Author: Matthew Westphal

Pakistan Would Love To Restrict Bollywood Movies, But Its People Just Can’t Quit Them

After brief military hostilities between India and Pakistan in 2016, Pakistani cinema owners boycotted Indian movies; attendance promptly fell to 11 percent, and the boycott was over within a few months. Something similar has happened each time there’s a crisis between the two countries. Pakistani audiences’ addiction to Bollywood has withstood every attempt to introduce movies from other Muslim countries — and has kept the country’s own film industry from growing. – The New York Times

Egypt’s New Capital Will Have A Major New Cultural Complex (But Will Anyone Come To It?)

New Cairo City, currently under construction on the edge of the metro area, about 25 miles from central Cairo, will become Egypt’s administrative center; the “city of arts and culture” within it, to be completed in 2022, will have a 2,000-seat opera house, two other theaters for music and drama, cinemas, museums, art galleries, and libraries. While Egyptian arts figures welcome the facilities, they’re warning that audiences won’t come from the old city unless the government makes sure there are things worth seeing. – Al-Monitor

Maverick Conductor Teodor Currentzis Stomps Away From His Russian Home Base

The Greek-born maestro, a naturalized Russian citizen, has been getting plenty of love-it-or-hate-it attention for recordings (particularly of Mozart operas) with his period-orchestra-and-chorus MusicAeterna. Since 2011, he and his ensemble have been in residence at the State Opera and Ballet in the Urals city of Perm. Now they’re leaving, with Currentzis complaining of lack of understanding and interference from local and regional politicians: “Without their complete lack of understanding, the absence of all reverence and sensitivity, I would never have summoned the strength to make the decision to abandon my heavenly kingdom [at the opera house].” (in German; Google Translate version here) – Musik Heute (Germany)

Blind Dance Company brings talent into the light

“The Blind Dance Company currently has ten blind dancers, some of whom lost their eyesight later in life. ‘Many blind people love to dance, and stopped dancing when losing their sight,’ [company founder Hydeia] Muhammad said. ‘I teach blind dancers the same way I teach any clients. I feel like it’s easier to teach blind dancers because they’re not trying to figure out what’s happening ahead of time. They kind of relax and let the physical guidance teach them.'” – CBS

The Académie Française Has Ruled On The Difference Between A Slut And A Bastard

Yes, with this recent bulletin, les immortels of the august body founded by Cardinal Richelieu in 1634 want to be sure that all French-speakers properly distinguish between une salope (a slut) and un salaud (a bastard) — and they warn that the alternatively gendered forms of these words (un salop for men and une salaude for women) are archaic and should be avoided. (Twitterverse, à l’attaque!) – The Local (France)

The So-Cal Native Who’s Giving Cambodian Classical Dance A Queer Twist

“[Prumsodun] Ok, a Long Beach, California, native whose parents were Cambodian refugees, not only restages traditional works of Khmer classical dance but also uses the stories and vocabulary of the ancient style to create new works that center LGBTQ+ characters and perspectives. In the process, he’s helped to revitalize and bring global attention to an art form that was nearly wiped out with the vast majority of its practitioners in the Khmer Rouge genocide of the late 1970s.” – Dance Magazine