Thank you, Deutsche Welle ...

For not giving into the royal pomp and Anglomania that has swept over the radio, t.v. and web during the countdown to a stroll down the aisle of Westminster Abbey by a couple of British kids.*

At present, the German outlet's English-language site has been the only major news outlet** to put the apparent terrorist bombing in Marrakesh at the top of their website (followed closely by reports on Syria, and other political/economic/social news) -- even Le Monde placed the news in third place with only a thumbnail and a brief mention of UN condemnation of the attack. (In fact, DW's first hit on the royal nuptials concerns anti-monarchist protests planned across Europe; you'd have to scroll waaaay down to bottom to catch a profile piece on the Queen.)

I started this day at my local US Immigration center, celebrating a Moroccan friend being sworn in as an American citizen, only to walk into my workplace soon after to have a student worker turn to me and ask about the Cafe Argana bombing. I momentarily hesitated to call my friend, not wanting to spoil the mood on a day he became a new citizen only to confront tragedy in his homeland, but seeing the gutted remains of the iconic cafe on AJE caused me to dial. This senseless and seemingly random violence in the heart of the Red City has darkened a day of celebration, a day of life, for millions.

I hate to be a killjoy, but I can only commend editors who make the call to put breaking news with genuine international impact at the top of their site, even if only temporarily.

*Though I do appreciate the idea for the Kate & Will-themed drinking game suggested by NPR.
**Updated to add France Info to this count.

PEN World Voices featuring Arab Authors

I've always wanted to attend the annual PEN literary festival of international literature, and this year more than ever.

If you're in New York, head out to the festival and check out the "Revolutionaries in the Arab World" panel, featuring Franco-Moroccan author Abdellah Taia, Dutch-Moroccan author Abdelkader Benali, Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal, to name a few (not to mention all the other great writers and culturati present).

FICAM: Africa & the Middle East's First Animated Film Festival

This Friday marks the opening night of the 11th edition of FICAM, the International Animated Film Festival of Meknes -- the first film festival in Africa and the Middle East dedicated entirely to animation in Africa*.


Last year's clip

It's hosted by the French Institute of Meknes and projections, lectures and events take place in several locations --including an old caravanserai in the medina -- throughout the Ismailian capital. 

Previous festivals have hosted great names of international animation like Michel Ocelot (Kirikou, Azur & Asmar) and the beloved Hayao Miyazaki (Totoro, Ponyo) This year's theme focuses on the  creators of the Russian school of animation, including Konstantin Bronzit (At the Ends of the Earth):

"Le cinéma d'animation russe, comme le démontre la programmation de cette année - qui ne se veut en aucun cas exhaustive vue son immensité- a pour modeste ambition de démontrer la diversité du cinéma d’animation qui puise sa force dans son patrimoine oral, littéraire et culturel, tout en étant contemporain, novateur, inventeur de formes."

The Russian animated film school, as this year's program demonstrates -- without intending in any way to be exhaustive, considering its immensity-- holds the modest ambition to demonstrate the diversity of an animated cinema that draws its force from its oral, literary and cultural heritage, all the while remaining contemporary, innovative, and inventing new forms."

The festival also supports a pedagogical initiative through its master class workshops for Moroccan film students -- and the great desire to inspire creativity and curiosity in Moroccan children and families through the joy and magic of animation.




*There's also the Animafrik Festival in Ghana.