Queer men don't deserve joy
A review of Luca Guadagnino’s film, Queer, and how in Luca’s universe queer desire is desperate, disturbing and destructive, and never really brings joy.
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All of Us Strangers & Tragedy Porn
A review of Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers and looking at why contemporary queer cinema and film making still centers tragedy and loss as driving force behind gay stories, even when done beautifully.
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Israeli Exceptionalism and the Dehumanization of the Palestinian People
Debating what the conception of the ultimate victim does to Israeli politics and violence and how that is reflected in the conitnued dehumanization of the Palestinians, making any act of resistance the "ultimate evil".
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30 Years of Queerness or On appreciating Interview with a Vampire
Revisiting Interview with a Vampire, and how a heterosexual man made one of the most sensitive and interesting queer stories in cinema, thirty years on.
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A24 & the Spectacle of the oppressed black body
A24 queer films have been hailed as breakthrough in queer black cinema but they also have can be seen denying black bodies notions of pleasure and joy in favor of depicting "oppression" and "struggle".
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Cicadas or the sound of freudian inversion
An exploration of sound, psychoanalysis, and queer identity through cinema.
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Great Freedom, great misery
A critical examination of Sebastian Meise's film about post-war Germany and queer persecution.
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Death in Egypt
Reflections on death and suicide in Egypt. Part of the conversations on how to talk about death, that were developed during the course, "How do we talk about death", at the Cairo Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences.
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The Long Way Back: An Epic of Tragic Insights
A review of Fouad al-Tikerli's The Long Way Back (1980)
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al-Rubaie's Tattoo or Post-revolutionary Melancholy
A review of Abdel Rahman Majeed al-Rubaie's novella al-washm or the tattoo
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al-Majus or through the Labyrinth
A review of Ibrahim al-Koni epic novel al-Majus as part of #100ArabNovels series
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What Messadi's Abu Hurairah Didn't Say
Review of Mahmoud Messadi's Abu Hurairah Said (1973)
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Rama and the Dragon: An Avatar too Short of the Truth
A review of Edwar al-Kharrat's Rama and the Dragon (2002)
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Too Desolate for Words: Reading Haidar Haidar's Desolate Time
A review of Haidar Haidar's Desolate Time (1973)
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Maqamat with a Spin: Emile Habiby's The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist
A review, of Emile Habibi's second novel Al-Waqāʾiʿ al-gharībah fī 'khtifāʾ Saʿīd Abī 'l-Naḥsh al-Mutashāʾil or The Secret Life of Saeed The Pessoptimst (1974)
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The Searing Sun: Ghassan Kanafani's Men in the Sun
A review of Ghassan Kanafani's Men in the Sun (1960)
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All is not Fair in War: Yusuf al-Qa'id's War in the Land of Egypt
A review of Yusuf al-Qa'id's War in the Land of Egypt (1978)
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An Autobiography in Disguise: Jabra Ibrahim Jabra's Searching for Walid Masoud
A review of Jabra Ibarhim Jabra's In Search of Walid Massoud
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Ghassan Kanafani: To Fayza
This is a translation of one of the letters that Palestinian author and freedom fighter, Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972), exchanged with Ghada al-Samman.
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On laughing at the horrors of capitalism
A critical analysis of the Joker film and its relationship to contemporary capitalism.
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Reflections on Love and Heteronormativity
Reflections on notions of love in the LGBT+ community in Egypt and what it means to frame such relationships in a context inimical to it.
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