Amina Elbendary looks back on a year in culture Well, 2002 hardly went off with a bang. Eerily it began, and eerily it ended, with photos of Egypt's Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz on the covers of many magazines and periodicals, his birthday falling on 11 December. Another year has passed and Mahfouz is older. The recent photos show an old man, yet in the midst of the crumpled, unshaven face the eyes still shine, perhaps defying the dereliction without. Only the editors of the London-based Lebanese daily, Al-Hayat, decided to subvert this image of Mahfouz, publishing photos of the novelist in his prime. The year began and ended with demonstrations against war, first in Palestine and now in both Iraq and Palestine, although the temperature has continued to drop gradually. The year began -- and ended -- with Saadeddin Ibrahim out of prison, awaiting retrial. And in between came the usual flurry of celebrations, openings and grand cultural events that monopolise the limelight and attention -- too many perhaps given the lack of genuine cultural output throughout the year. This is the year of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and in many ways that library epitomises the state of Egyptian culture. The opening in October was a gala event for a grand project attended by dignitaries East and West. And yet after the guests left Alexandria it is still not clear how the library will engrain itself in the cultural life of the nation. It remains an as yet ill-defined institution, though its aura is intact. It is becoming literally the library of Alexandria, with students particularly making use of its facilities. It has also hosted a number of conferences and exhibitions throughout the year. In December came the centenary of the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square. Fund-raising and work on the New Egyptian Museum also continue. Although as Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni explained to the Weekly earlier this summer, this is not the only museum his ministry is pursuing. Instead a series of small and provincial institutions are also planned, some of which were inaugurated this year, in the shadow of the Library of Alexandria. The year witnessed such additions as the Umm Kulthoum Museum, the Abdel-Wahab Museum and the Saad Zaghloul Museum. Aside from the above institutions, however, no new venues for plastic and fine arts opened this year. New comers on the private art gallery scene include Adli Rizkallah's new venue 5+5 which showcases art works and books, five days a week for five hours, and new spaces in the seemingly inexorable expansion of the Townhouse. Celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the revolution provided an occasion for major "nationalistic" art works of the century to be displayed and a surprising exhibition of works by Mahmoud Mukhtar, rarely allowed to the public, was held at Horizon One. Visiting exhibitions of interest included David Hockney's and Meschac Gaba's. The optimistic few, looking forward to new, golden jubilee material were disappointed as, predictably, state documents relating to the army's coup and its rise to power were not released. The hype that preceded the celebrations quickly deflated because there was really nothing new to say. A large conference was held, ironically enough, at the National Archives. Participants discussed the revolutionary regime from its various angles, from foreign to gender policy, and tried hard to avoid clichéd paradigms. While they could distance themselves from the events and figures of 1952, that distance alone provided little insight in the absence of primary documents. On television surviving revolutionary figures reminisced without any meaningful logic and Tarek Habib's dated interviews Mallafat Al-Thawra (The Files of the Revolution), which had been aired on satellite channels, were rerun on state television as well. Egyptian TV's productions for the event were as lacklustre as their academic counterparts. However, it would be inaccurate to read in that a lack of popular interest in the revolution and its men; after all the photos of the army officers were on the pages of all magazines and newspapers which published special issues on the occasion and posters with Gamal Abdel-Nasser were carried in demonstrations in support of the Intifada. Perhaps, the hollow celebrations were a manifestation of the more fundamental absence of a valid intellectual paradigm. It is such a paradigm that some intellectual and business figures seem intent on forming. For also opening with a lot of pomp, if less splendour, were the meetings of the Arab Thought Foundation, the true purpose of which seems beyond intellectual circles here. It appears to have grown out of a belated realisation that the roots of Arab limitation in the modern world lie far beyond its political and economic manifestations. It's all to do with "thought", you see. The business and political powers that be are determined to do something to fix that. We wish them luck. Political realities did leave their footprints as support of the Intifada continued to attract intellectuals. Support demonstrations, artistic exhibitions and films were all part of the deal although on a more moderate scale than the year before. Unlike 2001, however, only one Egyptian film and arguably a flop, Burkan Al-Ghadab (Volcano of Anger), dealt with the Intifada. But the Cairo International Film Festival saw a Palestinian film, Rashid Mashharawi's A Ticket to Jerusalem win the Silver Pyramid. The year ended with a visit by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish who was invited to read his poetry by the American University in Cairo. Darwish's Halat Hisar (State of Siege) was arguably the more important collection of Arabic poetry issued this year. AUC's Faculty for Palestine committee organised the Year of Palestine programme which coordinates a number of cultural activities throughout the year in support of the Palestinian people. The programme extends through the academic year to 2003. Other small scale initiatives included the Garage of Alexandria's Week of Passion which correlated the Passion of Christ with the suffering of modern day Palestinians, highlighting the latter's plight through films and an exhibition of Naji Al-Ali's drawings. The theatre scene was vibrant with a number of productions with political overtones. The most popular production was the National Theatre's King Lear starring Yehia El-Fakharani in the title role. The preceeding year had included a lot of talk about the privatisation of culture and the perceived threat of globalisation overtaking indigenous cultural production. While there were some signs of that throughout the year they are not enough to constitute a movement yet. The first Western style bookstore has opened in Zamalek, but Diwan remains one of its kind and has not developed into the dreaded (or desired) franchise all over the city. The Arab Company/ Funoun, which was at one point accused of harbouring contacts with enemy states and working to jeopardise the nation's artistic heritage, have receded from the limelight. They have, however, continued to purchase copyrights of film classics and have released a dozen titles on DVDs including some recent movies, such as Ahmed Zaki's Ayyam Al-Sadat (Days of Sadat). Privatisation has been more successful in the field of television. Egypt's first private TV channels went on air this year, although DreamTV has made more news than its sister Al-Mihwar. Introducing American style talkshows to Egyptian viewers and choosing daring topics (a melange of issues revolving around sex, drugs and politics hosted mainly by Hala Sarhan) relatively free from censorship, DreamTV has been repeatedly and sharply criticised throughout the year for subverting national morals and values. Interestingly enough the attacks were loudest in opposition newspapers, particularly Al-Wafd. DreamTV became a significant media player, particularly when the channel aired three episodes of Al-Ustaz, a show hosted by veteran political analyst Mohamed Hassanein Heikal. This, and other political shows, allowed for some degree of political commentary, echoing an ongoing trend in state television as well. DreamTV made most news, however, through its Ramadan drama production Fares Bila Gawad (Horseman Without a Horse). Based in part on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion it attracted accusations of anti-Semitism from activists abroad and a lot of attention from the local audience. It was far from being the most popular drama this season, a mantle that probably falls on Ayna Qalbi (Where is My Heart?) and Qasem Amin. The young actors and comedians who have taken the film industry by storm remain on the scene though the tide may well have turned with Mohamed Heneidi's summer release Sahib Sahbuh (His Friend's Friend). The film that garnered most money at the box office and (therefore?) the most criticism was Al-Linby. Attacked as kitch, and for parodying songs by Umm Kulthoum, a special committee was convened to decide whether the film would be allowed to participate in international film festivals for fear that it might damage Egypt's reputation. Mercifully the committee decided against the ban and -- ironically enough -- Al-Linby has recently won the Viewer's Award at the Moscow International Film Festival. Expectations that the new faces would fuel a renaissance of Egyptian cinema proved unfounded. The number of films produced this year is par for the recent, disappointing course. The summer release Mafia seems indicative of the future -- technical and costly productions without much content. The main event of the cinematic calendar was the annual CIFF which this year boasted a new director, Sherif El- Shoubashi. His new position came in the wake of his appointment as under-secretary of state for international cultural cooperation. CIFF 2002 was better organised than previous rounds, and government support ensured that no quibbling over fund-raising followed the October event as had been the case under its previous director Hussein Fahmi. It still remains to be seen whether the festival will be able to establish a reputation for itself on the international scene and attract recent interesting productions. Unlike the world of film, younger literary practitioners seem determined to reinvigorate fiction. Novels by young and aspiring writers continued to appear throughout the year prompting the Supreme Council for Culture to dedicate one of its many conferences to discuss "new writing". The conference could not reach a decision over whether the recent publications were really "new" and even though participants could point to common traits in these fictional works it is too early to decide whether writers such as Muntasser El-Qaffash, Yasser Abdel-Latif and Mustafa Zikri constitute a fully- fledged movement. Interestingly there are several women amongst these new names: Nagwa Shaaban, Mail Telmessani, Miral El-Tahawi, Mai Khaled, Nemat El-Beheiri, Hala El-Badri and Somaya Ramadan. It's amazing however that with the perceived death of the Reader, especially in his Egyptian manifestation, so many books are being produced, by young and old -- Mohamed El-Bosatie, Edwar El-Kharrat, Mohamed El-Makhzangi, Youssef Abu Rayya and Alaa El-Dib -- alike. One novel that made ripples was Alaa El- Aswani's 'Imarat Yacqoubian (The Yacqoubian Building), a chronicle of Egypt's political and social history since the 1952 Revolution, though with particular emphasis on the 1990s. The usual attempts to identify characters followed and the novel, first published by Mirette, is now being reprinted by Madbuli. Apart from celebrations that were often a triumph of hype over substance the year was relatively quiet, culturally speaking. No huge controversies over cultural icons in parliament and mercifully no huge censorship cases, perhaps there being not much to censor. The year closed, however, with an issue of Al-Adab banned then released and another issue of Zawaya banned. The reasons behind these decisions are not immediately clear. Though the issue of Al-Adab in question focused on "censorship in Egypt" critics argue that none of the material was likely to arouse the wrath of the censor. The reasons behind banning Zawaya are still up for speculation with some reports suggesting the cover featuring a photograph of a dancer was too racy for the censors. Whatever. Let's hope the censor goes back on this decision too and that literary magazines don't become a favoured target. In the tradition of one's masters, Al-Maqrizi et al, one might conclude this retrospect by remembering figures lost in 2002, all of whom enriched our intellectual existence in one form or another and many of whom are dearly missed. In this, the year 2002 we lost Tharwat Abaza, Yehia El-Allami, Abdel-Rahman Badawi, (our own music critic) David Blake, Muharram Fouad, Sanaa Gamil, Laila Ali Ibrahim, Radwan El- Kashef, Van Leo, Ahmed Mazhar, Abdel-Qader El-Qutt, and Atef Salem.
