Experimental art The opening ceremony of the 22nd Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre took place at the Cairo Opera House Main Hall. Bassam El-Zoghby took this shot. The General Organisation for Children Culture presided over by Fatma Farahat organised the first Festival and Conference for Children's Theatre which concluded its activities in a lively celebration at the Floating Theatre in Giza. Head of the General Organisation of Culture Palaces Ahmed Megahed distributed awards among those who helped enrich children's artistic culture such as media figures Nagwa Ibrahim, Maged Abdel-Razek, Fatma El-Maadul, poet Shawqi Hegab as well as veteran director of Al-Leila Al-Kebira (The Big Night) Salah El-Saqqa, who passed away recently. photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid At Miami Theatre, the highly talked about play Khalti Safiya wal Deir (My Aunt Safiya and the Monastery) which addresses national unity between Muslims and Copts, was performed. The play is based on veteran novelist Bahaa Taher 's novel, written by Hamdi Zidan and directed by Mohamed Mursi and casts actresses Sabrine, Nawal Samir along with actors Salah Rashwan and Hisham Abdallah. Head of the Egyptian Actors Union Ashraf Zaki honoured the stars in presence of ministers and governors such as Minister of Education Ahmed Zaki Badr, Minister of Manpower Aisha Abdel-Hadi, Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir and Kafr Al-Sheikh Governor Ahmed Zaki Abdine. At the Buddha Bar restaurant, a party was held to honour Miss USA Rima Faqih with the attendance of Miss Egypt Donia Hamed. Faqih 's visit to Egypt came within the framework of her humanitarian activities in the Middle East. A good number of celebrities were present. French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a decree appointing Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Ismail Serageddin as associate professor to the International Chair "Savoirs contre pauvreté" (Knowledge Against Poverty) for the academic year 2010-2011. The decree appeared in the official journal of the French Republic on 9 September. Scientists and intellectuals at Collège de France selected Serageddin in appreciation of his numerous papers and studies on development, and the role of knowledge in combating poverty and backwardness. Serageddin will give an inaugural lecture on 18 November entitled "Mobilising Knowledge to Eradicate Hunger". photo: Ahmed Abdel-Razek Another private Cultural Salon was recently hosted by the Semiramis InterContinental. The salon is a journey which gives guests an opportunity to meet and greet prominent writers, speakers and artists. The salon introduced Nathalie Asmma, author of Le Caire L'inconnu dévoilé, artist and dance teacher Anne F. Giraud, who greeted the guests along with Semiramis InterContinental Director of Marketing Communications Nabila Samak. For Asmma, her ongoing journey started 39 years ago. Cairo's revelation of its secrets is what Asmaa 's book Le Caire L'inconnu dévoilé deals with. Giraud seems to have also followed the same route for she fell in love with Egypt too. Giraud enjoys the space, culture and inspiration Cairo offers. Guests were able to enjoy a preview of her inspiring art soon to be followed by her first exhibition in Cairo. Last Thursday, "The Three Knights" event was held at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University. The event was an obituary for Ali Mouhib (1935-2010), Salah Al-Saqqa (1932-2010) and Mohieddin El-Labbad (1940-2010), Egypt's pioneers of animation, puppets and cartoon arts, reports Nesmahar Sayed. The event was conducted by head of the faculty's Al-Foursan (the Knights) group Abdel-Aziz El-Guindy. It was an opportunity to perform samples of the pioneers' creations and listen to the testimonies of their colleagues and students. Among the guests were veteran cartoonist Mustafa Hussein, Manager of the Cartoon Department at the Egyptian Television and Radio Association Nasser Mustafa, animation supervisor at the National Centre of Cinema Laila Bakir, as well as Chairman of Animation Department at the Cinema Institute Laila Fakhry. The Faculty of Fine Arts professors Hazem Fathallah and Ali Saad Mouhib were also present. Celebrating 50 years of The Financial Times (FT) presence in Egypt, the British Egyptian Business Association (BEBA), in collaboration with the Financial Times, organised a business lunch at the Semiramis InterContinental Cleopatra Ball Room. FT Middle East Editor Roula Khalaf and FT Cairo Bureau Chief Heba Saleh interviewed Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali. Last week, the animation committee at the cinema department of the General Organisation of Culture Palaces (GOCP) held a cosy celebration on the occasion of granting the film Hum Hum Burgen directed by Ahmed Salah Bilal the first award for animation films at the 26th Alexandria International Film Festival for Mediterranean Countries. The celebration was attended by Al-Ahram Weekly 's very own cinema critic and General Supervisor of the General Administration of Cinema Hani Mustafa, the Higher Institute for Cinema (HIC) professor Abdel-Alim Zaki, former dean of the HIC Rashida Fahmi, head of the HIC animation department Laila Fakhri, head of the animation department at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Minya University Eid Moussa, assistant professor at the Graphics department at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University and supervisor of the animation department at the Culture Palaces Ahmed Hanno and instructor at the graphics department at the Faculty of Fine Arts Helwan University Ashraf Mahdi. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid Head of Karnak Rotary Club Magda El-Alfi hosted a warm reception honouring the cast of TV series Bifael Faael (On Purpose) at Le Pacha Nile Boat. Cast members included actresses Tayseer Fahmi and Hind Sabri, actors Yasser Galal and Tamer Hagras, scriptwriter Mona Ragab and director Tayseer Aboud. A number of stars attended the ceremony as did Al-Ahram back page editor Mona Ragab. For the first time in Egypt, internationally acclaimed Italian soprano Elena Riem was warmly welcomed by a number of Egyptian journalists, photographers and fans at the Cairo airport. Riem then starred in a concert at the Cairo Opera House Small Hall. She charmed the audience singing excerpts of classic operas such as Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's Aida, Tosca and Madam Butterfly by Puccini as well as Bizet's Carmen.
