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Egypt's culture picks of the week, 15-22 June: VIDEOS This week's culture highlights include film screenings, exhibitions, concerts and theatre performances in Cairo and Alexandria
Sunday 15 June Last day of Egyptian short films at Cinema Odeon, 6.30pm Cairo's art house cinema Zawya screens short films by Egyptian directors. The films have received local and international acclaim over the last decade – but most of them have not been screened commercially. The directors will be available for a Q&A session after the screenings. Sunday will include screening of Om Amira (2013) by Naji Ismail, Al-Bostan Al-Saeed Street (2014) by Maysoon El-Masry, A Daily Visit (2011) by Maged Nader among others. For more details, check the programme here. Odeon Cinema, 4 Abdel-Hamid Said Street, off Talaat Harb Street, Downtown Cairo Rim Banna at Kasr El Nil Theatre, 9pm Rim Banna, the Palestinian singer and song writer from Nazareth, returns to Egypt, this time to perform at Kasr El-Nil theatre's stage. Banna's songs are inspired by the Palestinian people's conscience and sentiments, their culture, history and folklore. The concert will be repeated at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria on Tuesday 17 June. Listen to Rim Banna's "The Absent One" below. 6, Kasr El-Nil Street, Cairo Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries at the Fine Arts Museum in Alexandria Launched on 10 June and running until 6 July, this year's Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries features 17 artists from 13 countries. This edition of the biennale is dedicated to renowned Egyptian artist Hamed Owais (1919-2011), celebrated for his works representing social realism and still remembered through his participation in the 2009 biennale, as well as numerous other important artistic events and exhibitions in Egypt and abroad. Read more about the biennale here and check the photo gallery here. 6 Mansha Street, Qesm Moharram Beik, Alexandria Monday 16 June Two guitars at Teatro Eskendria in Alexandria, 8pm Shadi Nagi and Karim Frege will perform on guitars. The duo has already given several performances together on a variety of venues. Listen to their performance at the stage of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Arts Centre below. 25 Fouad Street, Raml Station, Alexandria Two screenings at the Cairo's French Institute, 8pm The evening will include screenings of two movies: the 2008 movie The Prisoner's Cinema, directed by Melvin Moti (running time 22 minutes) followed by a 2012 movie titled Julien Crépieux (running time 77 minutes). The screenings are part of A Guest Without a Host Is a Ghost, a visual arts project that takes the absence of public or private contemporary artwork collections in Egypt as its starting point. Spread out across several venues, the project will continue until 17 May. Read more about the programme here. 1 Madraset Al-Hoqouq Al-Ferensiya St, off Qasr Al-Eini St, Mounira, Cairo Tuesday 17 June Rim Banna at Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Arts Centre, Alexandria, 8pm Rim Banna, the Palestinian singer and song writer from Nazareth, returns to Egypt, this time to perform at Kasr El-Nil theatre's stage. Banna's songs are inspired by the Palestinian people's conscience and sentiments, their culture, history and folklore. Chatby, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria Screening of The Ugly One at CIC, 8pm The 2013 movie is an experimental work directed by Eric Baudelaire. The screening is part of A Guest Without a Host Is a Ghost, a visual arts project that takes the absence of public or private contemporary artwork collections in Egypt as its starting point. Spread out across several venues, the project will continue until 16 May. Read more about the programme here. Running time is 101 minutes. Contemporary Image Collective (CIC), 22 Abdel-Khaleq Tharwat St, 4th Floor, Downtown Cairo Naseer Shamma at the Cairo Opera House, 8pm Joined by his ensemble, the Iraqi Cairo-based musician Naseer Shammawill perform compositions on the oud. “No rules or limitations can stand between music and me, because this is what gives me life: to create something new,” Shamma has said about his music. Listen to his "Baghdad Night" below. Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, Cairo Launch of ARTE Film Week at Odeon Cinema, 6.30pm The first screening in the series of ARTE Film Week will present Suzanne, a 2013 French drama film directed by Katell Quillévéré. The film received five nominations at the 39th César Awards (2014) while Adèle Haenel won the award for Best Supporting Actress. The film will be screened at 6.30pm and 9.30pm. The screening is part of Zawya arthouse activities. 20 Adly Street, Downtown Cairo Wednesday 18 June Screening of Out of the Box at Teatro Eskendria in Alexandria, 7pm Out of the Box, written and directed by Khaled Wafai, follows a young amateur filmmaker in his attempt to make his first movie. The film's running time is 17 minutes. 25 Fouad Street, Raml Station, Alexandria Screening of The Missing Picture at Odeon Cinema, 6.30pm and 9.30pm The screening is part of the series of ARTE Film Week. The Missing Picture, a 2013 movie directed by Rithy Panh, is based on the filmmaker's autobiographical book The Elimination. The screening is part of Zawya's arthouse activities. 20 Adly Street, Downtown Cairo Nesma Abdel Aziz and her marimba at the Manasterly Palace's garden, 8pm Nesma Abdel-Aziz, a marimba player, has a long history of performances in Egypt and internationally, captivating her audience with musical skill and energy. Watch Nesma Abdel Aziz's performance on marimba below. Manasterly Palace garden, Roda Island, Manial, Cairo Youngest pianists at the Cairo Opera House, 8pm The students of piano classes operating under the Cairo Opera House's Talents Development Centre will showcase their skills at the end-of-year performance. Small Hall, Cairo Opera House, Zamalek Thursday 19 June El-Dor El-Awal at El-Genaina Theatre, 8.30pm El-Dor El-Awal was founded in 1999 and the band's name, which means 'the first floor', comes from the first floor downtown Cairo flat where the band members used to practice. The band features a variety of sounds and instruments: different forms of percussion, keyboards, the qanun, the saxophone, and, occasionally, the flute. El-Dor El-Awal play instrumental tunes that infuse world influences with traditional Egyptian beats, categorising their music as "oriental jazz." Al-Genaina Theatre, Al-Azhar Park, Salah Salem Road, Darassa, Cairo Contemporary Views VI at Al-Masar Gallery Al-Masar Gallery celebrates its sixth anniversary this year with a selection of work by some of Egypt's most prominent visual artists: Hussein Youssef Amin, Tahia Halim, Mounir Canaan, Samir Rafi, Taha Hussein, Omar El-Nagdy, Gorges Bahgory, Mohammad Sabry and Hazem Taha Hussein. The show will run until 18 September. 26 July Street, side entrance on Isaac Jacob Street (ground floor), Zamalek, Cairo Sweet Dreams: Amre Heiba at GIZ In this exhibition at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH office in Zamalek, oil paintings emanating from different stages of Amre Heiba's career will be displayed all summer. In this collection, the themes that typically characterise Amre Heiba will reappear, including childhood, solitude and romance. The exhibition runs until 31 August. 4D, El-Gezira Street, Zamalek, Cairo Also on this day: - Screening of In Bloom at Odeon Cinema, at 6.30pm and 9.30pm, part of ARTE Film Week held by Zawya. Watch the trailer below. Friday 20 June Flute and piano recital and Cairo Opera House, 8pm Kholoud Sharara on flute and David Hales on piano will perform works from the Romantic music repertoire. The evening will include compositions by Schubert, Bizet, Saint-Saens and Tchaikovsky. Small Hall, Cairo Opera House, Zamalek Hawa El-Horeya performance at Makan Centre for Culture and Arts, 8pm The performance aims at creating parallels and comparison points between the two distant time moments, looking into 1919 revolution and translating it, almost one century later, into today's reality. Directed by Laila Soliman, the performance is based on two characters played by Zainab Magdy and Nanda Mohamed. 1, Saad Zaghloul Street (corner of Mansour Street and Saad Zaghloul Street),El-Dawaween, Cairo Also on this day: - Screening of Heli at Odeon Cinema, at 6.30pm and 9.30pm, part of ARTE Film Week held by Zawya Saturday 21 June Underground Festival at Aquarium Grotto Garden, 10am-6pm Cultural and fun activities topped with music performances will fill the Aquarium Grotto Garden for a full day. Among the music line-up are Under-Zero band, Darwasha Project, Shadi Sherif Beatbox among others. The cultural activities will include art workshops, face painting, aragoz show, magician show, etc. Zamalek Aquarium Grotto, Cairo Saleeb Soufi Band at 100 Copies Music Space, 8pm The band Saleeb Soufi consists of six members – vocals, violin, cello, oud, percussion, keyboard – performing spiritual songs reaching to the Sufi and Coptic repertoires. Watch an extract from the band's concert below. 22 Talaat Harb Street, Downtown Cairo Also on this day: - Screening of Tabu at Odeon Cinema, at 6.30pm and 9.30pm, part of ARTE Film Week held by Zawya Sunday 22 June Screening of Salata Baladi at Netherlands-Flemish Institute, 7pm Salata Baladi, an award-winning movie from the Egyptian filmmaker, Nadia Kamel, is inspired by the directors multi-religious and multi-cultural family background. The movie running time is 105 minutes. The film is in Arabic with English subtitles. 1, Mahmoud Azmi Street, Zamalek, Cairo Il Corpus Homanus II: Collective show at The Art Lounge Al-Masar Gallery's sister art space, The Art Lounge, will showcase paintings and sculptures by a small group of contemporary artists: Ibrahim El-Dessouki, Sami Aboul Azm, Esam Darwish and Kareem Al Qurity. Complementing the show at Al-Masar, the exhibition will present the current generation of visual artists and runs until 18 September. 26 July Street, side entrance on Isaac Jacob Street (ground floor), Zamalek, Cairo http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/103690.aspx
