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Egyptian actor Amir El-Masry was cast in the upcoming fifth season of Netflix’s historical drama The Crown, according to a PR representative on Wednesday.
El-Masry will portray the young Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, Egyptian-born UK-based businessman, owner of Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods department store and Fulham FC.
The cast of the fifth season also includes Egyptian-British actor Khalid Abdalla who has ben cast as Dodi Fayed , Mohamed Al-Fayed’s son and late Princess Diana’s boyfriend. Abdalla will play opposite Elizabeth Debicki as Diana.
Born in Cairo in 1990 and raised in London, El-Masry’s career kicked off with roles in Egyptian films, earning him Best Young Actor at the Egyptian Oscars in 2009.
Graduating from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2013, Amir appeared in Jon Stewart’s debut feature Rosewater and various acclaimed TV series before his breakthrough role in The Night Manager (2016), followed by Lost in London (2017), The State (2017) and Age Before Beauty (2018).
Other notable credits include the critically acclaimed BAFTA nominated mini-series The State, a series regular role of Dante in the new BBC series Age Before Beauty and the lead in the first American-Saudi feature The Arabian Warrior.
Following the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, including political and romantic events that have shaped the twenty-first century, The Crown is considered one of the greatest series in the history of drama.
The series has won over 130 awards, including 21 Primetime Awards, of which seven were during the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2021, scooping awards of all categories.
The first season of The Crown was released in November 2016. Its fifth season is scheduled for release in November 2022.
Cairo witnessed the seventh edition of the Cairo International Biennale of the Arabic Calligraphy Art under the auspices of Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem at the premises of Cairo Opera House.
Under the slogan ‘Pioneers and Renovators in 100 years (1922/2022)’, the biennale included a three-day seminar that ran from 6 to 9 June at El-Hanager Cinema that highlighted the most prominent figures of Arabic Calligraphy in Egypt and the Arab world as well as an art exhibition showcasing artistic gems of this Art from 125 countries represented by 15 artists at the Art Palace in the Cairo Opera House Complex that is running from 7 to 20 June.
Furthermore, the event established a new tradition of honouring artists and researchers for their achievements, and a side competition was held in the name of renowned Egyptian calligrapher Khedr El-Portsaidy — the founder of the Arabic Calligraphy Museum as well as the one who accredits and certifies Arabic calligraphers in Egypt.
In the opening session, Mohamed El-Baghdady — the general commissioner of the biennale — noted that this year marks the centenary jubilee of the establishment of Egypt’s first calligraphy school during the reign of king Fouad in 1922.
The session also included the presentation of a research paper written by Nahla Imam — country representative of Egypt at the 2003 Convention of Safeguarding the Intangible Heritage of UNESCO — who shared her experience in adding Arabic calligraphy knowledge, skills, and practice on UNESCO’s representative list of intangible cultural heritage in December 2021.
Mohamed Hassan Abu El-Khair — the first to innovate the ‘mashq’
The second day of sessions showcased the pioneers and renovators of such enchanting art.
The first paper was presented by researcher and calligrapher Mohamed El-Shafaai on passing down the practice of such art in Egypt, taking the family of Mohamed and Abdel-Aziz Abu El-Khair as an example, as the two are renowned Egyptian calligraphers that this year’s round was dedicated to.
He started off by revealing that the concept of passing down this form of art dates back to the pre-Islamic era, explaining that the initial idea behind Arabic calligraphy was transcription, and then the artistic element came later.
“During the pre-Islamic era, except for a small circle, very little knew how to write Arabic, and according to Abdalla Ibn Abbas, the first person to begin writing in Arabic in the tribe of Qureish was Harb Ibn Umaya — one of the masters of the tribe and the father of Sufian Ibn Harb.
The other key person in calligraphy art was El-Wazir Ibn Noqla, who was famous during the Abbasid Caliphate and inherited the art from his father El-Ali Ibn Hassan, explained El-Shafaai.
Mohamed Hassan Abu El-Khair was born in Cairo in 1921, he studied in Al-Azhar and then joined The School of Improving Calligraphy when he was only 17, where he was the top of his class and was taught by calligraphy masters such as Sheikh Fakhr El-Din, Sheikh Ali Badawi, and Mohamed Hosni El-Baba — the father of iconic Egyptian actress Soad Hosni to name but a few.
He excelled in El-Sulus and Reqaa calligraphy and soon became a professor of the art of calligraphy at Oum El-Qoura University in Mecca for 20 years.
“He was the first to innovate in the mashq (an educational manual technique) of the solos of Arabic calligraphy that are taught to fourth graders, where he started teaching students to write whole sentences from the beginning instead of focusing on letters with no context,” El-Shafaai added.
Abdel-Qader Al-Shihabi — the calligrapher of the Palestinian government
The second paper focused on Abdel-Qader Al-Shihabi — a Palestinian calligrapher — that was written by Farag Hussieny. Al-Shihabi is a renowned Palestinian calligrapher whose fame reached its peak during the first half of the 20th century and was known as the ‘calligrapher of the Palestinian government.’
“Born and raised in Jerusalem, Abdel-Qader Al-Shihabi comes from a long line of calligraphers that started off this art between the 12th and 14th year of the Hijri calendar, however, Al-Shihabi learned calligraphy in Istanbul at the hand of Mohamed Ezzat, the biggest artist. He was known for his suluth calligraphy, which decorates the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque to date. He also spent all his life teaching calligraphy in Jerusalem and encouraging young artists to follow his passion,” explained Hussieny.
Abdalla Al Zohdi: the calligrapher of Al-Haramein Al-Sharifine
The third paper covered the ‘calligrapher of Al-Haramein Al-Sharifine(The Two Holy Mosques) Abdalla Al-Zohdi and was written by Sami Saleh Abdel-Malak.
“Born in Nablus, Abdalla Al-Zohdi was born around 1251. His family moved to Istanbul, where he studied and excelled in calligraphy at a very early age. His artistic fame made him the official calligrapher of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, where his calligraphy adorns the walls and ceilings of the mosque till now,” the paper explained,
“During the reign of khedive Ismail, he was commissioned to write the calligraphy of the Keswa of the Kaaba and Mahmal. His implacable calligraphy was quite visible and stood out in the design of the keswa from that day onwards. He was known by his highly complex and geometric Sulus calligraphy.”
If you never realized that Alia Shawkat has Arab heritage, there’s a reason for that: The Iraqi-American actress — who has been stealing pretty much every scene she has appeared in since 1999, when she was 10 years old — rose to fame at a time when Hollywood was much less receptive to non-white identities.
Now, though, the 33-year-old star is entering the next phase of her career, one in which her heritage will be front and center.
“It’s interesting, because when I started acting, I always had to say I was half-whatever the role was. I would say I was half-Spanish, or half-French, just trying to blend in. I was always seen as ‘too ethnic’ when I was young,” Shawkat tells Arab News. “Now my ethnicity is a strength, because the conversation is shifting. It’s funny to watch actors actually talk about where they’re coming from, or playing roles that they’re actually connected to, when I grew up having to basically hide it.”
Not that it ever slowed Shawkat down. While she is perhaps still best-known for playing Maeby Fünke on the acclaimed cult comedy “Arrested Development,” which also reinvigorated or launched the careers of Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera and Tony Hale, she has been an inimitable presence across dozens of acclaimed independent films, before becoming the star and a key creative voice in the series “Search Party” (2016-2022), a pitch-black comedy and noir crime drama hybrid that defines Shawkat’s unique spirit better than anything has thus far.
She didn’t have to search too hard to find inspiration for the show. “My father is Middle Eastern, and he owns a club in Palm Springs. So that’s the show,” she deadpanned to the New Yorker last fall.
While “Desert People” will tackle that by putting Arab characters at its center, Shawkat took “The Old Man” in part because of the way that it, too, dives into righting some of the wrongs that were committed in the post-9/11 landscape.
The film, Sharjah Media City’s first production, was nominated in three categories – Best Director, Best Actress and Best Asian Film.
Emirati actress Amal Mohamed has won Best Asian Actress at the Septimius Awards for film, in the Netherlands, for her role in the Emirati film 218: Behind the Wall of Silence.
The movie is the first production by Sharjah Media City or Shams and is the result of a two-year initiative that involved more than 2,000 aspiring creatives from around the UAE.
The film, which deals with issues of domestic violence, nostalgia and revenge, tells the story of three young women from different backgrounds, whose fates become intertwined because of a mysterious event in apartment 218.
It is directed by The Tainted Veil filmmaker Nahla Al Fahad and stars, alongside Mohamed, several renowned Emirati actors including Habib Ghuloom, Merei El Halyan, Mansoor Alfeeli, Abdulla Bin Haider and Haifa Al Ali.
The film was nominated in three categories at the Septimius Awards, namely Best Director, Best Actress and Best Asian Film. The festival, held on Monday and Tuesday in Amsterdam, is aimed at encouraging independent film talents and supporting visionary films.
“Shams is proud to produce works of art that leave an unmistakeable mark on the Emirati creative scene,” Shams chairman Khalid Omar Al Midfa said. “The film 218 is our first foray into this field, and for Emirati actress Amal Mohamed to win Best Asian Actress at the prestigious Septimius Film Awards truly underlines the meticulous quality of the production, as well as its ability to deliver an important social message. This, in turn, demonstrates our ability to compete and produce works that can make an impact in the film industry.”
Al Midfa congratulated Mohamed on her achievement and said this was “only the beginning” for Shams.
How ‘218’ was made
218 was the first film to be produced under the Shams initiative UAE Entertainment Experience, and is touted as being the “first crowdsourced film in the Arab world.”
The campaign began in 2019 by calling on fresh university graduates from around the UAE to enrol in a free filmmaking training programme.
“We had a team in every major city that actually met those interested in participating in the initiative,” Shihab Alhammadi, director of Shams, previously told The National. .
In its early stages, the programme had more than 2,000 participants taking part in the training courses, that were offered online and in person. The training focused on developing various skills in filmmaking, from scriptwriting to directing and post-production to scoring.
A committee consisting of film professionals oversaw the training programme and offered mentorship to its participants.
“We have experts in directing, acting, scriptwriting and music production to name a few,” Alhammadi said. “They were all involved in the team as well as those who were involved in managing the programme.”
The committee included Al Fahad, Ghuloom, scriptwriter Mohammed Hasan Ahmed and Bin Haider.
source/contents: thenationalnews.com
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Emirati actress Amal Mohamed shows off her Septimius Award for Best Asian Actress, in Amsterdam. Photo: Shams
Egypt’s highest state awards in art, literature, and social sciences for 2022 were announced on 7 June, with writer Ibrahim Abdel-Meguied, director Dawood Abdel-Sayed, and late Iraq thinker Qais Azzawi winning the top honour, the Nile Award.
In a meeting chaired by Egypt’s Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem, members of Egypt’s Supreme Council for Culture (SCC) voted on the top awards.
The members voted on 53 prizes worth a total of EGP 7.5 million (around $374,632) divided into four sections:
Here is the full list of winners:
The Nile Award
The Nile Award is granted to three people in the fields of literature, arts, and social sciences. Each winner receives EGP 500,000 and a gold medal. A new award for the most creative Arab personality was added for the first time in 2018.
The Nile Award in Literature was given to writer Ibrahim Abdel-Meguied.
The Nile Award in Arts was handed to director Dawood Abdel-Sayed.
The Nile Award in Social Sciences went to the late lawyer and head of the lawyers syndicate Ragi Attia.
The Nile Award for the Most Creative Arab personality was awarded to late Iraqi thinker Qais Al-Azzawi, who died in 2022.
The Nile Award for a creative Arab personality was launched in 2018 in a bid to strengthen ties between Egypt and Arab creative minds.
Appreciation Awards
The award carries a prize of EGP 200,000 and a gold medal.
The Appreciation Award in Arts went to actor Rashwan Tawfik, architect Suhair Hawass and Ahmed Nabil Suleiman.
The Appreciation Award in Literature was awarded to writers Mohamed Abulfadl Badran, Youssef Hassan Nofal and Kamal Ruhayem.
The Appreciation Awards in Social Sciences were awarded to Said Ismail, Abdel-Salam Abu-Qahf and Moataz Sayed Abdallah.
Excellency Awards
The Excellency Award in Literature was granted to writer Reem Bassiouny and Amr Fouad Dawara.
The Excellency Award in Arts was handed to Gamal Yaqoot and Ahmed Abdel-Kareem.
The Excellency Award in Social Sciences was handed to late judge Tahany El-Gebaly, Iman Amer, and Ahmed Hassanien.
In addition to the previous awards, the SCC granted 32 encouragement awards, each one of them worth EGP 50,000.
Factbox
There are 52 prizes worth a total of EGP 7.5 million (around $374,632) divided into four sections.
Of the seven Excellency Awards, two are for the arts, two for literature, and three for social sciences. Political analyst Ammar Ali Hassan and economic expert Ahmed El-Naggar were among the winners of the prize last year.
Novelists Khairy Shalaby and Gamal El-Ghitani, poet Mohammed Afifi Mattar, and critic Gaber Asfour are among the past winners.
The Nile Award was originally named the Mubarak Award, but was changed in the aftermath of the 25 January 2011 Revolution that ousted president Hosni Mubarak from power.
Poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi, writers Bahaa Taher, Ibrahim Aslan, and Waheed Hamed, and cinema director Youssef Chahine are the most prominent figures to date who have won the Nile Award.
The State Awards were launched in 1958 and have only been cancelled once, in 1967, during the Six-Day War between Egypt and Israel.
source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (edited)
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Dawood Abdel-Sayed, Ibrahim Abdel-Meguied, and Iraqi Qais Azzawi
Sunday marks 16th death anniversary of Egyptian film star Hoda Sultan (15 August 1925 – 5 June 2006).
One of the brightest stars of the 20th century, Sultan made a mark in Egyptian cinema history as an actress and singer in many musical films.
Born Gamalat Bahiga Abdel-Aal Al-Haww in Kafr Abu-Gendy in Gharbiya governorate on 15 August 1925 to a mother of Turkish descent and a father who married several times and had many children.
Sultan married at a young age and divorced after the birth of her first daughter.
She embarked on the cinematic career inspired by her brother, renowned singer Mohamed Fawzi, taking steps into Egyptian radio with her first song in 1949.
As Ashraf Gharib writes for Ahram Online: “She auditioned for a role that was announced by Nahas Studio, who was searching for a new face capable of singing to participate in Bella Donna (1950), directed by Niazi Mostafa, and landed it. Despite the fact that it was a small part, she emerged closer to the world of fame.”
She then began receiving numerous roles starting with El-Usta Hassan (Foreman Hassan, 1952), directed by Salah Abu-Seif, and Hokm El-‘Awy (The Rule of the Powerful, 1951) and Tager El-Fadayeh (The Scandalmonger, 1953), both directed by Hassan El-Imam.
She landed starring roles in many musical films such as Habib Albi (The Love of My Heart, 1952) by Helmy Rafla and Taxi El-Gharam (Love Taxi, 1954) by Niazi Mostafa.
In addition, Sultan also appeared in Hamido (1953) by Niazi Mostafa, Ga’alouni Mograman (They Made Me a Criminal, 1954) by Atef Salem, El-Mouhtal (The Swindler, 1954) by Helmy Rafla, Sawaq Nos El-Leil (Midnight Driver, 1958) by Niazi Mostafa, Abeed El-Gasad (Slaves of the Flesh, 1962) by Kamal Attiya, and two of her more important films with Hassan El-Imam: Zawga Min El-Sharea (A Wife From the Street) and Sai’dat El-Regal (Men’s Huntress) both in 1960.
“However, Hoda Sultan’s artistic and feminine climax represented itself best in Ezzeddine Zulfikar’s masterpiece Emra’ah Fi El-Tariq (A Woman on the Road, 1958) where she played the she-devil crossing your path and stinging you with her carnal desires,” writes Gharib.
“When Egyptian cinema turned towards duos, Hoda Sultan formed one with Farid Shawqi, her husband at the time. Between the pair, the remarkable duo made 19 films together, starting with Bella Donna and The Rule of the Powerful.”
Her artistic maturity became obvious in El-Sirk (The Circus, 1968) by Atef Salem, DalalEl-Masriya (Dalal the Egyptian, 1970) by Hassan El-Imam, El-Ikhtiyar (The Choice, 1971) by Youssef Chahine, and Shai’ Fi Qalbi (Something In My Heart, 1971) by Kamal El-Sheikh.
She then became the first-choice actress for the film and television roles which needed a maternal character. This landed her the role of Amina in Naguib Mahfouz’s famous trilogy adapted to TV and that of Tafida in Something in my Heart, adapted from Ihsan Abdel-Quddous’ novel.
Her important TV appearances included Layali El-Helmiya (El-Helmiya Nights, 1987), Arabesque (1994), El-Wattad (The Tent Pole, 1996), and Zizinia (1997).
H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, attended on Thursday an honouring ceremony of the third cycle’s winners of the ICCROM-Sharjah Award for Good Practices in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management in the Arab Region (2022-2021), and the second cycle of the ICCROM-Sharjah Award The Arab cultural heritage for young people, in the House of Wisdom.
The ceremony began with a speech delivered by Dr. Zaki Aslan, Regional Director of International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in Sharjah.
Dr. Aslan mentioned the award’s goal to spread the notion of cultural and heritage preservation in the region within international standards through initiatives and events that help exchange knowledge and experience.
Then John Robbins, Chairman of the Executive Board of ICCROM, thanked the Ruler of Sharjah, for sponsoring this event and all other activities in the region.
H.H. the Ruler of Sharjah and the audience watched several visual films about the ICCROM-Sharjah Award and the winning projects.
H.H. honored the winners of the 3rd cycle of the ICCROM-Sharjah Award for Good Practices in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management in the Arab Region; and the 2nd cycle of the Arab Cultural Heritage Award for the Young.
The grand prize for the 3rd cycle went to Beirut Assist Cultural Heritage (BACH), a project to recover the affected area following the 2020 blast in the Port of Beirut, Lebanon; and the rehabilitation and restoration of residential courtyards and historical buildings in the vicinity of Al Aqsa Mosque, Palestine.
In the Special Excellence category, four projects won: sheltering and protecting Hicham’s Palace’s mosaic floor, Palestine; Collart-Palmyre: a comprehensive project on the Baalsahamîn temple in Palmyra; the revitalization and conservation of the cultural heritage of Al Qarara Village in Gaza, Palestine; and the digital documentation of historical documents in Jerusalem, Palestine.
As for the 2nd cycle of the Award for the Young, the student Sarah Hassan Al Hosani, from the Al Amal School for the Deaf – United Arab Emirates, and the student Al Yasar Al Masry, from the Omar Bin Al Khattab College – Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Association – Lebanon, won first place.
The student, Ghala Abdel Rahim Mahmoud Al Raheel, from Bayouda Al-Sharqiya Mixed Secondary School – Jordan, won first place in the photography category, while the first place in the folk dance category, Al Takadum School for Basic Education – Libya, won the old street dance, and Qasr Al-Hallabat Al-Gharbi Mixed Secondary School – Jordan won first place in the awareness film category for the movie “A Story of Joy from the Heart of the Badia”.
The honouring ceremony was attended by Sheikh Salem bin Abdulrahman Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Ruler’s Office, Sheikh Mohammed bin Humaid bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairman of Department Of Statistics and Community Development, Sheikha Alyazia bint Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Youth, and several senior officials, ambassadors and representatives cultural organisations.
Torch Tower set the Guinness World Record for being the largest external 360 degree screen in the world.
Aspire Zone Foundation announced that it will officially launch the screen on June 6, 2022 between 7pm to 9pm.
Situated at 300m high and with 360° panoramic views across the city, the Torch Doha is the result of comprehensive architectural, engineering and technical design, formerly shaped to represent a colossal torch for the duration of the 15th Asian Games in 2006 held its symbolic flame.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris held a ceremony for the 18th edition of the Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture (SPAC), organised by the Sharjah Department of Culture in cooperation with UNESCO.
The Prize has been awarded to Dunya Mikhail, an American-Iraqi poet, and Helen Al Janabi, a Swedish actress of Syrian-Iraqi origin.
Sheikh Salem Khalid Abdullah Al Qasimi, Deputy Secretary of State for Heritage and Arts Sector, UAE’s Permanent Representative to the UNESCO, along with Professor Mohammed Ibrahim Al Qaseer, Director of Cultural Affairs at the Department, in addition to dignitaries, writers, intellectuals and members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the United Nations.
Ernesto Otuni Ramirez, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, gave a speech in which he expressed his gratitude and appreciation to H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and for his cultural and humanitarian renaissance role at the local, regional and global levels.
Afterwards, Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Owais, Chairman of the Sharjah Department of Culture, gave a speech in which he expressed his happiness at the continuation of the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture editions, appreciating the role of UNESCO in managing the prize and sponsoring many cultural programmes.
Al Owais and Ernesto Ramirez awarded the 18th Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture to Dunya Mikhail and Helen Al Janabi, in addition to honouring the winners of the 17th session.
Tarik Saleh — an experienced Swedish-Egyptian filmmaker — clinched the Best Screenplay Award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday for his latest feature film, ‘Boy from Heaven’ (‘Walad Min El-Janna’).
The filmmaker — who started his career as a journalist — also received the Prix François Chalais Award for his film’s “dedication to the values of life-affirmation.”
Boy from Heaven reportedly caused controversy amid Cannes’ Egyptian attendees after the premier, as its plot — which takes place in Al-Azhar University in Cairo — tackles the relationship between the country’s authorities and the Islamic organisation.
The film is produced by Atmo, Kristina Rikberg, and Fredrik Zander.
Previously, Saleh’s ‘Metropia’ (2009) won the Future Film Festival Digital Award of the Venice Film Festival, and his ‘Nile Hilton Incident’ (2017) — which was also set in Egypt — brought home the Grand Jury Prize from the 2017 edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
The winners of the 75th Cannes Film Festival are as follows:
– Palme d’Or: Ruben Ostlund for ‘Triangle of Sadness’ (Sweden, Germany, France, the UK)
– Grand Prix: Shared by Lukas Dhont for ‘Close’ (Belgium, the Netherlands, France) and Claire Denis for ‘Stars at Noon’ (France)
– Best director: Park Chan-wook for ‘Decision to Leave’ (South Korea)
– Best actress: Zar Amir Ebrahimi for ‘Holy Spider’ (Denmark, Germany, Sweden, France)
– Best actor: Song Kang-ho for ‘Broker’ (South Korea)
– Best screenplay: Tarik Saleh for ‘Boy from Heaven’ (Sweden, France, Finland, Denmark)
– Jury prize: Shared by Jerzy Skolimowski for ‘EO’ (Poland) and Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen for ‘The Eight Mountains’ (Italy, Belgium, France, Britain)
– Camera d’Or for best first film: Riley Keough and Gina Gammell for ‘War Pony’ (The US)
– Best short film: Jianying Chen for ‘The Water Murmurs’ (China)
source/content: english.ahram.org.eg
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Swedish-Egyptian director Tarik Saleh poses during a photocall after he equally won the Best Screenplay prize for the film Boy From Heaven (Walad Min Al Janna) during the closing ceremony of the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes (Photo: AFP)
