Starlets in satin Part of the Chinese Cultural Week's activities that took place last week at the Cairo Opera House's various venues was a Chinese fashion show titled "A Coloured World", held at the Open Air Theatre. Ready at the performance with his camera was Sherif Sonbol. A documentary film featuring the lives of Egyptian university students in the United States was aired on the OTV free-to-air satellite channel last Saturday at 10pm. The documentary is a cooperative effort between the US Embassy in Egypt and OTV. The channel crew travelled to college campuses in the US to get the real story on what life is like for four Egyptian students living in the US. The film explores the lives of the four students through extended conversations with them, their classmates, their teachers, host families and university officials. Each student featured in the documentary is the recipient of a grant from the Fulbright Scholarship Programme, the Community College Initiative or the Near East and South Asia Undergraduate Programme, all of which are exchange programmes sponsored by the US government. Students seeking additional information on these programmes are encouraged to visit the website of the Fulbright Commission in Egypt at www.fulbright-egypt.org or to join the US Embassy's Study USA Egypt Facebook page. Mahendra Amarasuriya, president of the International Association for the Lions Clubs responsible for financing the club's charity projects, arrived in Egypt last Sunday. Magdi Azab, governor of District 352 Egypt, welcomed him upon arrival. During Amarasuriya 's stay, he will be escorted by the Lions' Azab, the district board and the club presidents to project locations. The Lions Districts projects in Egypt include the Memorial Institute of Ophthalmology Research in Giza and the Lions Eye Hospital in Ashmoun, Menoufiya governorate. The Ashmoun project is the fruit of all Egypt's Lions Clubs services and donations as well as the International Association's contributions. The hospital is being built on a 4,000 square metre plot of land allocated by the governorate and is designed to be fully equipped with high standard medical equipment to provide the best eye care to its patients from Ashmoun and its surrounding cities. Amarasuriya will be visiting Egypt's tourist sights and will get the chance to meet with the Lions Clubs presidents and members through events and formal dinners. The visit is considered his first to both Egypt and the region as a whole. The End of Liberalism? is the thought-provoking title of the recently-released bombshell by Wahid Abdel-Meguid of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies and deputy head of the Egyptian General Organisation for Books. The subtitle of the book is Barack Obama and the Spirit of America. The writer notes that never has an American president been sworn in with so much hope entrusted in his person and prospective policies. Abdel-Meguid reviews Obamania and theories circulating about the reinvention of American foreign policy. What does this mean for the people of the Arab world? Do we pin our hopes on US President Obama? Read this intelligently-argued, slim volume to find out. photo: Ayman Barayez A thrilling celebration was held at the celebrations hall at the Cairo International Book Fair marking the exciting distribution of the Mohamed Taymour awards for creativity in theatre. The first award was granted to Ahmed Nabil for his play Halawet Shamsena (Our Warm Sun), the second award went to Mahmoud Gamal for his play Tareeq Al-Harb Wa Al-Moat (The Road to War and Death), and the third to Mohamed Zaki for his play Al-Ashaa Al-Akhir (The Last Dinner). Head of the Egyptian Writers' Union Mohamed Salmawy, granddaughter of Mohamed Taymour and founder of the award novelist Rashida Taymour, film critic Rafiq El-Sabban and writer Rawya Salem were all present. Under the auspices of the Director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel, the Cultural Salon of the Cairo Opera House will host Egyptian Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail in a lavish seminar titled "Fortunes of Nations and Revolution of Thinking". The seminar will be conducted by Osama Heikal, and a galaxy of scientists and intellectuals will be among the participants. On the fringes of the seminar Zewail will distribute the prizes of the Creativity in Arts Award holding his name. The seminar will be held next Monday at the Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House at 7pm. Good News cinema witnessed the private screening of the new film Azmet Sharaf (Sharaf's Predicament), starring actress Ghada Abdel-Razeq, singer-cum-actor Ahmed Fahmi, talented actor Tareq Lotfi, and produced and directed by Walid El-Tabei. The film is El-Tabei's first experience as a director. Filmmaker Khaled Youssef, belly dancer Dina and singer-cum-actress Dolly Shahine were all present to congratulate the cast of the film. The Egyptian Catholic Centre for Cinema granted veteran actor Hussein Fahmi a recognition shield for his long film career. Fahmi was honoured after a long seminar in the Nile Hall. Among the audience who enjoyed the thrilling seminar was Fahmi 's wife Liqaa Swedan. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid To celebrate the silver jubilee of the Pharaonic Village in Giza, village head Abdel-Salam Ragab conducted a seminar with veteran actor Nour El-Sherif during which the latter talked about his long successful career in cinema and television. At the lavish event, Ragab granted El-Sherif the village's shield. Under the auspices of Sheikh Sultan bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Sharjah, the American University in Cairo (AUC) celebrated the inauguration of the Sharjah Art Gallery last Sunday at the AUC's New Cairo campus. The inaugural exhibition of the gallery titled "An Overview of the East" featured 26 artworks surveying life and architecture throughout the Middle East, particularly in Cairo. The collection of Al-Qasimi are on loan for the first time, fulfilling his wish to reinforce Arabic cultural relations and to allow a wider range of people to see these magnificent works of art. The Maadi British International School (MBIS) in Cairo has been awarded the information and communications technology (ICT) Mark by Becta, the UK government-funded body responsible for promoting the use of ICT in Britain's schools and colleges. The award recognises the school's success in developing the strategic use of ICT in both administration and across the curriculum. The MBIS is the first international school in the world to be awarded the ICT Mark through completing all elements of the Self Review Framework and undertaking a full ICT Mark Assessment. Under the auspices of Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Maged George Al-Shorouk Rotary Club, presided over by Zakaria El-Shafei, organised a campaign to raise awareness among school students of the importance of protecting the environment. The campaign is featuring dispensing notebooks with printed awareness instructions. On the sidelines of the campaign a protocol was signed between the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs and the Rotary zone. The signing was attended by Mawaheb Abul-Azm, head of the Environmental Affairs Organisation. photo: Bassam El-Zoghbi Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni visited the exhibition of renowned artist Nazli Madkour, wife of head of the Egyptian Writers' Union Mohamed Salmawy at Safar Khan Art Gallery in Zamalek. The exhibition showcases 37 of Madkour 's paintings illustrating Egyptian countryside women and elements of nature. (see Listings p.5)
