Cultural Diplomacy
The creation and love-child of two multi-talented persons, Roberto Ruta and Lisa Chiari, to call MENOW just a film festival would be a gross understatement. This is a meeting of minds, a salute to all the great arts and culture that the Region has to offer, complete with delicious food tastings, exclusive concerts and yes, of course, stunning new films.
Whatever happened to real cultural diplomacy with Iran? In April 1976, as part of a celebration of the bicentennial of America, I was officially invited to Tehran along with several other runway fashion models to present the collections of 16 of America's top designers.
No longer content simply to build movie sets and provide extras in Hollywood films, Chinese studios are moving up the value chain, helping to develop, design and produce world-class films and animated features. They want a bigger role in the creative process, one that will allow them to reap more rewards, financially and artistically.
As Mexico prepares to vote this weekend, take a look back at CPD's interview with former Mexican Ambassador to the United States.
Cultural diplomacy is key to our national development. With the boom in Nollywood, there is a window through which we can reach the masses, a larger population of the country to focus their thinking on the role individuals can play in these events that surround us.
On a political level, it is clear that both the Americans and the Vietnamese have an interest in moving past the long ago war and strengthening areas of cooperation. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the normalization of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam and the relationship is rapidly developing.
Touted as the biggest international showcase of Singapore art and artists, the festival is co-organised by the National Heritage Board (NHB), National Arts Council and France’s Institut Francais, and comprises a whopping 70 events of all shapes and sizes.
Turkey currently is building 18 large Islamic religious centers around the world. The projects include a mosque in Tirana, Albania which will holdmore than 4,000 worshippers. Turkey will also build mosques in the UnitedStates, Russia and Kyrgyzstan.