5 - 11 July 2001
Issue No.541
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 5 - 11 July 2001 Issue No.541 |
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The Mediterranean Maghreb
Though the bulk of its activities are to take place this month, the seventh round of the Rabat Festival -- till 30 July -- has kept the Moroccan capital buzzing with literature and art for two weeks since it opened to coincide with the World Music Day. (The festival programme, true to form, provides generously for classical music, with concerts taking place at a number of venues in Rabat.) Unlike previous rounds, the Rabat Festival has a 40-day schedule this year, which reflects the increasingly holistic, long-term-oriented approach adopted by the Moroccan writers' union and other organisers.The participation of 33, predominantly European and Arab countries confirms the festival's international status with unprecedented force. And on top of the book signings, open discussions with writers and artists and poetry readings now underway, the festival has incorporated a number of far-sighted activities. The subsidiary Festival of Mediterranean Poetry (11-14 July) brings together poets and theorists from, among other countries, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Greece, Italy, France and Albania. Writers from these countries have no doubt been invited to Morocco in the past, yet their presence in the context of the Mediterranean Poem signals a new awareness of Morocco's position on the world's cultural map: the Maghreb as Mediterranean harbour -- a notion many Moroccans cherish.
In its second year, 14 countries are competing for the Hassan II Cinema Award. Moroccan literary critic Mohamed Berrada heads the jury. Other highlights include a retrospective exhibition of paintings by Moroccan artist Mohamed Shubaa and an open discussion with the widely celebrated Moroccan novelist Mohamed Shukri.
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