008. (AFP)

In 2010, just two years after the death of Palestine’s most famous poet Mahmoud Darwish, a square in Paris was inaugurated in his honor. Known for his writings on home, memory, and exile, Darwish spent many years outside of his native land. He lived in Beirut, Cairo, Tunis, and Paris. He had a special connection with the latter, describing it as the place where his “true poetic birth” happened. The plaque is situated in a district the poet reportedly liked, on the banks of the Seine and near the classical buildings of Institut de France and Monnaie de Paris.

Paris Massacre of 1961 memorial, 4th arrondissement

A few minutes away from Notre Dame Cathedral stands an unassuming but sobering reminder of how an Arab collective suffered during the turbulent Sixties. In 1961, when Algeria was seeking independence, a group of Algerian protesters were attacked by the police and some of their bodies were thrown into the Seine. In 2021, to mark the 60th anniversary of this horrific event, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo inaugurated a memorial artwork, made of metal with silhouettes of heads carved out, in remembrance of those who lost their lives. 

Maison de Dalida, 18th arrondissement 

Between 1962 and 1987, the blonde bombshell diva Dalida, who was born to Italian parents in Egypt, lived in this four-story townhouse in hilly Montmartre, a quiet area outside of the bustling city center of the city that is historically associated with artists. Dalida sang in a variety of languages, including French, Italian, and Arabic. “Salma Ya Salama” and “Helwa Ya Baladi” are some of her most loved Arabic songs. Sadly, it was in this house that she committed suicide in 1987, as a result of tragedies in her personal life. The plaque on her house reads: “Her friends from Montmartre will not forget her.” 

Maison de Gibran Khalil Gibran, 15th arrondissement 

The acclaimed Lebanese-born poet and philosopher — and author of “The Prophet” — Khalil Gibran is well-known as a member of the Arab diaspora in 20th-century America. But he also lived in France for a time. Between 1908 and 1910, Gibran, who was then in his twenties, studied painting at Académie Julian in Paris. His stay in the city was made possible by the financial backing of American philanthropist, editor and Gibran’s lover Mary Haskell, who was 10 years his senior.

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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A memorial to remember the 1961 attack on Algerian protesters by the police in Paris. (Supplied)

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ARABS IN PARIS, FRANCE

Tunisian-French Film Producer Tarak Ben Ammar buys Studios De Paris from EuropaCorp

Tunisian-French film producer Tarak Ben Ammar has finalized a $37 million deal to purchase Studios de Paris, the production facility outside the French capital.

The studios are known for being home to Netflix shows such as “Emily in Paris” and “Murder Mystery 2” and blockbusters such as “Jackie,” “Lucy” and “Taken 2”.

The facility, which has nine sound stages, was placed under court protection a year ago for its debt which are being paid by the acquisition, reported Variety

The studios were co-founded by Ben Ammar, who co-owned them through his company Bleufontaine along with EuropaCorp, a French film and TV production and distribution company created by Luc Besson in 1999, Front Line, Europacorp’s holding company, and Euromedia, a live transmissions company.

Now, Ben Ammar has acquired the shares owned by all three other partners in a deal completed via Eagle Pictures France, a subsidiary of the producer’s Italy operation.

The studios will continue to “represent a center of excellence for the French film industry and be an attractive factor for the entire sector,” according to a statement released by EuropaCorp to investors.

source/content: arabnews.com

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The studios are known for being home to Netflix shows such as “Emily in Paris” and “Murder Mystery 2.” (Studio de Paris)

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FRANCE / TUNISIA

Tunisian Filmmaker Kauther Ben Hamaad and Tunisian-French Actor Samir Bouajila Win Awards at France’s Lumiere Awards : January 2021

Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Man Who Sold his Skin” was awarded the International Coproduction Lumiere Award, while Tunisian-French actor Sami Bouajila took home the Best Actor Lumiere Award for his performance in Mehdi Barsaoui’s “A Son.”

The Lumieres — the French equivalent of the American Golden Globes — was held in January 2021 and broadcast on French TV channel Canal+. France-based foreign reporters vote on the film awards.

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pix: arabweekly.com / Tunisian film director Kaouther Ben Hania (L) and producer Nadim Cheikhrouha (R) pose during a photo session in Paris on January 15, 2021 following the 26th “Ceremonie des lumieres” cinema award ceremony. (AFP)

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TUNISIAN / TUNISIAN-FRENCH