The ever-growing Al-Ahram Weekly family has become impossible to include in one frame. Above, Weekly Editor Assem El-Kersh is flanked by the lucky few who managed to squeeze in. Happy Birthday Weekly ! Al-Ahram Weekly staff celebrated yesterday, 28 February, the newspaper's 16th anniversary. Insisting to preserve its long- standing tradition -- instilled by the staff's beloved mentor Hosny Guindy, the Weekly 's founder and editor-in-chief for 12 years -- of celebrating the completion of every year in print, the Weekly staff stole a few fleeting moments of relaxation with all eyes set on two delicious cakes that were immediately relished with the usual gusto. photos: Ayman Barayez Celebrating Kuwait's 46th National Day, Ahmed Khaled Al-Kleib, Kuwaiti ambassador in Egypt, and his wife held a reception party at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza Hotel. A bevy of luminaries were invited to attend the luxurious party. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, former prime minister Atef Ebeid, Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab, Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, Minister of Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Moroccan Ambassador Mohamed Farag Al-Dokali and other Arab ambassadors in Egypt were present. Modern and Contemporary Plastic Art have finally found home. A much worked-on project presented by artist Mahmoud Meneisi to establish a stock market for plastic art has just been approved by head of the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces Ahmed Nawwar. "Investment in Plastic Art, Visual Culture, Enlightenment and Economy" is the title of the stock's founding forum. Over three days, the forum shall rally a galaxy of the most prestigious art critics, artists, economy experts and businessmen in Egypt to lecture at the Giza headquarters, close to the Academy of Arts. Meneisi 's project can be seen from both cultural and economic perspectives; dialogue, seminars and conferences featuring Egyptian, Arab and international art critics along with screening documentaries on the important biennials and exhibitions held in Egypt; and on the other hand inviting businessmen and economy experts to evaluate and sponsor the art stock. Chairman of the Egyptian Society for Cinema Abdel-Moneim Saad held a ceremony at the Pyramiza Hotel to distribute the 28th Egyptian Cinema Oscar Awards. The festival honoured legendary comedian Adel Imam, beautiful actress Naglaa Fathi and Nour El-Sherif. Haytham Ahmed Zaki, son of late veteran actor Ahmed Zaki, who co- starred his father in playing the role of late singer Abdel-Halim Hafez in Halim, was also honoured at the ceremony. Among the other honourees were Basma, Tunisian actress Hend Sabri, director Adel Adeeb and caricaturist and TV announcer Ramses. Head of the Censorship Authority and the National Cinema Centre Ali Abu Shadi attended the festival on behalf of the culture minister. Other attendees included head of the Industry Committee at the Shoura Council Mohamed Farid Khamis, Undersecretary of State for People's Assembly Magdi Sherif, veteran actors Mahmoud Yassine, Hassan Hosni, singer Mona Ish Ish, gifted actress Nabila Ebeid and Saudi poet Ghazi Abdallah. Cinema diva Madiha Yousri was the guest of honour of the festival. Iraqi oud master and founder of the Arab Oud House in Cairo Nasseer Shamma will inaugurate the new branch of the house in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 15 April. He also intends to open another branch in Qasaba Citadel, Algeria, early May. A plethora of public figures and actors are planning to attend the inauguration of the houses of a most influential instrument in the history of Arab music and culture. Under the patronage of the Canadian Embassy and the auspices of Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, renowned international pianist Roger Lord is performing at the Cairo Opera House, 4 March. The concert's revenues will be allocated for the benefit of the Children's Cancer Hospital 57357. For this noble cause, Lord will play the finest classical pieces for great composers such as Ravel, Chopin and Debussy. It's women who will get all the attention on 8 March, and they well deserve it! The Cairo Opera House and the Turkish Embassy in Cairo are organising a concert featuring the Moonlight Ensemble of Turkey at the Opera's Small Hall to celebrate the Women's World Day. The ensemble is comprised of five musicians and a group of vocalists who will perform to classical Turkish compositions. The piano, violins and percussions, will interweave to produce the most enchanting of melodies. What a day that awaits women! To mark Egyptian Women's Day, the first Women's Film Festival will be launched on 8 March. In charge is Cadre, an audio-visual development foundation headed by Samir Farid with its members predominantly filmmakers and critics. Cadre's main activities include supporting film production and publishing books on cinema. The festival will honour film director Atiyat El-Abnoudy for Sandwich, 1975, and Ahlam Momkena (Possible Dreams, 1982) and Tahani Rashed, the festival's artistic director, for Elbanat Doal (These Girls). Some 67 films will be screened from countries like Germany, Denmark, Greece, France, Britain, Australia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunis, Iran and Afghanistan. Films will be screened at the Cairo Opera House's Creativity Centre and the Auditorium Hall at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. A number of sessions is scheduled to follow. The French Cultural Centre organised a screening of Yacoubian Building, one of the most controversial-and shocking- films in Egyptian cinema history. The centre celebrated the film's scoring more than 2,000 viewers and 142,000 copies of the translated novel in France. The film picks up Egypt's political, social and religious history from the 1930s till present through the eyes of the Yacoubian building's residents. In an annual poll conducted for 20 novels by the French magazine Literary Book, the Yacoubian Building came in sixth. Last week, the French Cultural Centre invited the film's stars to inaugurate Arnuad De Boitesselin 's photography exhibition. As well, a session titled "Yacoubian between Movie and Novel" was headed by novelist Alaa El-Aswany. The event was attended by actors Somaya El-Khashab, Youssra, Youssef Dawoud, Khaled Saleh, Gihan Amari, Sameh Selim, Bassem Samra, Khaled El-Sawy, Hind Sabri, prominent journalist and producer Emad Adeeb, script writer Wahid Hamed and his son Marwan Hamed, director of the film. Good News Group for Films and Music has celebrated the shooting of Morgan Ahmed Morgan, a comedy starring veteran comedian Adel Imam and Mervat Amin at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Present were Amr Adeeb, the company's manager, in addition to a number of actors and actresses starring in the film; Ahmed El-Saadani, Sherif Salama, Basma, Youssef Dawoud and Hassan Hosni. The film, due to hit movie theatres on 21 June, is written by Youssef Maati and directed by Ali Idriss. While Good News Group had last summer produced two blockbusters -- Yacoubian Building and Halim -- the budget allocated for Morgan Ahmed Morgan is LE27 million. Hope and optimism are indeed in the air. The British Council invited the AMICI group to the country to encourage intellectually disabled Egyptians to participate in artistic activities. The AMICI is a dance theatre company integrating abled and disabled artists and performers in partnership with the Right to Live Association. The British Council project was first kicked-off three years ago with the aim of enrolling people with special needs in society and increasing their contribution in artistic events. During their third visit to Egypt, AMICI, presided over by artistic director and choreographer Wolfgang Stange, aimed at training 10 theatre practitioners -- actors, directors, scriptwriters and dancers -- to professionally communicate with intellectually disabled performers. When Stange was asked how challenged people in Egypt differ from others, he responded, "Egyptians have an enormous amount of energy, they are open to ideas and they have unlimited power for tradition music." In a celebration held in Brussels, Loula Zaklama, the 2006 president of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) handed over her position to Belgian Philip Sheperd. Zaklama, during the ceremony, was honoured for her numerous achievements throughout the past year. The first Egyptian businesswoman to chair the IPRA, Zaklama succeeded in hosting the association's annual conference in Egypt in January 2006 and previously in October 2002. Her success story doesn't end with her presidency. She managed to seal a deal with the Gulf Public Relations Association to host the IPRA annual conference in Bahrain, March 2007. The Union Chapel in London will host an enchanting evening of Egyptian musical and Sufi verse performed by Al-Tanboura and Bedouin Jerrycan bands, 4 March. Touring the UK for almost a week now, Al-Tanboura's veteran simsimiya players fuse authentic notes from Port-Said with bamboute dance originated in Suez, enrolling in their show members from the Bedouin Jerrycan. Semi-nomadic storytellers, coffee grinders and percussionists from the remote settlement of Abul-Hussain in the Sinai desert are also accompanying the two bands. So far the reviews in UK newspapers and magazines have been very hopeful. The Guardian wrote that, "Al-Tanboura mix chanting vocals with the desert flute, the nay, the ancient lyre, the simsimiya... it looks like something you'd find in a painting in a Pharaoh's tomb." While The Times mentioned that, "their mix of enchanting folk melodies and spiritual Sufi verse is mesmerising."
