The weather in Lebanon this week has been a little overcast which has naturally left me feeling kind of sluggish. Something about the grey skies makes each day feel like a filler episode and dulls my appteitte to try seize each moment. 

But there’s no remedy for this mood like a splash of creative stimulation. Coincidentally, this week's cultural picks are among the most colorful and sensory I’ve read in a while, and the timing couldn't be better. I hope you also find something here to reinvigorate you for the weekend.

This is where you can find me for the next week…

Starting today, Metropolis Cinema is hosting South Screens, a film festival dedicated to championing voices from the Global South. In this interview, the cinema’s director, Hania Mroueh, shares the thinking behind the event and how to challenge the notion that art needs Western validation. 

Not your usual gallery wonder 

Otherworldly, out-of-body and frankly trippy – that’s the vibe of this new exhibition at the Sursock Museum. It follows the semi-mythical trail of a Lebanese-Palestinian man who may have joined the PFLP or may have been abducted by aliens, along with a second sun rising over the Amazon.

Photo concert at Station Beirut 

For another multi-sensory experience, check out Crossroads this weekend. It’s a concert mixing live jazz courtesy of French band Ozma and haunting photography, thanks to photojournalist Edouard Elias. Think saxophones, cinematic visuals and big ideas about the state of the world. 

Baabeck festival back with a bang

The opera ‘Carmen,’ seems to me the perfect choice for the Baalbeck Festival’s return – bold, iconic and dramatic. Everything about this production, from its costume design to its historical setting and cultural significance, embodies grandeur, ambition and spectacle.

Egypt’s unlikely feminist icon or most convincing antihero?

Equal parts funny and thought-provoking, L’Orient Today’s Nima Salha is back with her latest edition of chronically online. This week, she turns her gaze to two outspoken Egyptian TV personalities, whose retrograde advice to women might be doing more to shake up the gender conversation than we think.