photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid The hard-working director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel inaugurated the 19th Arab Music Festival and Conference, a 10-day event that took place at Opera House venues in Cairo, Alexandria and Damanhour. The opening ceremony included a speech by the president of the festival Ratiba El-Hefni, who welcomed guests from various Arab countries, as well as a singing and dance show choreographed by Essam Ezzat and directed by Gihan Mursi, entitled Nightingale Life, which was about the late legendary singer Abdel-Halim Hafez and was performed by some of the opera's most gifted singers such as Wael Sami and Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, the Cairo Opera Ballet Company and the Abdel-Halim Noweira Arab Music Ensemble conducted by Salah Ghoubashi. Veteran media figures Wagdi El-Hakim and Moufid Fawzi, who were friends of Halim's, reminisced about him and discussed his career. Honoured this year are, among others, violinist Sami El-Hefnawi, media figure Nadia Tawfiq, poet Farouk Shousha, singer Angham, Lebanese musician Youssef Tanous and calligrapher Ahmed El-Bahi. The programme includes 35 concerts by 17 singers from seven Arab countries: Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan and Iraq. Among the high-profile figures at the opening were Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab, Minister of Manpower Aisha Abdel-Hadi and Minister of Electricity Hassan Younis. photos: Nasr Attia To mark the 87th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, the Turkish Ambassador to Egypt Huseyin Avni Botsali and his wife hosted a spectacular reception at their garden in Giza. Diplomats and high-profile figures included the Ambassador of the European Union to Egypt Marc Franco, the singer Mohamed Tharwat and the tourism maverick Magda Mustafa Shorba. photos: Ayman Barayez The Algerian ambassador to Egypt Abdel-Qader Al-Hajjar celebrated the 56th anniversary of the Algerian Revolution at Farhati Hall in the Grand Hyatt Hotel with the Secretary- General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, the Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab, the Minister of Higher Education and of State for Scientific Research Hani Hilal, as well as actors Ezzat El-Alaili, Ahmed Abdel-Wareth, Soheir El-Morshedi and Wafaa Amer. Among the ladies active in voluntary work were Manal Tawfiq and the Algerian poet Habiba Mohamedi. The Moroccan ambassador to Egypt Mohamed Faraj Al-Dokali held a reception at his residence to celebrate Morocco's participation in the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA). Presided over by the Qalioubiya Governor Adli Hussein, the UCLGA had convened earlier at the Semiramis Hotel. The third Panorama of European Films, organised by Misr International Films (the late Youssef Chahine's production company), now headed by Marianne Khouri, opened last Wednesday. With screenings at the City Stars and Galaxy film complexes, the programme featured award- winning fare by some of the most interesting filmmakers working today. Among the well-known figures eager to attend were actresses Lebleba, Madline Tabar, the actor Mahmoud Hemeida and the director Ahmed Maher. During the closing of the Second Doha Tribeca Film Festival the awards were announced and the Egyptian film Hawi (Sorcerer) by Ibrahim El-Batout received the best Arab film award, while the Lebanese film Tita Alf Mara (Tita a Thousand Times) by Mahmoud Kaabour won the audience award for best documentary film. The best short film award went to Khabirni ya Teir (Bird, Tell Me), directed by the Syrian filmmaker Sirwar Zirkli. Present at the closing ceremony were the comedy superstar Adel Imam, actresses Youssra, Ragaa El-Geddawi, Lebleba, Nabila Ebeid and Basma, the media figure Hala Sarhan, singers Latifa and Asala, and the president of the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival Peter Scarlet, as well as TV presenter Poussy Shalabi and singer Ragheb Alama. Robert De Niro and Salma Hayek were also there. The businessman Khalaf Ahmed Al-Habtoor, owner and chairman of Al-Habtoor Conglomerate in the United Arab Emirates, opened the Khalaf Ahmed Al-Habtoor Football and Track Stadium at the American University in Cairo (AUC), where a football game took place between the AUC team and Al-Ahli Club junior team. Present were the AUC Vice- Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Moataz Al Alfi, the AUC President David Arnold, Counsellor Amr Salama as well as a bevy of diplomats, academics and sporting club figures. Al-Habtoor donated $5 million to finance the stadium, an Olympic-standard facility boasting a full football field and a 400 metre, 10 lane track. It will help AUC to improve the athletic skills of its students in an ideal environment. The facility also provides the university with a prime venue for regional and international competitions. In the inaugural ceremony, Al-Habtoor stressed the importance of sports not only in enhancing the physical well-being of the students but also in developing leadership skills and character building. "I hope this stadium strengthens the bond between Egypt and the UAE," he said. UNICEF's Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa announced the winners of its sixth regional media award; "Child Rights" was this year's theme. The awards ceremony took place in Cairo at the end of UNICEF's Regional Media Forum which brought together media representatives from all over the Middle East and North Africa, along with UNICEF communication specialists and child rights experts. "The award is gaining increasing momentum every year," said UNICEF Regional Communication Chief Abdel-Rahman Ghandour. "Ways of addressing issues affecting children in the media are improving and are increasingly taking ethical principles into consideration. This, we hope, is also a result of the stronger interaction we have with the world of media." The UNICEF representative in Egypt Philippe Duamelle and the Director of the Division of Communication at UNICEF headquarters in New York Khaled Mansour as well as Ghandour himself presented the awards, which included five categories this year: television, radio, photography, print, and online media. And the winners included, from Egypt, Mohamed Lutfi Yehiya and Khaled Al-Birmawi and, from Sudan, Anwar Awadh Ali Al-Sammani and Inaam Al-Tayeb as well as Badiaah Awadh from Yemen and the Dubai TV show Vitamins. Younger winners include Ibrahim Stadi from Sama Dubai Radio in the UAE, Rama Misri Zadah, from Syrian television, Nayyerah Abdel-Hamid El-Sherif, from the leading Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Yom ; and the Moroccan photographer Iman Traish. The jury, composed of UNICEF media and child rights experts, also gave special prizes to works of unique and exceptional nature in content to each of Anne-Marie Hajj from Lebanon and Hayam Al-Miflih from Saudi Arabia as well as the Be Free Child Protection Centre in Bahrain for a series of cartoons showing the impact of family violence on children. On its final day, the forum announced that the theme for the next year's competition would be violence against children, the theme of discussion in Cairo. UNICEF has already started to receive applications for participation in the 2011 round. The director of the Catholic Centre, Father Boutros Daniel, together with actresses Nihal Anbar and Somaya El-Khashab, visited the Children's Cancer Hospital known as 57357 where they spent a pleasant day with the children.
