The Indian Tsunami Under the provisions of the India-Egypt Cultural Exchange Programme, the Embassy of India in Cairo is organising the Days of Indian Culture in Egypt festival from 10 to 17 November. The event is supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The week-long festival was jointly inaugurated by Indian Ambassador to Egypt A Gopinathan and Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni at the Cairo Opera House's Main Hall last Monday. It includes performances by four music and dance troupes from different parts of India, including the Talvadya Music and Goa folk dance troupes, as well as Kathak and Rajasthani troupes. It also features a photo exhibition titled "Murals of India", and an exhibition of contemporary Indian art titled "To Opt is to Commit: Young Artists from India", as well as an Indian Film Week. (see Listings p.3) The picture above is a terracotta and fibreglass work by Amiya Nimai Dhara titled "Tsunami 2007". Amidst much fanfare and an enjoyable atmosphere, the US Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey hosted an elections night at the Hard Rock Café at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Garden City. The night, which started at 9pm on Tuesday and ended at 9am on Wednesday, featured many activities. Public Affairs Counsellor Haynes Mahoney gave an introduction about the US presidential elections. Scobey then presented prizes to the winners of the elections quiz competition and said in her speech that, "it was a great pleasure for me to learn how many facts and figures Egyptian students know about our elections! Congratulations again to the winning team, and to all the participants in the elections quiz, which has occurred in Alexandria and Cairo." To enlighten the 12-hour event, the musical group The Fuuls, gave a performance before feature films were showed. The films screened were: Advise and Consent (1962), Primary Colours (1998), and Man of the Year (2006). Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass, has been chosen to receive the 2008 World Tourism Award in recognition of his dynamic and committed leadership in developing and implementing innovative management plans to care for and protect Egypt's world famous ancient attractions, including several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Organisation Mohamed Shafiq accepted the award on behalf of Hawass on 11 November at the Excel Centre in London. Corinthia Hotels, together with American Express, the International Herald Tribune, and Reed Travel Exhibitions co-sponsor this prestigious award, which is presented annually at the World Travel Market, London. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre also received the 2008 World Tourism Award in recognition of its outstanding guidance, support, and encouragement to 185 countries around the world by establishing and monitoring 878 World Heritage Sites that will protect and preserve their irreplaceable natural and cultural heritage for the future of all the people of the world. Last week, the Goethe Institute in Egypt celebrated its golden jubilee. The institute launched its activities in 1958 in Cairo and 1959 in Alexandria. The anniversary was celebrated at a reception party held at the institute's garden in Doqqi district of Cairo, in the presence of German Ambassador to Egypt Bernd Erbel as well as a galaxy of Egyptian personalities including novelist Salwa Bakr and plastic artist Mohamed Abla. Meanwhile, Director General of Goethe Institute in Egypt and Regional Director of Goethe Institutes in North Africa and the Middle East Heiko Sievers delivered the opening speech. The event came to life with the percussion performance of Wolfgang Haffner band. Under the auspices of the Lebanese Embassy in Cairo, the Egyptian-Lebanese Friendship Association, presided over by Negad Shaarawi, organised a fashion show by Lebanese designer Dany Atrache, who presented his latest fashion line for haute couture. Held over two consecutive days at the Ramses Hilton Hotel ballroom, the event was organised by Director of International Events Onsi Barakat. The entire revenue was destined to charity institutions in Egypt. Particularly popular with the ladies, the event was attended by the wives of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, head of the People's Assembly Fathi Sorour, Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abul-Gheit, Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab, Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Meselhi, Minister of Defence Hussein Tantawi, and Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabali. The show was followed by a concert featuring Lebanese singer May Al-Hariri and singer Sami El-Hosami. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid In the presence of Syrian Minister of Culture Riyad Naghsan, the 16th Damascus International Film Festival headed by Mohamed Al-Ahmed was inaugurated in a lavish ceremony. The festival, which took place from 1 to 11 November, counted on the participation of 44 countries. The inauguration featured the screening of Turkish film Three Monkeys directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Cannes award-winner for best director. The festival honoured Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, Italian actor Franco Nero, as well as gorgeous Syrian actress Sulaf Fowakhergui, Syrian actor Ayman Zeidan, Egyptian actress Nadia El-Guindi, veteran Egyptian actor Nour El-Sherif and Lebanese singer Walid Tawfiq. Veteran Egyptian actress Lebleba was a member of the judgement panel. Egypt is participating in the festival with two films Khaltet Fawzya (Fawzya's Recipe) starring Elham Shahin and Fathi Abdel-Wahab as well as Sayyad Al-Yamam (Dove Hunter) starring Ashraf Abdel-Baqi. The Egyptian Catholic Centre for Cinema granted its award to veteran actress Yossra for her long and rich film career . For around two hours, opera-goers and music lovers enjoyed the performance of veteran pianist and composer Omar Khayrat, who played a wonderful concert at the Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House. On the occasion of the inauguration of the 17th round of the Arab Music Festival held at the Cairo Opera House, a number of artists were honoured including maestros Mustafa Nagi and Sami Nosseir, vernacular poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi handing out the award on his behalf his wife TV presenter Nihal Kamal, veteran singer Afaf Radi, Saudi musician Harag Omar, veteran writer Khairi Shalabi as well as Director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel, who was honoured by festival President Ratiba El-Hefni. The inaugural party was followed by an operetta about the life of late Lebanese singer Farid Al-Atrash and his late sister, singer Asmahan. The English-language Egyptian television channel Nile TV recently celebrated its 15th anniversary. Joining the festivities was Nile Cruise, the TV talk show which made its maiden appearance last month. Nile Cruise is a cultural, artistic and social look at Egypt, mainly for foreigners either living in the country or just passing through. Appearing live every Friday at 10pm, the two- hour Nile Cruise crisscrosses the country, in many cases broadcasting from famed cultural sites, including the Cairo Opera House where this snap was taken. The crew includes supervisor Nashwa El-Shalaqani, chief editor Ola Abdel-Salam, and producer Kholoud Marei. It is prepared by Rana El-Dessouqi, Hammouda Kamel and Osama Nosseir. The announcers are Basel Sabri and Mehitab El-Effendi, while Ahmed Abdel-Alim and Mahmoud El-Khatib are the show's directors. A delegation of 25 female students from Talaat Harb Secondary School in Mahala paid a visit to Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper, and were warmly received by Chief Editor Assem El-Kersh and Environment Editor Mahmoud Bakr, who explained to the eager youth the steps taken towards printing the paper each week. They also talked to the Weekly 's very own caricaturist Georges Bahgory about plastic art. The students were accompanied by the school's environmental education professor Abdel-Hamid Hamza and headmistress Camilia El-Enani. They continued their tour in the building of Al-Ahram Establishment and attended a scientific seminar organised by Wagdi Riyad at Al-Ahram Sciences Club.
