Sara sat in labour at a Cairo hospital demanding a basic right: giving birth. Doctors turned her away because she was an HIV positive. "I know my rights," she told the doctors, "I am not leaving."
While Sara, whose name has been changed, eventually (...)
Khaled Samahy loves Cairo, and he loves painting portraits.
In his latest exhibition, "Portraits of Cairo", he brings those two loves together.
"A portrait is an expression of your love for someone," said Samahy, who has been painting portraits for (...)
Gaming is an expensive hobby. Long gone are the days where one could buy ripped copies in Egypt for as little as EGP 50. The advent of using CDs and DVDs meant renting was no longer necessary where cheaper copies could be had. But with the seventh (...)
Inside a sparkling, pristine shop in New Cairo, two men were having a lively debate, their elbows resting on a pile of comic books. The two had read an article about a woman who had forced her husband to sell his Lego collection. Mohamed Maklad was (...)
A girl in sunglasses in a smoke-filled room, singing her heart out with four guys, one of which is a much older American musician: "This is The Invisible Hands," I was told by an enthusiastic crowd member. While we are rarely surprised walking into (...)
Celebrating French illustrator and artist Golo's 40 years of work in Egypt, an exhibition in La Viennoise opened on 15 May to sizeable crowd. The exhibition celebrated the 40 years since Golo's first visit to Egypt.
Along with Golo's exhibition, the (...)
The chef at the New Cairo catering company Kozbara is half Italian, so his pasta is al dente. But his specialty is, well, whatever the customer wants.
"We like to customise orders for our clients," said Kozbara founder Sherif Khalil. "If a client (...)
Aiming to foster a jewellery industry that is competitive on a global scale, the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade's Jewellery Technology Centre (JTC) supports upcoming designers and young artists who want to build their brand and obtain the (...)
The Prospects of Arab Cinema (PAC) has been launched as a parallel programme to the 36th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) and is accepting submissions until 9 September 2014.
The programme is organised by the Egyptian Filmmakers' Syndicate (...)
I Am Now Dead is being performed at the Falaki Theatre on 14, 15 and 16 May. The play won best director, best show and best actor at the Festival for Creative Youth in 2005 and later received the jury's award at the National Theatre Festival in its (...)
Commemorating the Palestinian Nakba, the NVIC (Nederlands-Vlaams Instituut in Cairo) is hosting Palestine month with events throughout the month of May at their location in Zamalek. The next event is a lecture by prolific author Ahdaf Soueif on 15 (...)
Located in the Degla part of Maadi, Zentro is a new Asian fusion restaurant which offers Japanese, Thai and Chinese cuisine in a spacious area which includes a children's room. Zentro's location is excellent and the space is huge compared to other (...)
Despite Sami Riami's Spiderman series being a huge commercial hit, Sony decided to reboot Spiderman with a new cast and a different storyline only five years later. After a first installment that quickly cast doubt over the decision as another (...)
Kafein's main focus is on providing a place in Downtown that serves quality tea and coffee in an effort to promote this culture in Cairo. However, the place also doubles as a small gallery of sorts.
We went to check out the exhibition Swinging by (...)
Located on the first floor of a quiet residential building in Maadi, Tipsy Bar recently opened as a bar and a space for live music, offering an extensive range of cocktails and a host of international dishes as well as a full sushi menu.
The place (...)
Cimatheque is inviting applications for its latest project Kurrasat Al Cimatheque or Cahier de la Cimatheque, after the famous Cahiers du Cinéma. The project is a training programme on film criticism and creative programming and is calling on (...)
Beirut's latest project brings together over 30 artworks from the Kadist collections in Paris and San Francisco to Cairo for a nine-month residency. The collection will be a temporary guest to Cairo and will be shown at several venues and shows (...)
Man of Letters
Translated by Mona El-Zayyat
Taha Hussein's autobiography, one of the greatest figures of the 20th century Arab renaissance published here in a single volume for the first time, tells the story of the blind prolific author who rose (...)
Qabila, the short film festival, has returned for a second season as a chance for young filmmakers to showcase their talent and network with others passionate about cinema.
The festival opened on Sunday at the Cairo Opera House's El Midan Theatre (...)
If you've ever tried sticking to a fitness regimen, you know how challenging it can be. In a city where main roads can still be jammed at midnight, some people are not joking when they say they cannot find the time to work out between their jobs and (...)
Ever since Bryan Singer brought comic book superheroes back from the dead, they have been featured in a handful of films each year. The highlights include the reinvented Batman trilogy and X-men: First Class. Flops like Catwoman and Elektra will (...)
An icon of Cairo and in one of its most charming neighbourhoods, the Baron Palace is Heliopolis' crown jewel. It is a reminder of better, more luxurious times when the now-bustling area was a remote, but well-connected suburb built about 10km (...)
A new retreat on the Nile, called Fekra, opened its doors this year to offer alternative healing methods that include meditation and yoga for those struggling with PTSD or those who want to enjoy the scenery and tranquil nature surrounding the (...)
Bollywood Love Story – A Musical, a show which brings India to three cities in Egypt, is part of the India by the Nile festival and is set to continue in Alexandria on 10 and 11, and Sahl Hasheesh on 15 April. The breathtaking show is funny, (...)
Attyat Sayed is described as one who does not start a painting with an image in mind, but discovers her subjects as she goes along, something that is clearly apparent in her latest exhibition Colour Vision Angles. Although there is no unifying theme (...)