August World Picks from the Editors

Online panel discussions, films, exhibitions, and mixtapes … TMR World Picks run the gamut…

We welcome your suggestions: editor@themarkaz.org

TMR

Les Veilleurs — Ali Cherri at the [mac]

Through January 4, 2026, at the Mac, Musée d’Art Contemporain Marseille — more info

It’s a bit like that abyss quote; if you look at history long enough, history starts looking at you. We are hit by this realization when we walk into the exhibition Les Veilleurs, by artist Ali Cherri, at the [mac]. The show prompts viewers to reevaluate the museum and, through it, the way we perceive history, shedding the Maya veil of strict chronology. We begin to think about history less as a linear succession of events, war, and artistic movements — mostly under Western guidance — but rather as a history of encounters, of findings, of stories. Of something that starts in medias res. —Naima Morelli

Tales (Ghesseh-ha)

July 26, Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis, US — more info

Composed of seven interconnected stories, each delving into the struggles and complexities of working-class life and labor, Tales reflects on myriad social, political, and personal crises facing modern Iranians. Blending documentary and narrative forms, the film subverts expectations. It examines the impacts of drug addiction, domestic violence, and union crackdowns, all bound up in a critique of an overly bureaucratic state. Selected to compete and screen at many renowned events, like the Venice International Film Festival and TIFF, director Rakshan Banietemad’s film is as relevant today as it was upon its release in 2014.

DRONE: a New Play by Andrea Assaf

July 31 + August 1-3, 2025, Detroit Public Theater, Detroit, US — more info

DRONE, by Joyce Award-winning playwright Andrea Assaf, is a new play that explores the drone as a metaphor for how we become desensitized to daily violence (domestic and global), the question of Moral Injury, and the effects of remote-control warfare on the human soul. This transdisciplinary performance project integrates theatre, live music, emerging technologies, and artistic containers for public dialogue. The play intertwines songs from the U.S. South to Syria, featuring internationally acclaimed vocalist Lubana Al Quntar.

Exhibition: Between Sky and Sea by Gazan photographer Ismail Abu Hatab

Aug 2, Palestine House, London, UK — more info

An obscene number of creatives have been brutally slaughtered during Israel’s now nearly two year offensive against Gaza. Ismail Abu Hatab was a 34-year-old Palestinian filmmaker, photojournalist, and storyteller. He was killed on June 30 of this year during an Israeli airstrike on the beachfront Al-Baqa Café, in western Gaza City. His murder is yet again “a grim reminder of the unfettered violence facing Gazan journalists, with more than 180 journalists and media workers killed in the war so far,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists’ regional director Sara Qudah.

The exhibition Between Sky and Sea is an immersive photography exhibition created by Abu Hatab, from Gaza. It takes place in a tent and captures the emotional and physical displacement of the Palestinians on Gazan beaches, living in tents, some of canvas, others from remnants of fabric, like old parachutes, their only protection against the elements. The exhibition first debuted in Los Angeles and this is its third iteration in London, this time hosted by Abu Hatab’s own initiative, BYPA (@bypa.bypalestine), in partnership with Palestine House. Abu Hatab had lost his ability to walk over a year due to a 2023 Israeli airstrike. Yet, he continued his work on crutches; his resolve never wavered. He was also a trainer and mentor, and led storytelling workshops with DW Akademie, UNESCO, and other organizations in the Arab world. He and many others will be sorely missed.

Jordan International Food Festival

Aug 6 – 11, Amman Airport Road, Amman, Jordan — more info

A chance for food enthusiasts to savor diverse flavors, witness culinary artistry in a celebration of food and culture. Visitors can enjoy an array of restaurants, cooking demos, culinary panels, and hands-on master classes with international chefs as well as six days of live music.

Hiba Tawaji Live show

Aug 8 & 9, Baalbeck International Festival, Baalbeck, Lebanon — more info

The Baalbeck International Festival is set to showcase Hiba Tawaji, who recently captivated audiences during the historic reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Under the skilled musical direction of the acclaimed composer, musician, and producer Oussama Rahbani, this event will feature a full orchestra and choir. The evening will also include a tribute to the legendary Mansour Rahbani on the occasion of his centenary.

Book Talk: Empty Cages by Fatma Qandil, translated from Arabic by Adam Talib

Aug 13, Online — more info

Award-winning translator Adam Talib will join Karam Youssef, the publisher of the Arabic edition of Empty Cages (AUC Press, 2025) and the founder of Al Kotob Khan publishing house, for a discussion with literary critic, translator and editor Marcia Lynx Qualey, the founder of ArabLit. Empty Cages is a powerful exploration of memory and family, capturing the essence of what is gained and lost in a woman’s lifetime. This poignant work earned Qandil the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2022.

ISIS Prison Museum Lecture series on the Hisba Diwan

August 15, Live You Tube session: No Hisba Morality Control without Surveillance, with Robin Yassin Kassab, Amer Matar and guests — more info

Drawing from arrest and confiscation reports to circulars and correspondence retrieved from ISIS prisons by the ISIS Prisons Museum (IPM), a series of lectures investigates the Hisba Diwan. “Hisba,” which means accountability in Arabic, came to represent the Hisba Diwan or religious or moral police force in ISIS-controlled regions, in Iraq and Syria. According to IPM: “Hisba patrols closely monitored the population, and arrested and detained people for mild infractions of the new dress and behavioral codes. It was the Hisba Diwan… that gave not just a repressive but a totalitarian character to the ISIS regime.” The first part of the series of lectures that started in July provided an overview of the Hisba Diwan and the role that women played. In August, the lectures will cover the procedures of Hisba operatives, and the punishments imposed on a range of seemingly ordinary people in violation of the strict new regulations — from drug dealers and tobacco salesmen to men who wore tight trousers and to women who showed their hair or eyes.

Book Launch: Yasmin Khan with Marjan Kamali

Aug 28, Brookline Booksmith, Massachusetts, US — more info

Marjan Kamali, the best-selling author of The Lion Women of Tehran (Gallery Books, 2024), The Stationery Shop (Gallery Books, 2020), and Together Tea (Ecco, 2013) will be in conversation with award-winning food writer Yasmin Khan to celebrate the release of Khan’s book Sabzi: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes for Every Day (Bloomsbury, 2025). Lifting its name from the Persian word for “herbs,” Sabzi is a collection of more than 80 accessible, plant-forward recipes that celebrate the best of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and South Asian flavors.

OUT NOW, Palestine Liberation! Unboundable: BDS Mixtape, Vol. 3 — on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms — more info

To mark 20 years the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS), Amplify Palestine has released Unboundable: BDS Mixtape Vol. 3, a radical new compilation of music made in solidarity with Palestine’s liberation struggle. Taking inspiration from the 1985 Sun City LP by artists boycotting apartheid South Africa, the BDS Mixtape series brings together cross-genre collaborations from musicians who proudly support Palestinian freedom, and invite others to do the same. The project’s mission is to inspire people to join the BDS movement, celebrate collective power to shift culture, and support music education and creation in Palestine. Proceeds from the album fund cultural initiatives on the ground. Unboundable features over 20 musicians across a double album: Side A braids jazz, Indian classical, and Arabic music; Side B explores experimental voice, electronica, and instruments from nature. The album’s title draws from George Abraham’s poem On the Eve of Yet Another Nakba, a Dream, inviting listeners to imagine abundance, return, and solidarity through improvization and sound, “choosing life in every act of reaching.”