Southern Lebanon once had more than a dozen working cinemas. Today, it has just four.
“The golden age for cinema in Lebanon was the 1960s and 1970s,” said Kassem Istanbouli, 31, an actor and director, who has dedicated himself to reopening theatres across the country.
He said that even in the first years of the civil war that began in 1976, cinema attendance grew.
But then, “in 1982, the Israelis occupied the Hamra and Rivoli theatres in Tyre”, said Mr Istanbouli, who grew up in southern Lebanon’s largest city.
“It was to prevent people from gathering and to stop them from being used by the Palestinian fighters.”
After that, cinemas across the country began closing their doors. By the end of the civil war there were none left open in the south and few elsewhere.
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In 2014, Mr Istanbouli began to renovate and reopen some of these shuttered cinemas, starting with the Hamra and the Rivoli in Tyre. The Hamra closed two years later after the owner of the building decided to sell it, but Mr Istanbouli recently secured a 10-year lease to operate the Rivoli.
He's now looking to buy Cinema Stars, a rundown 400-seat theatre in the southern city of Nabatiyeh that has been closed since 1988.
“We have US$16,000 (Dh58,778) so far,” said Mr Istanbouli. “We need $92,000 in the next [22 days] to buy it. If we don’t save it, it will be turned into a clothing factory."
Mr Istanbouli's non-profit theatre company, the Tyro Association for Arts, has already begin renovating Cinema Stars in exchange for using the space to host performances. But now the owner wants to sell the building.
“Even if we get $50,000, we can buy it with a loan,” Mr Istanbouli added.
Nabatiyeh already has a cinema owned by the Empire movie theatre chain which opened in 2016.
“The tickets are expensive,” Mr Istanbouli said. “You cannot compare it to what we are doing. It’s not just about showing movies, it is also about what you are showing."
Cinema is in Mr Istanbouli’s blood. He credits his grandfather with bringing the first movie projector to Lebanon from Greece in the 1930s.
But his goal is not just to show films; he also wants to provide spaces for cultural events, particularly live theatre.
Last month, Tyro organised a five day-long international festival at Cinema Stars and the Rivoli, which was attended by more than 1,000 people. The festival included performances by theatre companies from Argentina, Mexico, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
On a recent evening, Cinema Stars also hosted the Beirut-based Homemade Theatre Company, who performed a play about Article 522, a recently-repealed law that allowed convicted rapists in Lebanon to avoid jail by marrying their victims. The play was developed as part of a campaign run by Abaad, a women's rights and gender equality advocacy group, to educate people about the law, as well as similar statutes that remain on the books in Lebanon.
Chris Ghafoury, the Homemade Theatre Company's media coordinator, said Cinema Stars was the only venue in Nabatiyeh that would host such a performance.
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"It's important to have places like this theatre in every [city] to disseminate this message, or any campaign," he added.
"Some of the people who come say 'this is the first time I've seen a theatre'," Mr Istanbouli said.
“In Tyre, we have 400 shops for shisha, one library, and one theatre. But if there are places, people will come.”
Neither Cinema Stars' rough concrete floors nor a leaky pipe that dripped water all over the main staircase seemed to deter the roughly 50 attendees to the Homemade Theatre Company Performance, some of whom had come from nearby villages. Volunteers from Tyro cleaned the floors and guided people to their seats. The company has already begun renovating the cinema's lobby, hanging up decades-old movie posters it found in the theatre and putting some of the vintage projection equipment on display.
Tyro also brings theatre workshops to youth across the country and, after the play, some of its volunteers screened a short film made by Bassil, an 18-year-old Syrian man who is part of the company. The film detailed Bassil’s adjustment to living in Lebanon after leaving Syria, and he credited Tyro’s workshops with being a major part of that process.
“Art gathers all people,” said Bassil, who asked that his surname not be used. “There is no differentiation between anyone.”
Mr Istanbouli said spaces like Cinema Stars are essential for bringing together people in a country that has experienced communal violence.
“We have Syrians, we have Palestinians in Tyro,” Mr Istanbouli said. “They can speak and feel comfortable here.”
His next project is in an even less likely location — the nearby city of Bint Jbeil, which was almost entirely destroyed by Israeli shelling and airstrikes in the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah.
“It’s a building from the Ottoman era,” Mr Istanbouli said, breaking into a wide grin. “It survived 2006. I discovered it four months ago. It’s a small theatre, 88 seats. It was built in 1887.”
“These theatres are like my children,” he added.
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
11 cabbie-recommended restaurants and dishes to try in Abu Dhabi
Iqbal Restaurant behind Wendy’s on Hamdan Street for the chicken karahi (Dh14)
Pathemari in Navy Gate for prawn biryani (from Dh12 to Dh35)
Abu Al Nasar near Abu Dhabi Mall, for biryani (from Dh12 to Dh20)
Bonna Annee at Navy Gate for Ethiopian food (the Bonna Annee special costs Dh42 and comes with a mix of six house stews – key wet, minchet abesh, kekel, meser be sega, tibs fir fir and shiro).
Al Habasha in Tanker Mai for Ethiopian food (tibs, a hearty stew with meat, is a popular dish; here it costs Dh36.75 for lamb and beef versions)
Himalayan Restaurant in Mussaffa for Nepalese (the momos and chowmein noodles are best-selling items, and go for between Dh14 and Dh20)
Makalu in Mussaffa for Nepalese (get the chicken curry or chicken fry for Dh11)
Al Shaheen Cafeteria near Guardian Towers for a quick morning bite, especially the egg sandwich in paratha (Dh3.50)
Pinky Food Restaurant in Tanker Mai for tilapia
Tasty Zone for Nepalese-style noodles (Dh15)
Ibrahimi for Pakistani food (a quarter chicken tikka with roti costs Dh16)
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Company%20Profile
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The view from The National
Oscars in the UAE
The 90th Academy Awards will be aired in the UAE from 3.30am on Monday, March 5 on OSN, with the ceremony starting at 5am
Black Panther
Dir: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Five stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
UAE%20SQUAD
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
KINGDOM%20OF%20THE%20PLANET%20OF%20THE%20APES
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SHAITTAN
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UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
THE BIO
Ms Davison came to Dubai from Kerala after her marriage in 1996 when she was 21-years-old
Since 2001, Ms Davison has worked at many affordable schools such as Our Own English High School in Sharjah, and The Apple International School and Amled School in Dubai
Favourite Book: The Alchemist
Favourite quote: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail
Favourite place to Travel to: Vienna
Favourite cuisine: Italian food
Favourite Movie : Scent of a Woman
Company%20Profile
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UAE squad
Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5-litre%204-cylinder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20101hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20135Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Six-speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh79%2C900%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Sweet%20Tooth
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Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Dark Souls: Remastered
Developer: From Software (remaster by QLOC)
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Price: Dh199
WISH
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
THE DETAILS
Kaala
Dir: Pa. Ranjith
Starring: Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi, Easwari Rao, Nana Patekar
Rating: 1.5/5