The school Nollywood built: How new Nigerian filmmakers got their groove on | Arts and Culture

The school Nollywood built: How new Nigerian filmmakers got their groove on | Arts and Culture

In November 2020 while the COVID-19 pandemic was strangling creative endeavours across the planet, veteran Nigerian filmmaker Steve Gukas announced a new venture. Called First Features, it launched a search for 12 disciples, or first-time directors, to elevate storytelling standards in Nollywood, the world’s second largest film industry by volume….

Snubs, protests and history makers: What to know about the 2024 Oscars | Arts and Culture News

Snubs, protests and history makers: What to know about the 2024 Oscars | Arts and Culture News

The red carpet has been unfurled for the 96th annual Academy Awards, one of the movie industry’s oldest and most acclaimed ceremonies. It’s a night of glitz, artistry and controversy, as some of the biggest films in the United States and around the world compete for the golden statuettes known…

How has modern Russian culture been shaped by Putin’s war in Ukraine? | Russia-Ukraine war News

How has modern Russian culture been shaped by Putin’s war in Ukraine? | Russia-Ukraine war News

Before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to mount a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Andrey Muravyev, better known as the artist DazBastaDraw, mainly drew sketches and comics for himself as a hobby with no particular desire to make them public. Now he showcases his patriotic…

Israel agrees to revise lyrics rejected by Eurovision | Arts and Culture News

Israel agrees to revise lyrics rejected by Eurovision | Arts and Culture News

Public broadcaster Kan says Israeli President Herzog has called for adjustments of song due to political content. Israel has reportedly asked lyricists to revise the country’s proposed Eurovision Song Contest entries, potentially heading off a dispute with organisers over political content. In a statement on Sunday, Israeli public broadcaster Kan…

‘No identity’: Why is Kenyan music failing to break through globally? | Arts and Culture

‘No identity’: Why is Kenyan music failing to break through globally? | Arts and Culture

Nairobi, Kenya – In November 2023 when the Grammy Awards announced five inaugural nominees for the Best African Music Performance category, only South Africa and Nigeria were represented. The news sparked a debate about the continuing trend of contemporary music from both countries – Amapiano and Afrobeats – dominating the…

Thousands of artists call for Israel’s exclusion from Venice Biennale | Israel War on Gaza News

Thousands of artists call for Israel’s exclusion from Venice Biennale | Israel War on Gaza News

Art Not Genocide Alliance says that any works that represent Israel are an ‘endorsement of its genocidal policies’ in Gaza. Thousands of artists, curators and museum directors have called for Israel to be excluded from this year’s Venice Biennale art fair and accused the exhibition of “platforming a genocidal apartheid…

Palestinian singer running to represent Iceland at Eurovision contest | Music News

Palestinian singer running to represent Iceland at Eurovision contest | Music News

Bashar Murad said he wants to use his song to ‘illustrate’ the difficulties Palestinians face in order to be heard. Palestinian pop singer Bashar Murad is hoping to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest in May and bring “a Palestinian voice to the main stage”. Iceland is expected to…

We must ‘rehumanise ourselves’: Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour | Israel War on Gaza

We must ‘rehumanise ourselves’: Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour | Israel War on Gaza

I first encountered Sliman Mansour, whose paintings portray the daily and historical struggles of the Palestinian people, last year at Art Cairo in the pharaonic enormity of the Grand Egyptian Museum. The event brought together some of the most acclaimed painters, photographers, graffiti artists, and other creatives from across the…

Dahomey doc on Europe’s looted African art wins Berlin film festival | Arts and Culture News

Dahomey doc on Europe’s looted African art wins Berlin film festival | Arts and Culture News

Dahomey, a documentary by Franco-Senegalese director Mati Diop probing the thorny issues surrounding Europe’s return of looted antiquities to Africa, has won the Berlin International Film Festival’s top prize. Kenyan-Mexican Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o announced the seven-member panel’s choice for the Golden Bear award at a gala ceremony in the…

How Kagiso Lediga became the most sought-after filmmaker in South Africa | Arts and Culture

How Kagiso Lediga became the most sought-after filmmaker in South Africa | Arts and Culture

As a teenager in drama school in Cape Town in the 1990s, Kagiso Lediga was bored by the heavy focus on theatre and Shakespeare in the curriculum. For a teenager who had grown up in Pretoria, he thought he had seen far more interesting things. Lediga’s mum trained as a…