A press conference was held on Monday at the Semiramis InterContinental Hotel to announce the second round of India by the Nile Festival. It was attended by the Indian Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri, his wife Mani, Camelia Sobhi from the Foreign Cultural Relations Sector, Minister of Tourism Consultants Nasser Abdel-Aal and Soheir Abdel-Qader, festival curator Sanjo Roy and media coordinator at the Embassy of India Ahmed Ibrahim. Last year the event was billed as the biggest foreign festival in Egypt since the 25 January Revolution. This year, running from 1-20 April, will have a grand opening with Bollywood Love Story- A Musical at the Opera House from 3 to 6 April, and will see more than 35 Indian dancers performing to the much-loved music of Indian cinema. Through the three weeks of the festival, the range and variety of India's diverse culture will be on display. Noted classical Indian dancer Marami Medhi will perform Kathak both in Cairo and Alexandria, while an exhibition of saris will showcase the beauty of India's textile tradition, with free lessons in sari drapping. Shabana Azmi, a distinguished Indian actress, will be in conversation with film critic Samir Farid, followed by a screening of her most celebrated movies, and Urvashi Butalia, a writer and feminist, will speak with writer Sahar Al-Mugi. All these elements celebrate the success of Women of Substance, a major theme of the festival, emphasising the challenges and similarities of women in India and Egypt. Jordanian actor Iyad Nassar and set designer Shaimaa tied the knot after a two-year love story in the presence of family and friends. Only a small number of celebrities were present, including actors Amr Youssef, Leqaa Al-Khamisi and Naglaa Badr. The Second Damanhour International Folk Festival opened at the Damanhour Opera House in the presence of Al-Beheira Governor Mohamed Hadhoud, Alexandria Governor Tarek Al-Mahdi and Gharbiya Governor Mohamed Naim, together with consuls of the UK, Lebanon and Palestine as well as baritone Reda Al-Wakil representing the Director of the Cairo Opera House Ines Abdel-Dayem. The festival — scheduled to conclude its activities tonight — presented 14 folk dance troupes from eight countries: Egypt, the UAE, Iraq, Bulgaria, Romania, India, Greece and Indonesia. To mark the Persian New Year, Nowruz, a number of diplomats including Kazakhstan Ambassador Berik Aryne, Uzbekistan Ambassador Oybek Usmanov Arifbekovich, Tajikistan Ambassador Nadharallah Nizarof, Azerbaijani Ambassador Shahin Abdullayev, Afghanistan Ambassador Fadl Al-Rahman Fadel and the Head of the Iranian Affairs Mission in Egypt Mujtaba Amani organised a lavish celebration at the Grand Nile Towers Hotel. The celebration featured a bazaar for the participating countries' products as well as cuisine from those countries. Libyan Ambassador Mohamed Fayez Gebreil, Pakistani Ambassador Manzoor Ul-Haq, Japanese Ambassador Toshiro Suzuki, Singaporean Ambassador Premjith Sadasivan, Brunei Darussalam Ambassador Dato Mahdi Abd-Rahman, Thai Ambassador Peerasak Chantavarin and Croatian Ambassador Darko Javorski were all present. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina International Book Fair (27 March-8 April) is being held in cooperation with the Egyptian Publishers Association. The opening ceremony on 27 March featured a seminar on Mohamed Khan's Factory Girl entitled “The Woman in Egyptian Cinema”, with a panel including Khan, actors Yasmin Raeis and Hani Adel, and it was moderated by Mohamed Abdel-Rahman. In Alexandria, Lebanese singer Majida Al-Roumi visited the grave of the late filmmaker Youssef Chahine at Al-Salamlek Gardens in Montazah, planting a rice tree there, with the attendance of Alexandria Governor Tarek Al-Mahdi and the Consul General of Lebanon Osama Al-Khashab. Al-Roumi's visit was within the framework of visiting Alexandria's historic monuments after giving the charity concert at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. “Youth, Culture, Revolution, Identity and the Future” was the theme of the second Cultural Forum held in Assiut and organised by the Ahmed Bahaeddin Friends Society, represented by its General Manager Mahmoud Abdel-Hamid, in collaboration with the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces (GOCP) and with the support of the Anglican-Coptic Organisation and Pro Helvetia, the latter represented by the head of its regional office in Cairo, Heba Sherif. In 30 March-2 April, the forum saw the second Upper Egypt Theatre Festival and the first Upper Egypt Film Festival.
