♥ Indian Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri and his wife gave a lavish reception at India House in Zamalek to commemorate the 63rd National Day of their country. The party was crowned by the presence of former minister of youth Alieddin Hilal, head of the International Union for Cultures and Religions Dialogue Ali Al-Samman, head of the EU Delegation to Egypt James Moran, writer Laila Takla as well as a foreign ambassadors and their spouses such as German Ambassador Michael Bock and his wife Dagmar Bock. Suri asked the attendees to observe a minute of silence to mourn the victims of Port Said. ♠ Last week, the premiere of the film Al-Hafla (The Party), written by Wael Abdallah and directed by Ahmed Alaa Al-Deeb, took place at the Galaxy Cineplex, Mall of Arabia, in 6 October City. The cast including Ahmed Ezz, Joumana Murad, Ahmed Ragab, Dina Al-Sherbini and Roubi were all present. Present were actors Tamer Hagrass, Menna Shalabi and Hanna Sheiha, among others.
¨ Al-Hobb fi Zaman Al-Carina (Love in the Time of Carina) by journalist and writer Abeer Abdel-Wahab was launched at Al-Balad Bookstore. The discussion was conducted by journalist Ashraf Tawfik, and present were filmmakers Dawoud Abdel-Sayed and Youssri Nasrallah as well as theatre director Khaled Galal, popular singer Nader Abul-Leif, writers Amr Samir, Mohamed Nabawi, Essam Zakaria and Rami Abdel-Razek.
♣ Another book signing took place at the pavilion of the Egyptian-Lebanese Publishing House at the 44th Cairo International Book: the children's writer Abdel-Tawab Youssef's translation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Prophet's Birth.
♥ The newly appointed Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly magazine Al-Demoqratiya (Democracy) Beshir Abdel-Fattah held an honorary ceremony for its founding editor Hala Mustafa at the Cairo Capital Club restaurant at Al-Ahram's new building. Political analyst Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Seyassa Al-Dawliya (International Politics) Abu Bakr Al-Dessouki and Managing Editor of Al-Demoqratiya Azmi Ashour were all present.
♠ Shems Friedlander, professor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo (AUC), was selected by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC) as one of the world's 500 most influential Muslims. The RISSC is an independent research entity affiliated with the Royal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, which is an international Islamic NGO headquartered in Amman, Jordan. Friedlander received the award in the category of art and culture. “I feel honoured to be recognised as both an artist and representative of AUC,” said Friedlander, whose paintings and photographs were recently exhibited at the Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair.
¨ The Ayyam Gallery made its long-awaited London debut, opening to an international crowd of over 700 people eager to witness the gallery's venture into Europe last week. A queue extending along New Bond Street from Ayyam Gallery's premises at No 143, bore testimony to excitement about the Middle East art scene, and of the work of Ayyam co-founders Hisham and Khaled Samawi. On display at Ayyam Gallery London's inaugural exhibition were works by celebrated Lebanese artist and architect Nadim Karam, celebrated for his public art and urban regeneration projects. Visitors were invited to walk among Karam's iconic “urban toys” and view newly unveiled multimedia paintings depicting the interplay between love and war. With venues in Damascus, Beirut and Dubai, and a forthcoming space to open in Jeddah on 27 February, Ayyam Gallery London joins a body of exhibition spaces with a global resonance. Speaking before the launch, Khaled Samawi said, “Our presence in London will enable us to better represent our artists in today's contemporary art market, firmly positioning the Ayyam institution as a global gallery representing artists with a global reach.” Karam's exhibition “Shooting the Cloud” will be on display at Ayyam Gallery London until 9 March 2013.
♣ After the film's commercial release in 2011, Asmaa, directed and written by Amr Salama and produced by Dollar Film (New Century) in cooperation with Film Clinic, continues to reap awards in 2013. The film won the Best Film Award at the International Tamil Film Festival in Berlin, raising the tally to 19 awards received in international and regional film festivals. Asmaa was a major success in a number of Arab film festivals, with Salama winning the Best Arab Director in the New Horizons Competition at the fifth Abu Dhabi Film Festival in October 2011, and Maged Al-Kidwani receiving the Best Actor Award. In addition, the film received the Appreciation Award at the Oran Arab Film Festival in Algeria in 2011, and the Critics Award for Best Arab Film at Muscat Film Festival in 2012 in the Sultanate of Oman. In May 2012, the film won three awards from the Peace Film Festival in Hollywood, namely: Best Director Salama, Best Actress Hend Sabri and Best Actor Al-Kidwani. The film also won the Golden Prize in the Eastern Film Festival in Geneva, Switzerland, the Woman's Cinema Award at the Mon's International Love Film Festival 2012 in Belgium and the Audience Award at the end of the 26th session of the Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland. More than 1,000 IMDB users voted for the film to achieve the second ranking on the website's rating list. ♥ In the framework of the cooperation between the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and the Cairo Opera House, the Korean Beautiful Mind Charity Ensemble presented a concert entitled Beautiful Harmony for Love and Peace at the Cairo Opera House Small Hall, with pieces ranging from classical to traditional music. Director of the Ensemble Bai-Il-Hwan expressed his pleasure to be visiting Egypt, pointing out that the Beautiful Mind Charity (BMC) is a philanthropic organisation that pursues cultural diplomacy. The ensemble held a special concert for patients of the Children's Cancer Hospital 57357 on 27 January at the hospital's theatre. At the end of the concert members of the BMC presented the children with gifts of toys.
