25 - 31 July 2002
Issue No. 596
Culture

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The Eighth Cairo International Song Festival has been scheduled to take place during the second half of August. A number of Arab and international performers will participate, with representatives from the UAE, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Russia, Columbia, Argentina, Cuba, Turkey, Hungary, Tanzania, Indonesia, Romania and Nigeria. The jury will include Abdel-Wahab El-Dawaqli from Morocco, Mohamed Zein Al-Abidin from Tunis, Kefah Fakhouri from Jordan, and Seham She'sha' from Syria. Chaired by Salah Selim, the jury will award prizes including LE25,000 for best Arabic song, an LE10,000 audience prize, and LE5,000 each for best score, lyrics, performance and production. The international competition features LE7,000, LE4,000 and LE3,000 prizes.
Among the singers to be honoured at this year's event will be Soad Mohamed, Saad Abdel-Wahab, Hussein El-Sayed and Abdel- Azim Mohamed from Egypt, and Safwan Bahlawan from Syria.
Additional performances will take place at the Library of Alexandria as well as in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada.

El-Qutt in competition
The Literary and Linguistic Committee of the Supreme Council for Culture (SCC) is holding two competitions. In the first applicants are invited to submit papers on Abdel-Qader El-Qutt as critic or else a critical study of a literary genre from the past 10 years. The three winners will receive LE10,000.
The second competition focuses on language used in children's literature or literature and the July Revolution. The first four winners will receive LE4,000.

Cinema online
Cinematographer Mona El-Sabban has launched a Web site to teach Arabic speakers about film. Essentially an introductory course in cinema, www.arabfilmtvschool. edu.eg has sections dealing with the history of film in Egypt as well as an introduction to different aspects of filmmaking including directing, scriptwriting, acting, editing and so on. Surfing the Web site, which is supported by the Cultural Fund, is free of charge. The Web site also features a bibliography of all materials published on cinema in the Arab world since 1923.

Books in Alex
ON WEDNESDAY, Governor of Alexandria Mohamed Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub inaugurated the first book fair organised by the Library of Alexandria. The fair's seminars will mostly cover electronic publishing. An exhibition, The Greek Goddesses of Art, will accompany the book fair which will include, on 6 August, a reception attended by those who have made donations of books and manuscripts to the library.

Soundtrack fest
THE EIGHTH round of the Jerba Festival for Historic and Legendary Films started on Monday and will continue till the 28th. Held in the southern Tunisian city of Jerba, this year's festival will put the spotlight on soundtracks.
Youssef Chahine's Sukout! Hansawwar (Silence! We're Shooting) is in competition. Other Arab films participating include Tunisian filmmakers' Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud's Wajd and Salma Bakkar's Raqsat Al-Nar (Fire Dance). Also participating are Moulin Rouge (US), Dancing in the Dark (Finland) and Brother (US). A special section will feature films dealing with colonialism and its legacy.

Palestine in Taormina
PALESTINIAN filmmaker Rashid Mashharawi's latest production, Bitaqa Ila Al-Quds (Ticket to Jerusalem) was the only Arab film in competition at the Taormina International Film Festival. The Sicilian festival usually concentrates on screening English-speaking films. Mashharawi's was the only Arabic film in this year's competition.

Rabat festival
THE EIGHTH Rabat Festival, which began a month ago, ends today. The National Theatre's hit production Al-Nas Illi Fil-Talit (The People on the Third) played at the Mohamed V Theatre last Thursday to a full house before travelling to the provincial city of Titwan where it was staged at the Istanbul Theatre. The Reda Folklore Troupe was also included, presenting performances in Rabat and other cities.
On the sidelines of the festival lectures and seminars covered a wide range of topics including the development of theatre in Morocco, the poetic experience of Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef, Palestinian culture under occupation and the future of the short story as a genre in the Arab world. Gaber Asfour, secretary-general of the SCC, and poet Abdel- Rahman El-Abnoudi represented Egypt.
Among the other highlights Lebanese singer Marcel Khalife and the Iraqi Kazem El-Saher each gave concerts under the festival's umbrella.

Salem is back
PLAYWRIGHT Ali Salem has won a court case at the State Council revoking his dismissal from the Writers' Union. The union's General Assembly had annulled Salem's membership in April of last year on the grounds that he maintained relations with Israeli figures which, the union claimed, were counter to its stand on normalisation at a time when the state of Israel was committing atrocious crimes against the Palestinians.
The union is expected to appeal against the ruling.
By Amina Elbendary

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