♣ The 30th round of the Arab Theatre Festival concluded its activities with a celebration honouring veteran dramatic figures late director Ismail Abdel-Hafez, his son actor Mohamed Abdel-Hafez, late scriptwriter Osama Anwar Okasha, the late theatre icon Hanaa Abdel-Fattah and late musician Ammar Al-Sherei as well as the class of 1995 of the Supreme Institute of Theatre Arts. The evening featured a play entitled Leqaa Maa Al-Raais (A Meeting with the President) by Sameh Bassiouni and Ahmed Keshk together with Supreme Institute of Theatre Arts students; dealing with attacks on the arts, the play ends with a message for the president. Veteran actress Samira Mohsen announced the winning plays: Hadath Fi Leilet Al-Christmas (An Incident on Christmas Eve), Allah Mahaba (God is Love), Umm Al-Masryeen (Mother of the Egyptians) and Kawkab Hawaa (Eve's Planet). Present were actors Ashraf Zaki, Khaled Hamzawi, Randa Al-Beheiri, Maged Al-Kedwani together with director Mohamed Al-Nokali.
♥ Downtown Cairo saw the premiere of the new blockbuster Sabouba (Gig) which was screened at Diana Cinema. Directed by Peter Mimi, the film casts Ahmed Haroun, Randa Al-Beheiri and Khaled Hamzawi. An array of actors and actresses attended.
♠ The Catholic Centre for Egyptian Cinema, headed by Father Boutros Daniel, organised a Christmas celebration honouring Egyptian actors as a message of peace. Present were Salah Al-Saadani, Elham Shahine, Nihal Anbar, Yasmine Al-Geilani, Nada Bassiouni, Magdi Sobhi, Mona Hala, Mohamed Wafik, Ghada Ibrahim, Mohamed Abu Dawoud and Khaled Hamzawi.
¨ Pop star Amr Diab gave a concert at the Cairo Stadium hockey field to some 10,000 fans. Diab appeared in a new hair style and rocked the stage for two whole hours with his audience singing along and chanting that they couldn't wait for his new album.
♥ The Director of the Cairo Opera House, gifted flautist Ines Abdel-Dayeim, has signed an agreement with Abdallah Al-Mehana, head of the Faculty of Arts in Kuwait, on artistic and cultural exchange in various musical fields such as the orchestra, Arab music, operatic singing and the restoration of some of the Opera's memorabilia such as the rare and antique records. Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Sung Aicoh honoured Abdel-Dayeim as the first female director of the Egyptian Opera House after the 25 January Revolution and the best flautist across the world. This took place during the first Arab-Chinese Women's Summit conference held to reinforce the culture of dialogue among Egyptian, Arab and Chinese women, which was held in Egypt in the presence of 200 high-profile figures from Egypt, China and the Arab countries. ♣ Two weeks ago the first Graduate Annual Research in Egypt and Nubia (GARDEN) was held at the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo. The one-day forum was organised jointly by the German Archaeological Institute Cairo (DAIK), the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) and the American University in Cairo (AUC) — an event brought into being to give MA and PhD students the opportunity to speak about their projects before a wider audience of students of the same academic level so that problems, methods and knowledge could be discussed in an informal climate. This month's seminar included studies on various aspects of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen and early Islamic pottery from Egypt, with discussions of how they could be interpreted. Ceramics, surgical instruments, stone vessels, burial traditions during ancient Nubian times, as well as musical instruments, jewellery known as pectorals and a philological approach to the Wab-priest and the Wabet-priestess were all discussed, as well as streets and their cultural importance and building archaeology. Stephan Seidlmayer, the director of the German Archaeological Institute, gave the opening address. He was joined by the Assistant Director of the Netherlands-Flemish Institute, Andre Veldmeijer, and AUC professor Salima Ikram.
