¨ The Sawiris Foundation for Social Development announced the winners of its eighth cultural prize (2013) in a grand ceremony held at the Cairo Opera House Small Hall. Novelist Ibrahim Farghali received the Best Novel Award for his novel Abnaa Al-Gabalawi (Children of Al-Gabalawi), published in 2009 by Al-Ain, while writer Ibrahim Dawoud won the Best Short Story Collection of Award for The Atmosphere, published in 2011. The jury of this, headed by veteran novelist Gamal Al-Ghitani, brought together critics Mona Tolba, Mohamed Badawi, and AUC professors Samia Mehrez and Mohamed Bereiri. Winners of the fiction competition in the emerging short story writer category included Mohamed Rafie for his short story collection The Splendor of Water, Amira Hassan Al-Dessouki for Stop it, Youssef and Mohamed Farouk for Cinemet Qasr Al-Nil; Yasser Ahmed won it for his novel Aaks Al-Itigah (Reverse Course), and Mohamed Salem shared second place with Mohamed Mahmoud Ghitani for their novels The Tango Dancer and Camera Frames, respectively. The screenplay award went to Khaled Ezzat for his script Halti (My Condition), while the emerging screenwriter award went to Mohamed Amin Radi for his script The Capital of Hell. Many important figures were jury members, including film critic Samir Farid, filmmaker Ahmed Maher and Al-Ahram Weekly's very own film critic Hani Mustafa, producer and chairman of Semat production Hala Galal as well as editor Mona Rabie. ♣ Veteran BBC journalist Tim Sebastian paid a special visit to the British School of Alexandria (BSA) to mark the launch of the School's new citizenship education agenda. Sebastian, founder of the internationally acclaimed Doha Debates and first presenter of BBC's HARDtalk, was invited to facilitate a series of dialogue sessions with secondary school students and teachers, focussing on “the role of young citizens in New Egypt”. The sessions also gave participants the opportunity to quiz Sebastian on his experience in holding political leaders to account and the characteristics of effective debate events. “Debating is about listening to ideas that we do not necessarily agree with,” said Sebastian, underlining to the students that: “You all have an opportunity to play a role in New Egypt which your parents didn't have the chance to do. My main advice is to get engaged with what you are passionate about and see how that can be to the benefit of the wider community.” Sebastian's very first visit to Alexandria coincides with the launch of the British School's new citizenship learning agenda, which aims to support students in thinking critically and making informed choices about how to live and act in the local community. Paul Walton, Chair of the BSA Governors, said at the event opening: “The visit of Tim Sebastian is an inspiring occasion for the school community. We are all convinced — students, teachers, governors and parents — that the BSA is well-positioned to make an important contribution to the city of Alexandria and its young citizens during this historic moment of change.” As part of the new citizenship agenda, the BSA has recently been nominated as an official hub for Young Arab Voices, a regional programme co-created by the British Council and the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Foundation for Dialogue, which provides young people with skills for debating and advocacy. As part of their role in this initiative, BSA teachers and students will also be involved in training and outreach work with local Alexandrian educators. ♥ The Library of Congress chose the book Political Levity Pact by professor of socio-political science Mohamed Hussein Abul-Ela among its annual collection to be translated and published in its collection.
♠ A book signing for the book Hal Anta (Are You?) by Kuwaiti writer Amal Al-Randi took place at the Publishers' Tent in the 44th Cairo International Book Fair with the attendance of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Egypt Rashid Al-Hamad along with publisher Mesead Shoeir and various Egyptian and Kuwaiti intellectuals.
¨ The Red Sea Chefs, a chapter under the Egyptian Chefs Association (ECA), drew crowds of curious visitors as they prepared and presented the largest-ever Umm Ali tagine — a whopping 7,000 kilogrammes of the traditional Egyptian dessert — as part of the Red Sea Festival days to promote tourism in Hurghada. Prepared by over 300 chefs, the Umm Ali tagine contained 6,000 litres of milk, 800 kilogrammes of filo pastry, 100 litres of cream, 1,200 kilogrammes of sugar, 50 kilogrammes of coconut, 150 kilogrammes of mixed nuts and 50 kilogrammes of raisins. Over 40 hotels participated in the event, which showed great team effort among the chefs of the Red Sea region: from finding creative solutions to keep the 15-metre-long pan from collapsing, to stirring the ingredients in the immensely large pan. Fifteen gas burners heated the tagine to 70 C, while the chefs caramelised the top with blow torches before serving thousands of eager visitors. The leftovers were distributed among the less fortunate of Hurghada, to the delight of the children in those poor areas. The Umm Ali tagine was sponsored by major food companies. Governor of the Red Sea Mohamed Kamel was among the high-profile figures present for the event; the Red Sea Chefs Chapter received special recognition for their participation in the Red Sea Festival and their efforts to promote tourism in the region. ♣ This winter, the American University in Cairo (AUC) introduced a course entitled “Revolutions in the Arab World”, taught by political science professor Walid Kazziha. The 12 students who enrolled in the course spent three intensive weeks digesting dozens of recent articles on the Arab Spring. “The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with the contemporary politics of the region,” Kazziha said. “Many of them came out of the class with research topics for their political science theses.” The course placed special emphasis on the Egyptian and Syrian revolutions. “The main focus was on Egypt and Syria because each of these countries has considerable weight in the region,” explained Kazziha. “What's happening in Syria, as we have seen, has repercussions not just in Jordan, Palestine and Iraq, but even outside the Arab world, in Iran and Turkey. This class,” he added, “has been invaluable to me as a freelance journalist. I'm coming to understand a lot of nuances about Egypt and the region as a whole that I might not have learned otherwise. It is also going to be helpful in my programme, journalism and mass communication, because understanding Egyptian political culture is indelibly linked with understanding the local media.”
♥ Sanctity by Saudi filmmaker and actress Ahd is participating in the short film competition at Berlin International Film Festival (7-17 February). Sanctity is the first Saudi film in the festival, one of the world's most prestigious film events. Written and directed by Ahd, who will attend the screening of the film at Berlin, the film was shot on location in Jeddah. Sanctity is Ahd's second directorial effort. It was awarded the Development Award at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in November 2012, in the framework of the Arab Short Film Competition that included 12 films from across the Arab world. The film tells the story of Areej, a young widow who does her best to protect her unborn child. Ahd's directorial debut was the short film The Shoemaker, which she wrote, produced and starred in, opposite of Egyptian actor Amr Waked. The film received numerous awards from Arab and international festivals including the Gulf Film Festival and Beirut Film Festival; it also competed in the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand. Ahd was a member of the Emirates Film Competition jury in the sixth Abu Dhabi Film Festival. She made her acting debut in Wadjda, directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, the first feature film shot in Saudi Arabia, which was part of the Venice Film Festival in 2012. Ahd is the first Saudi woman to study film acting and filmmaking in the US, after which she worked on Hollywood films including The Kingdom with director Peter Berg in 2007. She acted in the Turkish film Razn for which she won the Golden Gate Award for Best Actress at the San Francisco International Film Festival. ♥ The Cairo Lions Club, in cooperation with Jordan Club — presided over by Nabila Al-Shabrawi — organised a charitable fashion show at the Safir Hotel in Dokki whose revenues will go to the Cancer Children Hospital 57357. The show presented the latest lines of 2013 including the winter collection of wedding and soirée gowns by fashion designer Nabila Al-Hakim.
