On screen
X-Men
Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his mutants, particularly Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Rogue (Anna Paquin) are the good guys in the battle to save humanity from the threat of obliteration on the hands of mutant extremist Magneto (Ian McKellen). If you're familiar with the comics, you're more likely to enjoy this humourous sci-fi flick from The Usual Suspects director Brian Singer. And of course, under the façade of the mythical figures, real people come alive: the contrast between the rhetoric of Xavier and Magneto, for instance, suggests the differences between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.
Tomoko Kato
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On stage
A piano and violin recital by Japanese musicians Kei Itoh and Tomoko Kato will be held at the Small Hall of the Cairo Opera House on 24 November, featuring compositions by Handel, Brahms, Franck,
J S Bach and Schumann. Itoh began her piano studies under Kazuo Ariga's tutelage and later graduated from Salzburg's Mozarteum Conservatoire. In 1983, she was the first Japanese national to win the first prize at the Munich International Piano Competition. Tomoko Kato started violin lessons at the age of four with some of Japan's most respected teachers including Eiko Mikami, Ryosaku Kubota and Toshiya Etoh. Kato won second prize at the 17th Tchaikovsky International Competition in 1982.
On the podium
A literary encounter between the Egyptian novelist & critic Edwar El-Kharrat and the Italian novelist Claudio Magris will be held this week at the Italian Cultural Institute under the title Two Writers' Confrontation. The object of this literary event is to focus on the similarities and differences between Egyptian and Italian literature and culture. A documentary film titled The Danube and the sea, written by Claudio Magris, will be shown at the beginning of the literary encounter. Two Writers' Confrontation is a monthly literary debate organised by the Italian Cultural Institute in Zamalek.
Around the galleries
Veteran Alexandrian artist Esmat Dawistashi was the first to respond to the advent of the Holy Month, it seems. His most recent oil paintings, depicting Islamic themes in a characteristically colourful and simplistic style, are to be shown at the first Tehran Islamic Arts Biennale (4 November-25 December) in Iran. In addition, Dawistashi will speak about contemporary Egyptian art and is a member of the jury.
Reviewed by Nagwa El-Ashri
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