Catholic trophies

THE 51st CATHOLIC Centre Festival ended on Friday at the Nile Cinema Hall with the award-giving ceremony. Samir Seif's Maali Al-Wazir (His Excellency the Minister) gleaned six awards, including best film and best lead actor (Ahmed Zaki). The next in line was the televised drama Aina Qalbi? (Where Is My Heart?), which received three awards, including best lead actress (Youssra).

Honoured were critic Khairia El-Bishlawi, vernacular poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi, actor Abdel-Rahman Abu-Zahra and the multi-talented Sherihan; the young actor Hani Ramzi received the Centre's incentive award.

Following a minute of silence in honour of the recently deceased actress Sanaa Gamil and script-writer Mohsen Zayed, the Centre Choir performed. Present were Cherif El- Shoubashi, the Ministry of Culture's deputy for international cultural relations, and Mamdouh El-Leithi, head of Film Artists' Syndicate.

Moroccan conquests

FILMMAKER Mohamed El-Qalyoubi's Kharif Aadam (Adam's Autumn) was selected by the Higher Committee for Festivals to represent Egypt in the official competition of the 12th Tetouan Film Festival (28 March- 4 April).

On the fringe of the festival, Magdi Ahmed Ali's Asrar Al-Banat (Girls' Secrets) and Dawoud Abdel-Sayed's Muwaten wa Mukhber wa Harami (Citizen, Detective, Thief). A whole programme centring on Egyptian cinema in the 1990s will, in addition, ensure the screening of such remarkable offerings as Gannet Al-Shayatin (Fallen Angel's Paradise) and Romantika.

Honourees include the late filmmaker Radwan El-Kashef, while writer Mahfouz Abdel-Rahman and the well-known media figure Hamdi Qandil will participate in the main symposium, appropriately entitled "Cinema and Resistance".

New president

THE ASSOCIATION of Film Writers and Critics met on Friday, presided over by Association head Mamdouh El-Leithi. Heading the agenda was the 19th Alexandria Film Festival, to open in September. Critic Ahmed El-Hadari was selected as this round's president.

Three senior critics -- Rafiq El-Sabban, Ahmed Saleh and Nabil Ragheb -- were promoted to the board of the Association, to replace three recently dismissed board members; while Iris Nazmi and Magdi El-Tayeb were elected to the positions of treasurer and secretary-general, respectively.

A committee was drawn up with the purpose of reorganising the Association in the light of new NGO legislation, with Wahid Hamed, Mahmoud Saad, Faisal Nada, Raouf Tawfiq, Abdel-Hayy Adib and Ahmed El- Hadari.

The next meeting will be held following the upcoming Eid vacation.

Boasting's end

ACTOR Mohamed Ahmed El-Masri, better known as Abu-Lam'a (a reference to his trademark character's tendency to boast), died on Friday at the age of 76, after a brief stay in hospital due to a broken thigh. Abu- Lam'a made his name in the 1950s as a radio comedian, opposite actor Mohamed Rateb Fayyad, better known as Khawaga Biju. Through the 1960s he became a household name, subsequently making television appearances. This week the Actors' Syndicate held a memorial service in honour of the actor.

Bestseller

YEMENI novelist Wajdal Al-Ahdal's Qawarib Jabaliya (Mountain Boats) -- banned in Yemen, the book is now published by the London-based Riyad Al-Rayis House -- has achieved remarkable success in this year's Cairo Book Fair. Selling 100 copies, it broke the Rayis record of 60 (a representative average for most literary titles in Arabic), Mohamed Al-Jimiei, the publisher's sales director, announced. Conceding that the campaign waged against the novel by Muslim extremists, which led to banning on the pretext that the author employs Qur'anic expressions in describing sexual scenes, was a primary reason behind such success, Al- Jimiei nonetheless expressed sympathy with Al-Ahdal who, following the issuing of an arrest warrant, fled to Lebanon, hoping to seek sanctuary in a European country -- eventually to return to Yemen following the intervention of the German Nobel-laureate Günter Grass.

Self celebration

AL-MESHAKHASSATI (The Impersonator), Fakhreddin Neguida's new film, was at the centre of an informal celebration staged by Adel-Imam and the cast of his ongoing play Body Guard at the Haram Theatre last week. The star of the celebration was the film's principal actor, Tamer Abdel-Moneim, one of Imam's students. In the film Abdel- Moniem played a desperate amateur with a gift for mimicking famous actors, one of whom is Imam. Attending the celebration, among others, were Rami Imam, Ezzat Abu- Awf and Said Abdel-Ghani.

Dual opening

PORT Said governor Mustafa Kamel and head of the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces Anas El-Fiqi last week opened the Mubarak Library, the latest addition to the city's cultural infrastructure. They also inaugurated the Sixth National Port Said Biennale, held at the Port Said Cultural Palace. In addition to 13 incentive awards, 26 artists were awarded LE35,500 each for their contribution to the event. Of the 550 individual art works submitted, 200 were selected for participation in the biennale.