Hadani Ditmars is the author of Dancing in the No Fly Zone: a Woman's Journey Through Iraq. A former editor at New Internationalist, she has been reporting from the Middle East for two decades.
Mutanabbi Street was a bustling, artistic quarter in Baghdad where Iraqi intellectuals would gather, read and converse during some of the country's unhappiest days.
Q&A: Following his success winning the Golden FIPA award in January, Hadani Ditmars discusses extremism and paradise with veteran Algerian movie director Merzak Allouache.
Q&A: On the anniversary of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Hadani Ditmars discusses freedom of expression before and after Mubarak's fall with filmmaker Khaled el-Hagar.
Society: The annual international film festival is only 100 miles from Western cinema's iconic home, but offers delights from around the globe, writes Hadani Ditmars.
Blog: The attack on the Istanbul nightclub was an attempt to moralise dancing out of existence. Let us waltz to resist such depraved ideas, says Hadani Ditmars.
Blog: Hadani Ditmars notes that the United States has no monopoly on Trump-esque populist conservatism which targets minorities in a bid to bolster security agencies' power.
Blog: On its final day, the Carthage Film Festival puts the Arab Spring in the spotlight, closing the festival in both hope and despair, writes Hadani Ditmars.
