The Pyramids in green To celebrate Ireland's National Day, the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx were illuminated in green, the national colour of Ireland, as a symbol of the friendship between Ireland and Egypt. This year Ireland's annual Global Greening initiative includes more than 100 landmark buildings and iconic sites around the world including the Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, the Niagara Falls in Canada and the Table Mountain in South Africa. Sherif Sonbol was there for the moment. ♥ At the Cairo Capital Club, the Doum Cultural Foundation celebrated its launch as a foundation that promotes interactive ideas and questions under the slogan “Without ideas, without questions there will be no development.” Based on the idea of decentralisation, Doum will organise the first storytelling festival in Qena governorate at the end of March. Based in Agouza at the old house built in the early 1940s and inhabited by the famous architect and artist Ramsis Wissa Wassef, Doum has turned into cultural hub. “We open our doors to neighbourhood children to paint and draw in the garden every Friday,” explained Khaled Al-Khamisi, the founder of Doum. “We provide permanent workshops for wire carving and patchwork, both authentic Egyptian handicrafts being revived by artists Galal Gomaa and Ibrahim Al-Baridi respectively. Doum also offers regular seminars to introduce the literary works of prominent Egyptian novelists. It holds workshops and aims to create a cultural festival in four different governorates.” Among those who attended the evening were artists Toghan, Samir Fouad and George Bahgory, each of whom donated one painting to the foundation. The evening also featured a storytelling performance by the talented Teletwar troupe. ♣ “Ecosystems at Risk: Safeguarding Egypt's Biodiversity” was the title of the 21st Cairo Climate Talks, Forum France-Egypt. The discussion was opened by German Ambassador Michael Bock and his French counterpart Nicolas Galey, reports Nesmahar Sayed. With the cooperation of the Ministry of State for Enviromental Affairs, the discussion started with the screening of Soaring-Legends, a short documentary about migratory soaring birds by Gabriel Mikhail. The speakers included Mohamed Hanafi, professor of marine biology and ecology at Suez Canal University, Jan Paul Lindner, environmental engineer and life cycle assessment (LCA) expert, Noor Noor, executive coordinator of Nature Conversation Egypt, and Pierre Defos du Rau, researcher at the French Governmental Agency for Wildlife and Hunting Management (Office National de La Chasse et de La Faune Sauvage). The main focus of the discussion was the necessity of preserving Egypt's rich ecosystem as an essential requirement for tourism, medical advances, food supply and other basic needs. ♠ The fourth Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children concluded its activities on 18 March at Al-Hanager Arts Centre. It presented many shows including Frogz from the USA, Yummm from the United Kingdom, Uccellini from France and Mad Cap from Netherlands, as well as Amal Bokra from Egypt. ♥ Our very own Editor-in-Chief Galal Nassar, his wife Mai and our film critic Hani Mustafa attended the wedding of their friend the diplomat Tarek Dahroug to the beautiful Aliaa. Present at the event were the former housing minister Hasaballah Al-Kafrawi, Foreign Minister Spokesman, Ambassador Badr Abdel-Ati, veteran radio presenter Wagdi Al-Hakim, the high-profile politician Amr Al-Shobaki and the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies researcher Ayman Abdel-Wahab. ♣ The premiere of Mohamed Khan's new feature The Factory Girl took place on 16 March at the Renaissance Nile City Cinema in the presence of celebrities and media, as well as the cast and crew including Khan and actors Yasmin Raeis, Hani Adel, Salwa Mohamed Ali, Salwa Khattab, scriptwriter Wessam Suleiman and producer Mohamed Samir. Among those present were actors Khaled Abul Naga, Hani Salama, Kinda Alloush, Mohamed Mahran, and Amr Youssef. Filmmakers there included Dawoud Abdel-Sayed, Khairi Bishara, Hadi Al-Bagouri, Amr Salama, Amir Ramses, Ahmed Maher, in addition to Director of the Catholic Centre for Egyptian Film father Boutros Daniel and costume designer Nahed Nasrallah. ♣ Carmen Soliman, the winner of the first season of the Arab Idol competition, celebrated the launch of her first album Akhbari (My news) last week. The event included a live performance by Soliman, whose fans attended, waited in line to have her sign their copies. Present were her family members and Miss LA Sarah Fasha. ♠ Al-Ahram Weekly's very own Culture page writer Rania Khallaf is participating with a painting in the group exhibition entitled Women and Creativity at the Salah Taher and the Musical Library halls of the Cairo Opera House grounds (see Listings P.21). The event features works by 127 artists including among many others George Bahgory, Mohamed Tarawi, Salah Al-Meligi, Wagih Yassa, Eman Osama, Bassam Al-Zoghby, Rifki Al-Razzaz, Khaled Al-Samahi and Reda Abdel-Salam. ¨ The Pharaonic Village in Cairo, under the auspices of its CEO Abdel- Salam Ragab, together with the International Organisation for Protecting the River Nile, organised a celebration of the Nile on the International Day of Action for Rivers, held with the aim of protecting rivers from dams. The event started with a cruise in the Pharaonic Village canal during which aspects of ancient Egyptian civilisation were displayed to the audience. This was followed by a speech by Ambassador Medhat Al-Qadi and his wife Councillor Heidi Farouk. Also attending was journalist and writer Fatma Naout, who wore a Pharaonic costume.
