IFA: Overview

01.09.2010
Culture shock?

• Your funniest intercultural misunderstanding on Facebook

25.08.2010
A glimpse of Europeans and their lives

• Three films have been selected for the short list of a special European film prize aimed at promoting debate about a sense of European identity.

18.08.2010
European network on culture

• Culture and arts experts from across Europe are being sought for the formation of a special network to advise the European Commission on cultural policy.

11.08.2010
Celebrating the music of Chopin

• An international music festival, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin, is now in full swing in Poland.

05.08.2010
Promoting academic exchange

• The world’s biggest academic exchange service, Germany’s DAAD, is celebrating 60 years of work since it was revived as an institution after World War II.

03.08.2010
Students experiencing more of Europe

• A group of 150 students from southeastern Europe have set off on a tour of the European Union, as part of a project aimed at overcoming Balkans’ isolation.

29.07.2010
The story begins in Cape Town

• One of Africa’s most important annual international cultural events, the Cape Town Book Fair, opens this week under the motto "Where the Story Begins."

27.07.2010
Learning German in Oman

• For the first time in the Gulf region, Oman is to introduce German as a second foreign language to be taught in all of its secondary schools.

22.07.2010
EU funds for higher education

• The European Union has announced 30 million euros in funding to help universities in neighbouring countries to modernise their facilities and teaching.

20.07.2010
Residency for German artists in Japan

• Germany is expanding its cultural ties with Japan with the launch of an artistic fellowship program at the soon-to-be-opened Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto.

15.07.2010
Crossing Borders – From Lake to Lake

• A unique cooperative theatre project between a German and a Malawian theatre group will be officially launched at Germany’s Lake Constance this weekend.

13.07.2010
Haiti’s rebirth through culture

• An international body working to rebuild Haiti after its devastating earthquake has stressed the importance of the “healing power of culture” in the reconstruction process.

08.07.2010
Educational exchanges, a cultural plus

• The new head of the German Academic Exchange Service has promised to work more closely with educators in developing countries, arguing education assistance is the best form of development aid.

06.07.2010
In search of African voices

• A group of Polish students and professors has set off from Cameroon for the last leg of a seven month educational tour through Africa, aimed at improving Africa’s image in Europe.

01.07.2010
The world of theatre in Germany

• Germany’s Ruhr region is hosting an unusual theatre festival featuring 400 artists from around the world, promising new sensations and surprising encounters.

29.06.2010
Football as intercultural exchange

• Eight women’s football teams will compete next week in an international football festival in Berlin, aimed at demonstrating the integrative power of the sport.

24.06.2010
Video art from around the world

• Berlin will play host next week to an international festival of experimental film and contemporary art.

22.06.2010
Student exchanges increase in Europe

• A record number of students received EU funding over the last year to study or train abroad under the Erasmus exchange program.

17.06.2010
Spain and Germany honour researchers

• German and Spanish government bodies have announced the winners of a new prize aimed at encouraging more research cooperation between the two countries.

15.06.2010
Promoting study in China

• Study and research work in China as well as cultural relations between Germany and China will be the focus of a two day event this week in Berlin.

10.06.2010
The German language on tour

• “Echo 2010” is the name of a German Foreign Office project involving a suitcase, a map and the promotion of the German language in eight countries.

08.06.2010
Artistic inspiration in Italy

• A unique artistic success story – a German arts academy in Rome – is celebrating its 100th birthday.

04.06.2010
Europe goes to school

• Making the subject of Europe come alive in schools in Germany has been the focus of a project to be celebrated at a gala event in Berlin.

01.06.2010
Zimbabwe on show, beyond stereotypes

• The vibrancy of Zimbabwean poetry, music, film and theatre will be on show at the Zimbabwe Festival of Arts in Berlin this week.

20.05.2010
Arts education worldwide

• Promoting the teaching of arts and culture around the world is the focus of a UNESCO conference on Arts Education, to be held in Korea next week.

18.05.2010
Kids TV furthering international ties

• A German TV show is celebrating a milestone in its efforts to bring children from around the world into contact with each other through television.

12.05.2010
Celebrating documentary films

• An international forum on new practices in documentary film making is to be launched next month in Berlin.

11.05.2010
The camels of Europe

• The role that writers and literature itself can play in promoting unity and a sense of togetherness in Europe is the focus of a new edition of IFA’s Culture Report.

05.05.2010
South African culture in Berlin

• A festival of African pop, poetry, film, literature and football is to be launched in June in Berlin to coincide with the staging of the football World Cup in South Africa.

04.05.2010
Promoting press freedom

• The world’s major international broadcasters have called for more respect for freedom of speech and less harassment of journalists in world trouble spots.

Hung(a)ry for a good book

• It boasts a proud literary tradition. But cultural cost cutting and library shutdowns reflect (and further exacerbate) a declining lack of interest in reading books in Hungary. László L. Simon examines Hungary’s publishing trade.

Islam and the West co-existing

• Turkey in the EU would show the world that Islam and Western democracy can co-exist, according to Turkish novelist Elif Şafak.

Poles apart in Belfast?

• It is thanks to interaction with other Europeans that the people of Northern Ireland have moved away from the politics of parochialism in recent years, according to Belfast-born writer Glenn Patterson. Reflections on how contact with other cultures can expand one’s horizons.

Polishing Africa’s image

• The World Cup, being hosted by South Africa, offers the continent the chance to reveal its potential, says Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

A sure path to fame

• The European Union as a theme for a novel? Forget it. Europe is too amorphous a concept for a reader to take pleasure from anything that might occur there, says the British writer Tim Parks.

Fertile ground for culture

• Today’s authors are trying to rediscover the roots of the European novel, to find that spirit of humour and irony which allows the expression of multiple truths, according to Stefano Zangrando. This is the only way for Europe to once more become a flower bed for cultural expression.

Reimagining the Balkans

• What do you think of when you hear the word ‘Balkans’? Idyllic Adriatic beaches or blood, suffering and the threat of war? The borders blur in the mind, according to writer Slavenka Drakulić, and this south-eastern part of Europe remains outside of continental imaginings.

A language nomad

• Where else in the world can an author draw on so much cultural and literary variety, where a Franz Kafka enriches Goethe’s German through Czech and Yiddish? Writer and translator Alban Lefranc reflects on linguistic variety in Europe.

Mediating between cultures

• Europe is historically, culturally and politically interwoven with neighbouring regions and thus perfectly poised to occupy the role of mediator. Here, the thoughts of Rafik Schami, an author born where Palestinians, Kurds, Circassians, Afghans, Greeks, Yugoslavs and Lebanese all lived cheek by jowl. He himself became a mediator between two worlds.

To be or not to be – translated

• Unless major East European authors publish their works in German, English or French, it is unlikely that any of their international neighbours will ever read them. Hungarian journalist Gabriella Gönczy on the need for more translation across Europe.

How we love to fear downfall

• The printed page is giving way to digital media formats. Yet to call this the beginning of the end for written culture is perhaps a little hasty, says Rüdiger Wischenbart. Here, the first of a series of articles from ifa’s Culture Report, Edition III, on literature in Europe.

Turkish Soft Power

• It’s keen to enter the European Union; it’s keen to remain a bridge between Europe and the Middle East. Kaitlin MacKenzie talks to Sedat Laciner from the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization about Turkey’s foreign policy strategies.

Talking to enemies

• Mark C. Donfried, director and founder of the Berlin-based Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, calls for a paradigm shift in foreign policy in this interview with Global View magazine.

Culture as a ‘calling card’

• Germany’s new Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, has given assurances that foreign cultural work will remain an important part of Germany’s overall foreign policy. Here is an excerpt from his first speech to German Foreign Office staff.

More than just books

• It’s the world’s biggest book festival. But the Frankfurt Book Fair, which takes place at this time every year, is more than about promoting reading. It has become an important forum for intercultural dialogue.

The Other Side of the Anchor: Where Else Do American-Born Kids Belong?

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The Huffington Post, 02.09.2010

Taiwanese director chosen as Asian Filmmaker of the Year

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The Independent, 02.09.2010

Israeli cultural institute, heralded as the 1st in the world, to open in Budapest

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StarTribune, 01.09.2010

My lost Bangladeshi identity

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guardian.co.uk, 01.09.2010

This year's Venice Architecture Biennale is about people, not plans

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The Guardian, 31.08.2010

Africa: UN Agency Hails Move to Protect African Folklore and Traditional Knowledge

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allafrica.com, 31.08.2010

British ballet dedicated to people of Tibet is pulled from China expo

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The Guardian, 31.08.2010

Venice Gears Up for 67th Film Festival

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The New York Times, 31.08.2010

Chinese university to expand foreign enrolment

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The Hindu, 30.08.2010

Korean writing system saves Indonesian tribe's language

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csmonitor.com, 30.08.2010

Canada, Costa Rica initiate young professionals exchange program

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iStockAnalyst, 30.08.2010

Gap-year students learn to give 'face' in chase for the China dream

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Telegraph.co.uk, 30.08.2010

Cultured culture: have we lost the flavour?

• Pakistan dreads to be conquered by India’s Bollywood-scene

Daily Times, 30.08.2010

Beijing Opera, a Historical Treasure in Fragile Condition

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The New York Times, 29.08.2010

London to host celebration of Japanese pop culture

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The Independent, 28.08.2010

Kosovars and Serbs Try Art of Reconciliation

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Balkaninsight.com, 27.08.2010

Middle Kingdom meets Magic Kingdom

• Disney offers English-language schools in China

The Economist, 26.08.2010

Interested in the culture and history of Afghanistan from 1842 to the present day?

• Theatre play tours the US

mountainrunner.us, 26.08.2010

Poland pays homage to its "Elvis"

• Promoting polish culture with Chopin

globalpost.com, 26.08.2010

Muslim-American Scholars Launch Islamic College in California

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America.gov, 26.08.2010

Passage to Germany

• Indian students amazed by DAAD scholarships

The Telegraph Calcutta, 26.08.2010

Ex-pats bring English theater to cosmopolitan Berlin

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dw-world.de, 26.08.2010

British Pop Art Invades Paris’s Calouste Gulbenkian Cultural Center

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artinfo.com, 26.08.2010

Incheon Airport promotes Korean culture with traditional parade

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TheMoodieReport.com, 25.08.2010

How Arabs view the anti-mosque movement

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Foreign Policy, 25.08.2010

Exploring the Jewish influence on black American music

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sfweekly.com, 25.08.2010

Germans are falling in love with tango

• Argentinean heritage named dance of the year 2010

dw-world.de, 25.08.2010

Israeli Students to Partake in Arabic Studies

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Shalomlife.com, 24.08.2010

Dealing with reverse culture shock

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CNN.com, 24.08.2010

Cultural Rebel Loses Cancer Battle

• Germany mourns director Christoph Schlingensief

Spiegel Online, 23.08.2010

Press Review EXTRA
• Confucius the world over