Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 March - 3 April 2002 Issue No.579
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Children's festival closes

THE 12TH round of the Cairo International Children's Film Festival ended on Thursday at the Cairo Opera House. First prize for a long feature went to the Greek production Fading Light, silver to the Icelandic film Ikingut and bronze to the Chinese Touched by Love. In the short feature category the Iranian film Mother won first prize, the Tunisian- French production Premier Noel second. The third prize was withheld. Egypt won first prize for a long animated feature with Tareq Mos'ad's Al-Leila Al- Kebira, Switzerland won second prize for Credo and Iran third for The Flower, the Bird,the Sun. Spain reaped first prize in the short animation category with Capelito Egypt second with Zakariyya Abdel-Aal's Shibr wa Nuss, while the Palestinian director Liana Badr's Al-Tayr Al-Akhdar took third.
...with promises

AMONG the proceedings of the festival was a seminar on "Children's cinema and its importance to Egyptian children" held at Al-Hanager, reports Mustafa El-Minshawi. Mamdouh El-Leithi, head of the Cinema Syndicate, Mona El-Haddidi, professor of Documentary Cinema at Cairo University, and Farouq Abdallah, head of the Cinematic Culture Department at the National Cinema Center were among the speakers. The seminar was attended by a number of school children whose questions lent edge to the proceedings.
Noting the dearth of productions aimed at children in Egypt, El-Haddidi urged greater cooperation between governmental institutions and NGOs while El-Leithi promised that more children's movies are in the pipeline.
Historiography revisited

THE THIRD workshop of the Historical Methodology Seminar will be held today at the Centre d'Etudes et de Documentation Economiques, Juridiques et Sociales (CEDEJ). Discussion will focus on Arab traditions of historiography. Speakers include Nelly Hanna who will compare the genre of taragim or biographies in manuscript and archival sources, Ayman Foad Sayed who will talk about khitat (topography) as a genre based on his experience in editing Al-Maqrizi's Khitat, Emad Abu Ghazi on treatises as a historiographical genre. Mohamed Hakem will discuss Al-Gabarti's famous work 'Aga'ib as a cross between annals and biographical dictionary.
The seminar --workshops are held on the last Thursday of every month -- is ogranised by CEDEJ in coordination with the Egyptian Historical Society.
For details see Listings.
Satellite fireworks

THE FINAL episode of Qatari-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel's Bila Hudud (Without Limits), anchored by Ahmed Mansour, featured the Egyptian businessman and former MP Rami Lakah as guest. Conversation was tense, with Mansour ordering his guest to "only answer the questions posed" and to "speak with respect." For his part, Lakah accused the anchor of attempting to "damage the reputation of Egyptian businessmen and the Egyptian economy." Lakkah walked out in the middle of the show.
The episode furnished a subject for other talk shows on Egyptian sattellite channels and on the pages of newspapers and magazines this week, a case of media cannibalism that, predictably, provoked debate on the role of sattellite TV channels in the Arab world.
This is not the first time Al-Jazeera programmes have been controversial; domestic media have often argued the Qatari channel shows systematic bias against Egypt.
Britannica updated

A NEW edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica has just been published -- the first update in four years.
The pages had reached the presses when printing was halted post-11 September to allow for updates to the entries on New York City, terrorism, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
There are 350 new entries in this latest edition including articles on pop star Madonna and JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.
The 234-year old encyclopaedia is the oldest continuously published reference work in the English language.
Encyclopaedias of women

THE LEBANESE publishing house Dar Al-Kitab Al-Hadith is embarking on a six-volume encyclopaedia of famous women. The publishers are encouraging women scholars and intellectuals from around the Arab world to submit entries and CVs to their Beirut headquarters.
Meanwhile in Cairo, the Supreme Council for Culture and Nur Publishing House are about to publish an encyclopaedia of Arab women writers. It includes 1,200 entries for 20th century literary figures.
Among the contributors to this work are Hoda El-Sadda and Radwa Ashour from Egypt, Yumna El-Eid from Lebanon, Iman El-Qadi from Syria, Ferial Ghazoul from Iraq and Mohamed Barada from Morocco. The encyclopaedia, which started under the supervision of the late Latifa El-Zayyat, was edited by Emad Abu Ghazi.
Saudi poet arrested

Saudi poet Abdel-Mohsen Musallam was arrested in Jeddah last week, a Saudi official told Associated Press last Wednesday. The arrest came after interrogations following the publication of a poem, "The Corrupt on Earth," criticising the Saudi judiciary in the newspaper Al-Madina on 10 March. The editor-in-chief of the government-controlled newspaper, Mohamed Al-Mukhtar Al-Fal, was also reportedly sacked by the Saudi minister of interior.
It is not clear what the charges are or whether Musallam will face trial.
Novel talk

A CONFERENCE on the Arab novel will be held at Georgetown University from 12 to 15 April. Among the participants from Egypt is critic Gaber Asfour, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Culture, who will present a paper on the Arabic novel and history.
Further promoting Arabic novels in the US Egyptian novelist Hala El-Badri has been invited to the University of Chicago to talk about her writing experience at the Middle East Studies Center there. El-Badri's last novel, Imra' Ma, is being translated into English by Farouk Abdel-Wahab and due to appear this year from the American University in Cairo Press.
Meanwhile, Lebanese novelist Hanan Al-Sheikh's Only in London has been short-listed for the Independent prize awarded to foreign literature translated in Britain. The award, £10,000 shared by the author and the translator, will be announced on 11 April.
Film on prophet

MOHAMED Khatim Al-Anbiyaa wa Al-Mursalin, the $12 million animated film retelling the lifestory of Prophet Mohamed, will be released simultaneously in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates next June, the film's producers, Badr International, told Al-Hayat. The 90 minute-long film was directed by Richard Rich and has reportedly received permits from Al-Azhar.
Compiled by Amina Elbendary

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