Season's nut-cracking The Cairo Opera Ballet Company, directed by Erminia Kamel, along with the Cairo Opera Orchestra, conducted by Nader Abbasi, presented for three consecutive days Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet, directed by Abdel-Moneim Kamel. Sherif Sonbol's lens captured the scene photos: Ayman Barayez Last Saturday, crowds of notables and celebrities poured into the Zamalek Art Gallery to attend the inauguration of Culture Minister and artist Farouk Hosni's exhibition, "Optimism and Happiness". On show were 22 new acrylic on canvas and four acrylic on paper abstract paintings in daring colours, all dated 2007. According to Hosni, "each painting reflects his optimism and happiness with the developments and achievements that took place in Egypt lately on the cultural, political and economic levels." Among the distinguished attendees were French Ambassador Philippe Coste, businessman Naguib Sawiris, businessman Mansour El-Gammal and his wife, gorgeous cinema and TV star, Laila Elwi, actresses Somaya El-Khashab and Lebleba, actors Ezzat El-Alaili, Ashraf Abdel-Baqi and Sherif Mounir, sculptor Adam Henein, as well as Al-Ahram Hebdo Chief Editor Mohamed Salmawy, Nisf Al-Donia magazine Chief Editor Afkar El-Kharadli, back page editor Mona Ragab, Al-Ahram theatre critic Amal Bakir and Ambassador of Bahrain Khalil Al-Zowadi. The exhibition will next travel to the United States to show at the Museum of Art in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and then at the Museum of Art in Houston, Texas. Veteran comedian and Goodwill Ambassador Adel Imam was the guest of honour at the celebrations of the centennial anniversary of Cairo University. There could not have been a better choice of person to be hosted at the event as Imam is a graduate of the university's Faculty of Agriculture. The speech was a perfect opportunity for Imam to recount his lovely memories as a student. His warm talk with the students was predictably interspersed with Imam 's unique sense of humour he is so well known for. The event was attended by Cairo University president, Ali Abdel-Rahman, the university cultural counsellor, Mohamed Osman, and a number of its deans and professors in addition to a large number of students. A farewell party was held at the Diplomatic Club in honour of Libyan Ambassador Saleh Al-Derouki who is ending his term in Cairo. In attendance were Kuwaiti Ambassador Mohamed Al-Rashid, Bahraini Ambassador Khalil Al-Zowadi, President of the Arab Economic Unit Ahmed Guweili, Ambassador Hamdi Saleh, Arab League Assistant Secretary- General Mohamed Sobeih, veteran actor Ezzat El-Alaili, singer Mohamed Tharwat, veiled actresses Sabrin and Afaf Shoeib, media figures Mohamed Mattar, Hanan Youssef and Gihan El-Azazi. Celebrating the New Year, Moroccan businesswoman Intissar Fans held a lavish party at her residence, attended by Lebanese actress Madleine Tabar, Maha Osman, media figures Iman Atta, Dina Abdallah, Boushra Hisham, Doaa Abdel-Meguid, professor of mass communication at King Abdul-Aziz University, Ghazi Awadallah and businessman Mohsen El-Hamzawi. Prominent Lebanese lawyer Rita Badreddin held a lavish party at her house in Heliopolis to celebrate the coming of 2008. Attending the party were Foreign Minister First Assistant Hussein Derar, Major-General Assad Hamdi, Cuban Ambassador and his wife, actress Manal El-Fatatri, media figures Gilan Hamza, Dina Abdallah, businessman Mohamed Effat El-Sadat and diplomat Mohamed Abu Zeid. Basking in the fruits of a very culturally active year, the Cervantes Institute in Cairo (Spanish Cultural Centre) is planning to resume its extraordinary efforts in 2008. In this respect, a press conference was held at the institute, presided over by its new director Carmen Caffarel, to discuss with a number of Egyptian journalists the activities to be organised during 2008. The institute will host the first Spanish and Latin-American Film Festival during January and a Motion Cinema Festival and Under-construction Cinema Festival during February. In addition to plans to screen a new film every week, a series of interesting lectures on writing in Spanish and on Moorish culture will be delivered by a number of notable Spanish writers and intellectuals, such as José Antonio Marina and Miguel Murray. World-renowned Spanish pianist José Luis Nieto is also scheduled to perform at the Cairo Opera House and distinguished ballerinas Laura Hormigón and �scar Torrado will perform Don Quixote ballet in conjunction with the Cairo Opera Ballet Company. The year's enticing programme even includes a video exhibition of plastic arts in Gothic style with Arab and European influences in store for frequenters of the institute. The Culture Resource Centre (CRC) held a reception at Villa Grey a few days ago to announce the names of the winners of the 2007 Production Awards Programme for Young Arab Artists and Writers. Winners in the fields of literature, theatre, film, visual arts and music are from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Jordan and Palestine. The artistic board of the CRC has decided to increase this year's awards number to 12 instead of the customary 10 in previous years. The CRC put together five jury committees made up of well-established artists, writers and academics from all over the Arab world to evaluate the applications and recommend winners. The jury committee in the field of literature included Alaa El-Deeb (Egypt), Fadhil Al-Azzawi (Iraq), Qassim Haddad (Bahrain); in film: Ateyat El-Abnoudi (Egypt), Mohamed Makhlouf (Libya), Nidal Aldebss (Syria); in visual arts: Mai Abul- Dahab (Egypt), Mona Atassi (Syria), Mohamed Al-Obaidi (Iraq); in music: Andrea Hajj (Lebanon), Azza Madyan, Fathi Salama (Egypt) and, finally, in the field of theatre: Fadhel Jaibi (Tunisia), Jaouad Al-Asadi (Iraq) and Menha El-Batrawi (Egypt).
