Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 16 - 22 August 2001 Issue No.547
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Homegrown fare

THE SEVENTH National Festival for Egyptian Cinema (12-19 August), inaugurated by the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni on Sunday, opened with Fatah min Filistin (A Girl from Palestine, 1948), filmmaker Mahmoud Zulfuqar's pioneering take on the Palestinian question in relation to Egyptian life, produced by Isis Film (and written by its owner, Aziza Amir) following the 1948 Arab defeat and the establishment of the state of Israel. Intended, perhaps, as a tribute to the ongoing Intifada, the screening of this story of patriotism and love called to mind both the cherished performances of actors like Soad Mohamed, Hassan Faiq and Mahmoud Zulfuqar and a classic soundtrack of songs written by Bairam El-Tonsi and composed by Riyad El-Sonbati.
Fatah min Filistin was followed by filmmaker Nabiha Lutfi's short documentary, Sala min Wahy Misr Al-Atiqa (A Prayer Inspired by Old Egypt, 1971), an exploration of the architecture and history of Coptic Cairo that stresses national identity.
The opening ceremony also featured a tribute to the recently deceased actress Soad Hosni, a choreographed representation, by the dancer Nelly Karim, of some of Hosni's best-known film performances, entitled "The Cinderella of the Arab Screen."
The festival director, film critic Ali Abu Shadi, explained to the press that this year's National Festival incorporates both the 11th National Feature Film Competition and the 23rd National Documentary and Short Film Competition.
Of the 15 films competing for the awards of the former, eight were released last year: Al-'Asifa (The Storm) by Khaled Youssef, Al-Agenda Al-Hamra (The Red Diary) and Shagee' Al-Sima (Brave Man of the Movies) by Ali Ragab, Omar 2000 by Ahmed Atef, Film Thaqafi (A Cultural Film) by Mohamed Amin, Korsi fil Kolob (Party Pandemonium) by the late Sameh El- Bagouri and Al-Ashiqan (The Lovers), actor Nour El-Sherif's directorial debut.
Commentators argue that, of the actresses participating, Youssra (Al-Asifa) and Mona Zaki (Omar 2000) are the most likely to receive awards; while the best director award, they contend, will go to Atef, Youssef or the name of El-Bagouri.
The Features Competition Jury, headed by the senior writer El-Sayed Yassin, brings together set designer Onsi Abu Seif, actor Salah El-Saadani, critic Fathi El- Ashri, film editor Kamal Abul-Ela, director of photography Mohsen Ahmed, filmmaker Nader Galal, screenwriter Wahid Hamed and musician Yasser Abdel-Rahman.
The 23rd Documentary and Short Film Competition showcases 63 works of remarkable variety; this competition's jury, headed by Ali El-Ghazouli, includes filmmaker Ibrahim El-Mougi, film editor Ahmed Metwali, screenwriter Beshir El-Deek, director of photography Samir Farag, animation artist Shwikar Khalifa and critic Kamal Ramzi.
Honoured in this round are the late dramatist Saadeddin Wahba, actress Laila Fawzi and set designer Salah Marie, along with documentary filmmaker Nabiha Lutfi, film editor Hussein Afifi and critic Sobhi Shafiq. Each of these figures will be at the centre of a seminar conducted at the Supreme Council for Culture during the festival.

Funerary white
LAST Monday the death of Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado from heart and lung failure four days before his 89th birthday ended the 70-year-long career of Latin America's all- time best selling author, as Time magazine described the writer some three years ago. Following the funeral on Tuesday -- a momentous event in which the African legacy of dressing in white for mourning was upheld -- Amado's wife writer Zelia Gattai declared that, after the body is cremated, Amado's ashes will be spread around a mango tree in their home in Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, Amado's home and the focus of much of his writing.
Of his 32 books, the novels Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1966) and Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon (1958), both of which were turned into popular films and television serials, will probably remain the best known. Amado, for many the greatest figure in 20th-century Portuguese literature, was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. His phenomenally popular work has been translated into 48 languages, bringing "the truest spirit of the Brazilian north" -- the centre of hardship and deprivation -- to millions of readers worldwide. And his essentially realistic approach to questions of social injustice, sympathy with the Brazilian underclass ("the descendants of slaves"), brief career as a socialist politician and life-long commitment to the struggle against feudalism provide the backdrop to the fascinating dramas of a remarkable cast of characters who are not only "sensual and picaresque" but infallibly authentic: the gambler, the lord baron, the street child.
On his death President Fernando Henrique Cardoso officially declared three days of mourning across Brazil, stating, "The legacy of Jorge Amado transcends his work. The lesson he leaves us is of a fighter, someone who was always for justice, on the side of the oppressed; a creator who had the courage to paint Brazil in its true colours."
Nehad Selaiha faces a dizzying theatrical medley in Polverigi
Compiled by Youssef Rakha

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