So, this week is wonderfully diverse, and we strongly recommend following this schedule. You will dive into a mix of experiences: from Hong Kong cinema to Indian cuisine under the desert stars, from a one-of-a-kind ceramics class to Alserkal Art Week. Trust us — you will want to experience it all.

Where? Cinema Akil

Every week, Cinema Akil surprises us with fresh and sometimes unexpected programmes. This time, it is the Hong Kong Film Festival.

On 11 November, they will be screening My First of May, a touching drama about a former star athlete whose career-ending injury sends him into a spiral of despair, until he is forced to step up and care for the disabled teenage daughter he has long neglected.

Grab the tickets here.

Where? Bab Al Shams Desert Resort

A new culinary gem has opened at Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa — RAIT, a modern Indian pop-up created in collaboration with Chef Sneha Singhi Upadhaya.

Here, under the desert stars, guests can savour an extraordinary take on Indian cuisine — where traditional flavours meet contemporary finesse, all in a setting as magical as the dunes themselves.

Where? The Grey, Al Khawaneej

We at The Sandy Times have launched a special cocktail menu in collaboration with The Grey — a trio of refreshing, desert-inspired drinks:

— The Dunes — coconut water, espresso cream, coconut flakes

— Glasshouse — matcha shot, melon syrup, soda

— Sundial — clarified coffee, hibiscus, lemon, mandarin

Each cocktail captures a different mood — from tropical calm to bright, zesty energy — crafted to be the perfect sip for the season.

Where? Maison Terraē, 26 19D Street — Al Quoz 3

While everyone is out clubbing or at a concert, slow things down and spend the evening at Maison Terraē — a beautiful ceramics studio. You can easily book a workshop via DMs.

Last month, to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Maison Terraē hosted an intimate workshop bringing together women from all backgrounds. As they moulded clay “jugs”, they opened up conversations about body awareness and self-examination.

In partnership with Dr Mariana Baretto, the initiative aimed to break the fear around self-checks. Each creation featured a small lump — a powerful reminder of how touch, awareness, and acceptance go hand in hand.

Where? Bayt AlMamzar

Welcome to an art-filled weekend. On 15 November, Hunna Art and Bayt AlMamzar present Girl Parts, a solo exhibition by Aliyah Alawadhi, curated by Océane Sailly.

In this new series of paintings, Alawadhi explores how early memories of girlhood shape ideas of the body, intimacy, and desire. Her canvases are filled with pink and cream tones, layered textures, and exaggerated forms — bodies that bend, expand, and blur the line between beauty and discomfort.

The everyday spaces she paints — kitchens, bedrooms, sunrooms — become psychological landscapes where fantasy and reality meet. Domestic objects turn symbolic: food, mirrors, and furniture appear as clues to emotional states or social expectations.

Girl Parts invites viewers to reconsider how femininity is taught, performed, and felt — through humour, tenderness, and a hint of rebellion.

Where? Alserkal Avenue

Alserkal Art Week is back — and this season’s theme, UPROOTED, couldn’t feel more timely. The week explores what happens when roots are pulled up and new connections start to grow — through art, movement, and conversation.

You will find more than 15 new exhibitions, installations, and talks that stretch from South Asia to the Middle East and Africa. Highlights include Re-seeding Stories, curated by Uriel Orlow and Andrea Thal, which moves the Majlis Talks into performative, voice- and sound-based works, and Earth School: Sowing Futures, Harvesting Value, an ongoing platform by Kirstine Roepstorff in collaboration with Fatoş Üstek, rethinking ideas of value, regeneration, and reciprocity.

The Open Studios by Alserkal Arts Foundation’s Fall 2025 residents — Rana Haddad & Pascal Hachem, Abdul Halik Azeez, and Hussein Nassereddine — bring experimental theatre, speculative storytelling, and sound to the conversation around Gulf urbanism and ecology.

Don’t miss Ali Kaaf’s haunting video performance Scherben Mantra | تسبيح, created with Ayyam Gallery, or the new Public Art Commissions: Roepstorff’s wind-powered spinning coin installation and Nujoom Alghanem’s sculptural bird-nest piece Transitionary Dwellings.

... that if you don’t overdo it on the first day of the week, the rest of it will go fine.