♣ The Turkish Ambassador to Egypt Héseyin Avni Botsali paid a visit to the Cancer Hospital 57357 to deliver the revenues of the charity Turkish bazaar held at his residence. The delegation of doctors who were present during the visit granted Botsali and his wife a memorial painting depicting the ankh. Present were the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Khaled Zaghloul, Research Manager Sherif Abul-Naga, Financial Manager Hanaa Farid and Director of the Catholic Centre for Egyptian Cinema Father Boutros Daniel as well as many diplomats. ♥ On Al-Muiz Street, in Fatimid Cairo, the Ministry of Antiquities has completed the renovation of the Mohabeddin Al-Tayeb Palace, whose history goes back to 1350, to turn it into a Music Museum displaying musical instruments belonging to such stellar figures as Mohamed Al-Mogui, Riad Al-Sonbati and Karem Mahmoud. Museum Director Mohsen Farouk said the instruments were contributed by the families of the music figures. Further paraphernalia belonging to Sayed Darwish, Mahmoud Al-Kasabgui and Sheikh Zakaria Ahmed will also be acquired.
♠ A farewell party was held for the world renowned French fashion designer Libo at the residence of the media figure Joumana Yassin in Zamalek. Libo recently presented a charity fashion show in Cairo for the benefit of street children. Present were Al-Ahram writer Afkar Al-Kharadli, head of Garden City Lions Club Awatef Serageddin and society ladies Aziza Al-Tanani, Samia Abul-Fotouh, Nagwa Diab, Sherine Halawa and Ghada Al-Merghani.
¨ In a press conference held at the Creativity Centre on the Cairo Opera House grounds, the president of the 16th International Film Festival of Documentaries and Short Films (4-9 June) Kamal Abdel-Aziz announced the names of the jury members as well as news on festival activities and guests. He was accompanied by Festival Director Mohamed Hefzi. Headed by Italian filmmaker Gian Vittorio Baldi, the documentary jury includes Tahani Rashed and Safinaz Bousbia. The short and animation film jury, headed by Michelle Driguez, includes Shadi Zeineddin and Sherif Al-Bendari. Viola Shafik will head the co-production Platform jury, which includes Hania Mroueh and Malek Khouri. Abdel-Aziz said the festival team looks forward to showcasing new visions from different countries. Hefzi revealed that this year's edition of the festival will be held with the participation of over 52 films from over 30 countries. The festival will also host the world premieres of at least 10 films. Honouring the residents of the Suez Canal cities — Port Said, Suez and Ismailia — Abdel-Aziz announced that the festival will include 15 films by some of Egypt's best-known directors from the National Cinema Centre's archive featuring the Suez Canal and the role played by that province's courageous residents from 1954 till 1974. The festival administration has assigned 100 volunteers from Ismailia and surrounds to enhance the collaboration between members of the festival's community.
♣ Suzanna Mitchell-Egan, a British author living in Cairo, celebrated her birthday and the recent publication of her new controversial novel, The Line, with a beautiful candle-lit evening on the 12th-floor terrace of Mitchell-Egan's friend Sandra, a business development consultant. Mitchell's book The Line, which is already enjoying international success, is a thriller inspired by true events. Set in the Middle East and introducing a new James Bond-type character, Tristan La Rouche, it brings to life through the eyes of the colourful characters the gravity of continuing unrest in the region, discussing tyranny, terrorism and the violation of human rights. Among the guests were Mohamed Abdel-Monheim, owner of ExpatEgypt, exclusive residential and tourism and Monica Lamberto sales manager, Michael Mitchell, New York, Movie and Television actor, book reviewer and writer Aisha Selvey, artist Maike Draper Dutch, together with founder and Director of Sinai Energistic Academy Colleen Heller, international lawyer Hamdi Bakri and Doha Assi, writer and founder of Shababeek Cultural Centre. ♥ A team of scientists at the American University in Cairo (AUC) are devising a prototype of a hybrid nanocomposite membrane for water desalination. In order to increase Egypt's fresh water supply, Adham Ramadan, associate professor and chair of the chemistry department, together with Amal Eissawi, professor of mechanical engineering and Nouran Al-Badawi, a chemistry graduate student, devised the unique prototype and submitted a US patent in January 2013. “Because of treaties with upstream countries, the amount of Nile water that Egypt has access to is fixed, despite its rapid increase in population and its development,” explained Ramadan. “Therefore, it is imperative that we explore and capitalise on novel approaches to increase the country's supply of fresh water in order to meet this constantly rising demand.”
♠ Aflamnah, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's first crowd-funded platform for creative ideas, will take part in a roundtable discussion on crowd funding at the Cannes Film Festival. The discussion will focus on the global role played of crowd-funding platforms in supporting efforts initiated by aspiring talents, individuals or organisations, through fund-raising campaigns. Joining Aflamnah in the discussion are two leading online crowd-funding platforms from initiatives in different countries, which are Kickstarter (USA) and Touscoprod (France). Moderated by Valerio Caruso, the discussion will bring together representatives of each company, namely: Aflamnah's Principal Founder Vida Rizk, Business Director at Touscoprod Julie Barnay and Film Programme Director at Kickstarter Elizabeth Holm. Aflamnah was part of Cannes Film Festival last year, when Rizk announced its launch, making it the MENA region's first crowd-funding platform for creative ideas. Since then, it has successfully hosted 35 projects including the award winning film, When I Saw You, by Annemarie Jacir, which received over $10,000 from Aflamnah supporters and won the Best Arab Film award at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Film Festival and the NETPAC award at the Berlinale, among others. Currently, Aflamnah is hosting a crowd-funding campaign for 51, a new short film by director John Steven Baltazar. Written by Michelle Nickelson, the new project co-stars Navid Neghaban from the hit US TV drama, Homeland, Mylene Gomera, Dana Hamdan from OSN's Sister's Soup, and Rik Aby. The film will also include the debut acting performance of Omar Borkan Al-Gala, the Emirati who was ejected from Saudi Arabia for being “too handsome”. 51 is the UAE's first short film collaboration with Hollywood. The film will be shot in the UAE in June, and is planned to evolve into a TV series in the near future. Aflamnah is also scheduled to take part in a roundtable discussion about funding in the Middle East, which will air on Bloomberg TV the weekend after the Cannes Film Festival.
