♣ The Centre of Documentation of Cultural and National Heritage (CULTNAT) and the Ministry of Culture organised the 25 January Culturama Show to mark the second anniversary of the revolution, Mai Samih reports. The show was inaugurated on the Cairo Opera House grounds by the head of the National Centre for Translation and the Foreign Cultural Relations Sector at the Ministry of Culture Kamilia Sobhi, the head of CULTNAT Yasser Al-Shayeb, and the Cairo Opera House Director Ines Abdel-Dayeim. It is documentary-based, featuring pictures of the most important events the took place in the early days of the revolution as well as pictures of those who died in the fray. The photos depict all the details of the revolution from the slogans protesters raised to clashes between them and the police and images of the army on the streets. The show took place on 19-23 January. It is the first project to use nine screens at once to display images and was developed by the Alexandria Centre of§ National and Cultural Documentation. “This is not our first show; we have others documenting Egyptian heritage,” comments Mohamed Ismail, head of Software Development Department at the Smart Village. “We have Panorama Heliopolis, Panorama Al-Sadat and Panorama Cairo University to mark its Golden Jubilee. These could be found in many places including the Central Library in Cairo University, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, El Gouna Library, Sharm El-Sheikh and Luxor. We have displayed it in 16 cities including Berlin, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Tokyo. We are developing Culturama 2 which will involve 3D graphics.”
♥ The Garden City Lions Club (GCLC), headed by Awatef Serageddin, organised a seminar with actor Ahmed Al-Sakka to honour him for his film and television career. Al-Sakka talked about his last TV series Khotout Hamraa (Red Lines), screened last Ramadan; at the end of the seminar Serageddin handed Al-Sakka the GCLC shield. Present were TV anchor Soheir Shalabi and Al-Ahram writers Hala Mustafa and Mona Ragab.
♠ The Amr Diab YouTube Academy announced the names of the Egyptian Mohanad Zoheir and the Moroccan Wafaa Chikki as the winners of the competition. The Amr Diab YouTube Academy was created as part of Amr Diab's efforts to engage more with fans using the power of the Internet. His YouTube channel is one of the most popular channels across the Middle East and North Africa; winners of the competition get to sing live on stage with Diab in his upcoming concert. Some 100,000 votes were cast throughout the phases of the campaign that started last June with 1,000 entrants from all around the world. The top 10 finalists were chosen by jury and submitted new entries while the top five were selected by Diab himself and the final winners selected by the YouTube community in a final public vote.
¨ Iraq's permanent representative at the Arab League Qais Al-Azzawi held a cultural evening at the Arab Cultural Salon to discuss recent political developments with former prime minister Yehia Al-Gamal as the keynote speaker. Present were former culture minister Gaber Asfour, critic Salah Fadl, Libyan Ambassador to Egypt Ashour Borashed, former Libyan minister of justice Mohamed Al-Alaqi, journalist Afkar Al-Kharadli, Libyan writer Ibrahim Al-Faqih and political analyst Mustafa Al-Feki. ♣ The administration of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) held a press conference to announce the second edition of LAFF, scheduled to take place in 15-24 March. LAFF President Sayed Fouad said the second edition will be dedicated to the memory of the late director Atef Al-Tayeb, adding that the festival will screen 350 films from various African countries chosen by a selection committee that included filmmakers Khaled Youssef and Saad Hendawi, screenwriter Mariam Naaoum and film critic Ahmed Fayek. The press conference enjoyed extensive media coverage; among the celebrities present were film critics Samir Farid, Magdi Al-Tayeb, Walid Seif and Mohamed Al-Kenawi, actors Mamdouh Abdel-Alim, Lebleba, Youssra, Dorra, Hassan Al-Raddad, Gehan Fadel, producer Mohamed Al-Adl and director Ahmed Rashwan.
♥ Rehab FM, Egypt's first Internet radio channel, is headed by singer and composer Hamid Al-Shaeri. This week it organised a prestigious celebration on the occasion of its fifth anniversary at the Dusit Thani Hotel in New Cairo. Shaabi singer Amina was honoured by Al-Shaeri for her efforts in preserving the popular Egyptian heritage; other honourees included singers Hakim and Mustafa Amar and actors Ahmed Adam and Madline Tabar.
♠ The University of Wales bestowed honorary certificates upon a number of actors and media figures during a celebration entitled “Festival of Promoting Human Development” that took place at Al-Azhar Conference Hall. Among the honourees were veteran media figures Amr Al-Kahki and Alaa Al-Kahki as well as Al-Nahar satellite channel director Ibrahim Hamouda. Actors Sabrine and Maged Al-Masri, journalist Sherif Nadi and media figures Osama Mounir and Tarek Allam received certificates of appreciation. An honorary PhD was given to actors Nour Al-Sherif and Nabila Ebeid, renowned pianist Omar Khairat, actor Yehia Al-Fakharani (who was represented by his son) and singer Mohamed Mounir — who sadly could not attend the ceremony.
¨ Congratulations! The Jinan University in Tripoli, Lebanon, honoured Al-Ahram Weekly's very own Environment Editor Mahmoud Bakr for his relentless efforts in promoting environmental awareness in Egypt and the Arab world. Jinan University President Mona Haddad, in collaboration with the Arab Federation for Youth and Environment represented by Mamdouh Rashwan, invited Bakr to deliver a lecture entitled “Education and Environmental Media” during a training course that took place at the university headquarters in Tripoli in 13-17 January. Around 100 trainees from the national universities together with university students attended the course. Present were Tripoli Governor Nader Ghazal, Egyptian environmental expert Magdi Allam and Lebanese media figure Mounir Al-Hafi.
