Culture Alert: March salutes women of all nationalities and sizes
Many cultural activities in March focus on women, as artists and muses, in addition to the search for identity. Also of note is the first cooperation between the Louvre and the National Museum of Iran.
With March 8 having been International Women’s Day, women’s events dominated the first week of March's cultural calendar in the Middle East. The Cairo Women’s Film Festival, held March 3-9, showcased regional and international films produced by women. The festival, which launched in 2007, focused on Lebanon this year, screening six Lebanese films, including the award-winning “A Feeling Greater than Love,” directed by Beirut-based cineaste and geographer Mary Jirmanus Saba.
On March 8, in Bursa, Turkey, “Women, Dreams and Dragons,” an exhibition of women painters, opened, examining the social pressures and expectations placed on women. It continues through May 8 at the Nilufer Municipality Center. Meanwhile, Turkey’s Filmmor, a feminist film festival on wheels, kicked off in Istanbul on March 10 and will travel to eight cities in two months.
