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.

In Beirut, Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture organized Marche 8, an open market for crafts, embroidery and food produced by women participating individually and in conjunction with organizations. In the West Bank, the Palestinian Performing Arts Network, the Consulate General of Sweden and the Freedom Theater launched a joint cultural event on March 7 at the Nablus Municipality Center that included musical performances by the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music and the Darb Popular Dabke Troupe.

Among the other art events this month are the following.