Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture

		18 - 24 July 2002 Issue No. 595 Culture	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

THE ARTS Academy is currently in the process of establishing a museum dedicated to the life and work of the late film- maker Atef El-Tayeb. Following the death of El-Tayeb's wife, who looked after the director's photo archive, trophies, clippings, films and other memorabilia, critic Tareq El-Shinnawi presented the museum project to Fawzi Fahmi, head of the Academy, who agreed to house the objects and allow public access to them.

Documentary evidence
DAR AL-KUTUB wa Al-Watha'iq Al- Qawmiya, Egypt's national library and archives, will hold a special symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of the July 1952 revolution. The opening ceremony will take place at the Cairo Opera House on Saturday while the sessions will take place at the Dar's headquarters in Ramlet Bulaq. Thirty leading figures from Egypt and the Arab world will be participating including former Algerian President Ahmed Bin Bella, former Sudanese Prime Minister Al-Sadeq Al-Mahdi, former Moroccan Minister Abdel-Hadi Abu Taleb, former Bahraini Minister of Education Ali Fakhru, and from Egypt Yunan Labib Rizk, Raouf Abbas, Abdel-Qader Hatem, Tharwat Okasha and Mahmoud Amin El-Alim.
To mark the occasion Dar Al-Kutub will publish selected documents related to the revolution. Some of the originals of these documents will be displayed, including the Revolution Command Council's decree abolishing the monarchy and sequestering the property of King Farouk.

Culture Café II
THE MONTH-long International Book Conference at the Citadel (to open this Saturday) will organise, among other activities, a Culture Café seminar programme. Modelled on its International Cairo Book Fair counterpart, the café will feature daily discussions with high-ranking officials and prominent intellectuals, screenings of documentaries and Cinema Institute graduation films, performances and craft demonstrations as well as other activities. For the duration of the conference some 220 poets, representing the various governorates subsidised by the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces, will read from their work.

Youth on stage
DIRECTOR Samir El-Asfouri's new play Tara'i'o (Blowup), will open shortly at the Ramsis Hilton Theatre with three young performers -- comedian Mohamed Heneidi, actress Hanan Turk and singer Medhat Saleh -- heading the cast. Written by Nabil Amin, the play revolves around Faris, a young man who assumes the responsibility of fighting the corruption that surrounds him. Set in a popular neighbourhood the play draws on the tradition of the moulid, and features set designs by Mahmoud Haggag, music by Esam Karika and lyrics by Gamal Bekhiet.

...and screen
FILMMAKER Ahmed Awad's debut, a romantic comedy Kazalik fil-Zamalek (Thus in Zamalek), brings together actor Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz's son Mohamed and the late writer Abdel-Rahman El-Khamisi's granddaughter Liqaa, who play upper middle-class young residents of the district, together with Mohamed Lutfi, Basma and Hussein El-Imam (the multi-talented son of director Hassan El-Imam), Ezzat Abu-Ouf, Shaimaa Aqeed, Abdalla Meshrif and Menha Zaitoun. Written by Mukhtar Hussein and Hussein El-Imam, the film -- currently being shot -- has the added asset of Said El-Shimi as cinematographer.

Refugee art
THE CAIRO office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees last week honoured artists who have supported their work. Among them were musicians Omar Khairat and Nasir Shamma, filmmaker Sherif Arafa (who directed a documentary about refugee conditions), head of the Al-Ahram Centre for Translation and Publication Kamal El-Sayed and several activists and officials. Attending the celebration was comedian Adel Imam, a UN good-will ambassador for refugees.

Clip art
THE THIRD Oscar Video Clip Festival, opening this week in Sharm El-Sheikh, features performances by the Al-Janoub band for folk music and the French pop band Orange Blossoms. The festival, which continues till the end of July, brings together the best video clips from around the world and begins with a broadcast of the winning entries from the last two rounds.

Arab celebration
THE KUWAITI-based Abdel-Aziz Al- Babatin Foundation is organising a celebration in Spain to commemorate Ibn Zaydoun, the Andalusian poet. The celebration, explained the Kuwaiti poet and sponsor of the prize Abdel-Aziz Al- Babatin, is conceived within the framework of the on-going Arab dialogue with the West , and will be attended by European Arabists and scholars as well as historians and critics from the Mashriq and the Maghreb. Potential collaborators include Mohamed El-Qabbah, adviser to Morocco's King Mohamed VI, and the Egyptian Institute for Islamic Studies in Madrid. To coincide with the celebration the foundation will publish 22 new books.
By Youssef Rakha

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