Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 December 2001 Issue No.564
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

50 years of revolution
DAR AL-KUTUB, Egypt's national library, is planning an international celebration next year to mark the 50th anniversary of the July Revolution. A special committee headed by Raouf Abbas, professor emiritus of history at Cairo University, will organise various celebrations that will include an international symposium to which such digniatries as former Algerian president, Ahmed Ben Bella and French intellectual Jean Lacteur will be invited. The three day event will study the revolution's effects on politics, economics, society and culture in addition to military affairs.
The symposium will be accompanied by a special exhibition of books and manuscripts related to the revolution. A complete bibliography of works published on the revolution and a volume of revolution manuscripts will also be made available.
What remains unclear is which of the 1952 revolution documents will be made public after the 50 year security classification period is over.

A funny Eid
EGYPTIAN film releases at Eid Al-Fitr are all expected to be light comedies. There are four main contenders for the lucrative Eid box office. Rihlat Hubb (A Journey of Love) stars singer-cum-actor Mohamed Fouad and Ahmed Helmi and is directed by Mohamed El-Naggar. Khaled Youssef's Gawaz bi Qarar Gumhuri (Marriage on a Presidential Order), which narrates the story of a young couple who dare to invite the president to their wedding and are obliged to go through with the marriage after the president agrees to attend, has been causing a stir in the media especially as the censors were reluctant to allow a scene in which President Mubarak is depicted. Starring Hani Ramzi and Hanan Turk it is expected to show at 35 cinemas in Egypt.
Dawoud Abdel-Sayed's Muwatin wa Mukhbir wa Harami (A Citizen, an Informer and a Thief) which premeried at the Damascus Film Festival last month, marks folk singer Shaaban Abdel-Rehim's acting debut. This film is a further risk for Abdel-Sayed who is also the producer. The last film on offer during the Eid is Zakiya Zakariyya starring Ibrahim Nasr who plays the same character on Ramadan TV's post-Iftar candid camera type show of the same name.

Alexandrian acquisitions
ISMAIL Serageldin, director of the Alexandria Library has organised a special evening this week to honour patrons who have donated private book collections as well as rare manuscripts and coins to the library. Mrs Suzanne Mubarak has herself donated a rare manuscript of The Book of the Dead and two gold coins to the Library's permanent collection.
Donations to the library have so far reached 119,142 books, 50 manuscripts and 100 coins.
Among the patrons honoured at this celebration are the writer Mustafa Mahmoud and the family of the late novelist Mohamed Hussein Heikal who have donated books from his private collection.

Playing Palestine
ACTOR Nur El-Sherif and director Fahmi El-Kholi are extremely busy rehearsing for the new play Lan Tasqut Urshalim (Jerusalem Won't Fall). Written by Sherif El- Shobashi, the play's events take place in medieval Palestine when Jerusalem (then under Fatimid rule) was attacked by the Crusaders. The historical setting of the play is obviously intended to highlight the political backdrop of the ongoing war in Palestine. El- Kholi looks to this production as an attempt at activist theatre that mobilises its audiences into action.
Lan Tasqut Urshalim will open at Al- Gomhouriya theatre on 21 December.

Three days of short stories
THE SUPREME Council for Culture's (SCC) conference of the month is dedicated to Egyptian short stories. Starting on 23 December and running for three days, the conference will include papers by a number of literary critics including Youssef El- Sharouni, Abdel-Moneim Telema, Ibrahim Fathi and Fatma Moussa. Topics span the literary gamut from heritage as an inspiration to short story writers and translations of Egyptian short stories into English, to the place in the story and feminine voices in short story writing. A whole day is devoted to the works of Abdallah El-Toukhi and Saleh Mursi, with several round-table discussions and testimony sessions.

Graeco-Roman Egypt
THE EGYPTIAN Society of Graeco-Roman Studies held its fifth international conference this week in Turin, Italy. The week-long conference is organised every four years in association with the Italian Cultural Centre. The conference brings together 120 scholars from Egypt, Italy, Germany, Greece and France to discuss this year's theme "The Ptolemies as Pharaohs and the Pharaohs as Ptolemies." Four papers are dedicated to Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaic queen, including Cleopatra's influence on world literature and Cleopatra as a new Isis.
Among the Egyptian historians and scholars participating are Ahmed Etman, the Society's president, as well as Gaballa Ali Gaballa, Abdel-Halim Noureddin, Zahi Hawass, Fayza Heikal and Mustafa El-Abadi.

100 years of Disney
THE ACADEMY of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organisation that organises and hosts the annual Oscar awards, held a special tribute in honour of Walt Disney, last week. Born on 5 December 1901 in Chicago, Walt Disney would have turned 100 this month. A pioneer animator, Disney played an instrumental role in family entertainment and American popular culture. He is the Academy's most honoured artist, credited with 26 awards (12 for animated films) and 64 nominations.
The celebration, held on 5 December, included a special film programme showing rare cartoons, home movies, as well as behind-the-scene footage.
Disney's most celebrated character, Mickey Mouse, was introduced to the world in the Disney production Steamboat Willie, the first synchronised sound cartoon which premeried on 18 November 1928.
Walt Disney died on 15 December 1966.
Compiled by Youssef Rakha

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