Nuit de Folie & Disco Dabke to Host Disco Arabesquo in Dubai Jan 31st
Jan 29, 2025
Dubai-based collective Nuit de Folie and Arab pop night series Disco Dabke are bringing Disco Arabesquo to Dubai this Friday, January 31st.
Moataz Rageb, aka Disco Arabesquo, is a DJ and collector of Arabic cassettes and vinyl, whose signature 'Disco Arabesquo' parties have been causing mayhem in Amsterdam's clubbing scene. He's known for his floor-shaking club edits of Arabic sounds from the 90s and 00s in the Middle East and North Africa.
Taking place at 25Hours Hotel, the party will feature Lebanese DJ, producer and live performer Dana Khoury on opening duties. For tickets booking and reservations, head to tickit's official website.
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INTERVIEW: The reel Jerusalem - Culture - Al-Ahram Weekly
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There are no trained teams specialising in film festival organisation, especially in Jerusalem, where the Jerusalem Arab Film Festival is the only one of its kind. We've been learning through trial and error, and also from our growing network across the Arab world: advisors, friends, and colleagues who've supported us with everything from detailed guidance to small practical tips. Our experience over the past years is what made this fifth round so successful, and I believe it's been our most impactful yet.' According to Shaheen, the way both the founders and the audience view the festival—what they expect it to be —has evolved over time. In the first three years, she says, the main focus was visibility, both locally and across the Arab world. But over the last two years, they have shifted their energy towards making the JAFF truly a festival for the people of this city. 'It had to feel like their festival. That meant putting serious effort into outreach, communication, and organisation, so the festival could reach as many people as possible. And I believe that's exactly what we achieved in this latest edition. What we decided to work on was rebuilding people's trust in cinema, and their love for it. We did that by selecting films that reflect their concerns and speak to their realities.' One of the major turning points in this year's round was the introduction of cash prizes. In the first four rounds, the awards were simply a trophy for best film and a symbolic jury prize. This year the festival offered financial awards across its three main sections: Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary, and Best Short Film. The prize money, USD6,000 in total, was provided by the European Union and distributed among the three categories. 'I believe this is a significant development for the festival,' Shaheen says. 'It shows that support for the festival is growing, and that people are starting to trust in what we're building.' According to Shaheen, this year's theme was the artistic director's idea: 'He felt that, given how difficult things are in the country right now, we should offer families something they could do together: a shared outing, a moment of joy, a change of pace. That's why 95 percent of the films we screened are family-friendly.' It worked. The opening film, Rashid Masharawi's Passing Dreams, a gentle, heartwarming film about a boy searching for his lost dove as it flies across several cities, perfectly captures that spirit. 'The opening night brought together people of all ages. It was really beautiful to see'. What made it even more remarkable is that, for the first time since the festival was established, the opening film was screened simultaneously in four cities: Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, and Nazareth. Since the beginning, a curated selection of the programme has screened in Bethlehem. But now the festival has spread wider. 'All of us, as Palestinians, were watching the same film at the same time, united across divisions, borders, and forced isolation. It was powerful. And it's an experience we absolutely plan to repeat in future editions.' The biggest challenge facing the festival over the last two years has been the war. In addition to instability, there is an intense public debate about whether it is appropriate to hold cultural events under the circumstances. But Shaheen is firm in her conviction: 'The occupation doesn't want us to live normal lives. Quite the opposite. It wants us to constantly feel like we're under military rule, that it controls our movements and our rhythms, and that we're trapped in a state of perpetual emergency, with everything around us pushing us to question whether staying is worth it at all. 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