Muscat – The French Embassy in Oman has announced the seventh  edition of French Weeks, a cultural programme that will begin on April 14 in Muscat and run till May 4. The festival aims to celebrate and deepen Franco-Omani cultural ties through a series of public events.

The festival will open on Monday at International French School of Muscat with a conference by journalist Ammar Abd Rabbo titled ‘Identify and Counter Fake News’. At 6:30pm, the acclaimed documentary ‘Bye Bye Tiberiade’ will be screened at Vox Cinema, Mall of Oman. 

A live slam poetry performance – ‘Voices Across Borders’ – featuring Omani poet Aisha al Saifi and French artist Jérôme Pinel will be presented to the accompaniment of traditional oud music on April 15 at French-Omani Centre.

Bait al Zubair will host ‘Zayed & Hamon’ – a musical collaboration blending Middle Eastern and Celtic sounds – on April 22. The concert will also be performed at Oman Across Ages Museum in Manah of April 24.

The French Embassy will host a discussion on Palestinian women’s poetry led by French-Algerian writer Mohamed Kacimi in April 23. French-Omani Centre will host an exhibition – ‘Écrire en Français’ – showcasing the works of 100 French-language authors from around the world on April 23.

French Weeks will have a notable presence at Muscat International Book Fair scheduled from April 23 to May 3. The French pavilion will feature a range of literary events, including a conference on April 25 hosted by Mohamed Kacimi titled ‘The Queen of Sheba in the Western Imagination’, and a bilingual reading of poems from ‘Palestine en Éclats’, the first anthology of contemporary Palestinian women’s poetry on April 26.

Stal Gallery will present a photography exhibition – Oman Across Recent History – from April 27 to May 12.

The festival will include a drawing workshop led by Marc Boutavant at International French School of Muscat on April 30 and a presentation by Stéphane  Barroux on his Oman-inspired sketchbook – ‘Oman, sur les traces de Sindbad le marin’ – at French-Omani Centre also on April 30.

‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ will be screened on May 4 at Vox Cinema, Mall of Oman.

All events are open to the public and entry free. Some require prior registration. The French Embassy has invited all residents of Oman to participate in what it describes as ‘a celebration of creativity, culture and dialogue between France and Oman’.