The circus in Abdine Last Thursday Abdine saw the opening ceremony of the second round of the Cairo International Circus Festival, seen through the lens of Bassam Al-Zoghby. Organised by the Culture Resource Centre (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy), it started with a celebration featuring performances by M Circus from Belgium, Radwan Shelbawi from Tunisia, the Amsterdam Rebel Clowns-Rebelact, the Egyptian Circus, Al Darb Al Ahmar Arts School, and the Kosha Puppet Team from Egypt. photos: Ayman Barayez German Ambassador to Egypt Michael Bock and his wife Dagmar Bock celebrated the 22nd Reunification Day. On the occasion Bock delivered a speech hailing democracy in Egypt and welcoming his guests, who included among others Military Attaché Engelbert Theisen, Minister of Utilities Abdel-Kawi Khalifa, Minister of Scientific Research Nadia Zakhari, Ambassador of Oman Khalifa bin Ali Al-Harthi, politician Mohamed Esmat Al-Sadat, novelist Nesma Youssef Idris, the head of Egypt's National Council for Women Mervat Al-Tellawi and Chargé d'Affairs of the German Embassy Kai Boeckmann. To mark the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and International Non-violence Day, Indian Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri and well-known Egyptian artist Mohamed Abla jointly garlanded the Mahatma's bust in a ceremony held at the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in Cairo and attended by prominent artists and journalists. Under the title "Did you sense the spirit of Gandhi in Tahrir Square?", a poster competition for Egyptians and Indians was launched to find the poster design that best captures the essence of Gandhi's message in Tahrir Square, the iconic site of the peaceful revolution of 25 January. Suri applauded the courage of the young revolutionaries in Egypt and their trademark chant silmiya (peaceful), which embodied the very spirit of the Mahatma's message, he said. He drew attention to the famous Tahrir Square placards quoting Gandhi: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." The poster contest, he said, was India's way of saluting the Gandhian spirit of Tahrir Square. Abla, for his part, recalled his visits to India and the impressions he collected over many years of Gandhi's message. The poster contest will be promoted in Egypt, India and other countries. A respected jury will select the best entries to be shown at a special exhibition in Cairo on 25 January 2013 commemorating the second anniversary of the revolution. photo: Nasr Attia Young-so Kim, Korean ambassador to Egypt, held a reception last Tuesday at his residence in Maadi, to celebrate South Korea National Day. In his speech Kim said, "I think a new era is starting in Egypt. As for relations between Korea and Egypt, I think we entered a new era too. The two countries came to cooperate without any prejudices, which I think were different before the revolution." He added that, "despite the geographical distance between Egypt and Korea, I would like to bring other evidence to the deep bilateral relations; Korea ranks between eighth and 15th trading partner of Egypt." The reception was attended by President Mohamed Morsi's adviser for social communication Emad Abdel-Ghafour and Minister of State for Administrative Development Ahmed Samir Al-Rafei; members of a number of foreign missions in Cairo were also present. The activities of the 12th Week of Italian Language and Culture in the World will be launched in Cairo and Alexandria from 14 to 24 October. Entitled "Italy of the Territories and Italy of the Future", the programme was announced by the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute Dante Marianacci to the heads of department of Egyptian universities in which Italian language is taught, to university lecturers and to Italian and Egyptian representatives of the Italian Secondary School in Egypt during European Language Day on 26 September 2012 at the Italian Cultural Institute (IIC). During the meeting, held at the IIC Library, the participants exchanged views on how Italian is taught in Egypt at university and secondary school level. The week, organised by the Italian Foreign Ministry, has become one of the most prominent and internationally recognised events promoting Italian language and culture in the world since its inception in 2001. Its growing success and increasing number of events are scientifically guided by the Directorate General for the Promotion of the "Country System" of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most of the events have been organised in partnership with the Italian Embassy and the Consulate of Alexandria, in cooperation with Egyptian universities and the Cultural Office of the Swiss Embassy, with the Scientific Office of the Italian Embassy and the EU Delegation in Egypt. The week will feature exhibitions, conferences and short film screening; classic and contemporary music will be performed in Cairo at the IIC Theatre and in Alexandria at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina presenting Italian maestro Gianfranco Pappalardo. Gifted Egyptian sculptor Essam Darwish, who represents Egypt in many internationally acclaimed sculpture symposiums, is participating in the fifth Beijing International Art Biennale. The artwork will be showcased in the biennale's exhibition entitled Future and Reality, held at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, which showcases works by 261 international artists from 28 September until 22 October. Marking the 25th anniversary of the Arab World Institute in Paris and furthering the role of that institution in supporting contemporary creativity in the region, Ayyam Gallery -- based in Dubai with branches in Beirut and Damascus -- is organising an exhibition entitled 25 Years of Arab Creativity presenting works by important Arab artists including Safwan Dahoul, Nadim Karam and Sadik Al-Fraji in a wide range of media such as painting, sculpture, photography, and video installation. The exhibition is running from 16 October until 3 February. Last Week at the Sun City Cinema in Heliopolis the premiere of the recently released blockbuster Sa'a w Nos (An Hour and a Half) was held, with the attendance of the cast of the film. Sa'a w Nos, written by Ahmed Abdallah and directed by Wael Ehsan, casts a huge number of stars: Ahmed Bedeir, Ragaa Al-Geddawi, Sawsan Badr, Somaya Al-Khashab, Hala Fakher, Maged Al-Kedwani, Ahmed Al-Fishawi, Ahmed Azmi, Youssra Al-Louzi, Aiten Amer, Mohamed Imam and Eiad Nassar. The film tells the story of the different passengers of a train heading to Upper Egypt in the course of an hour and a half, during which time thieves are busy stealing the rails. Present were actors Adel Imam, Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, Ahmed Ezz, Mohamed Lotfi, Amr Abdel-Gelil, Maged Al-Masri, Mohamed Ramadan, Farouk Falawkas and actress-cum-producer Isaad Younis. The Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Ismail Serageldin was honoured by Georgia University, who granted him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his work and efforts in various fields. Serageldin received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Cairo University and a Masters' degree and PhD from Harvard University as well as 22 honorary doctorates. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid Tunisian actress and the UN Goodwill ambassador Hend Sabri visited the Syrian refugee camp in Zaatari, housing people displaced from Deraa, in Jordan. Sabri said on her Facebook page, "The hardest thing in the world is to find yourself compelled to leave your country and your family to become a refugee." She added, "Please God bestow on Syria and the people of Syria security and safety." The Zaatari camp is the largest for Syrian refugees in Jordan, and has nearly 35,000 Syrian refugees of all ages. It is supported by the World Food Program, represented by Sabri, with nearly 35,000 hot meals a day. Sabri recently received the Best Arab Actress award at the Tyche Jordanian festival for her role in the TV series Vertigo. She is scheduled to receive the award on 9 November 2012 in a special celebration that includes Jordanian and Arab artists in television, drama and the media.
