The ten-day Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) held an opening ceremony on Wednesday amidst global Covid-19 pandemic challenges. Stars of the Egyptian cinema were seen walking the red carpet rolled out in front of the Cairo Opera House where the event took place. The ceremony was hosted by Egyptian actor and comedian Ashraf Abdel Baky in the presence of culture minister Ines Abdel Dayem, the festival s president Mohamed Hefzy and numerous Egyptian and international guests. Prior to the official speeches and honoring of the guests, the ceremony featured famed Egyptian singer Tamer Hosny. The CIFF president, screenwriter and producer, Mohamed Hefzy mentioned the many problems that the cinema faced this year, starting with a complete halt of work on new productions, all the way to the closed movie theatres for several months. It is important to mention that while the CIFF assures implementation of all precautions to avoid the spreading of Covid-19, it has also provided a free PCR test for each guest that takes part in the event s opening ceremony. Hefzy expressed that holding the festival and the presence of the international guests are important steps towards bringing back life to normal. He thanked the ministries of culture and tourism for extending help and support for this year s edition. The ceremony also included screening of a video featuring the executives from the top international festivals sharing the solidarity message with Hefzy. The support and encouragement was expressed by Thierry Frémaux, the director of the Cannes Film Festival; Carlo Chatrian, the artistic director of the Berlin International Film Festival, and Alberto Barbera, the director of the Venice International Film Festival. Culture minister Abdel Dayem echoed Hefzy s words stressing the importance of arts continuity, despite the challenging circumstances, and in commitment to all precautionary measures as required by the Egyptian ministry of health and the World Health Organisation. The ceremony then moved to giving awards to the honored figures of the festival for their contribution to enrich the art of cinema. Actress Menna Shalaby who last year was given the Faten Hamama Excellence Award presented this year s award to Mona Zaki on stage. Well known actress Zaki expressed her gratitude recalling the beginning of her career, when as a very young and amateur actress she has been always attending the consecutive editions of CIFF. During the ceremony, filmmaker Sherif Arafa who was awarded last year, honored Egypt s renowned screenwriter Waheed Hamed and the British writer and director Christopher Hampton with the Golden Pyramid for Lifetime Achievement Award. The opening ceremony ended with the screening of British-French film The Father co-written and directed by Florian Zeller. The film stars the Oscar, and BAFTA winner Anthony Hopkins. The film had its Middle East and Africa premiere in Cairo. Running between 2 and 10 December, the 42nd CIFF presents a large programme with 84 films representing the latest and most important productions of 2020. Among the films, many of them have had their international or world premiere. The screenings take place at numerous locations, including the Cairo Opera House, Hanager Theatre, Odeon Cinema 1 and 2. Apart from screenings, the festival will hold the 3rd edition of Cairo Industry Days between 4 and 7 December, an important space for discussions, networking, meetings, workshops, masterclasses, and partnership opportunities between Arab talents and regional or international key industry professionals to further support Arab Cinema.

Cairo Industry Days has announced that its 3rd edition will be held between 4 and 7 December. Held within the upcoming 42nd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), taking place from to 2 to 10 December, Cairo Industry Days will shed light on a number of industrial film and TV-related issues, featuring prominent names from the Arab world and worldwide. Beyond the talks and masterclasses, the activities of Cairo Industry Days this year shall encompass discussion panels, featuring prominent industry professionals. This comes in parallel with organising other activities within CIFF that will present more than $250,000 worth of standard and monetary awards to 15 competing Arab films. The activities will also include the Cairo TV Pitch Forum that will be held in collaboration with Middle East Media Initiative (MEMI), and the Creative Production Workshop, held together with Film Independent. Cairo Industry Days is the industry platform of CIFF that launched during the 40th edition of the festival in partnership with the Arab Cinema Centre. Cairo Industry Days provides an important space for discussions, networking, meetings, workshops, masterclasses, and partnership opportunities between Arab talents and regional and international key industry professionals to further support Arab Cinema. THE CAIRO INDUSTRY DAYS PROGRAMME Friday 4 December 4.30pm - 6pm, Cairo Opera House The panel is entitled “Mind My Gender: Being A Woman in The Creative Industry”. Moderator: Mariam Farag, the head of corporate sustainability and social impact at MBC Group. The panel will feature Emad Karim, the innovation and advocacy specialist at UN Women, Executive Poducer Hend Radwan, Casting Director Marwa Gabriel, Actress Jamila Awad, Singer Dina El-Wedidi, and Aliaa Zaki head of Cairo Industry Days. Saturday 5 December 4.30pm - 5.30pm, Cairo Opera House An hour-long panel discussion sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), under the title “Ethical Consciousness: Interrupting or Advancing the Artistic Process”. Moderator: Filmmaker Hala Galal. The panel will feature Director Ayten Amin, Director Yosry Nasrallah, Germaine Haddad — the Deputy Representative at the UNFPA for Egypt, Scriptwriter Dina Negm and Christina Rosendahl, a Danish film director. 6pm - 7pm Meeting with the team of the independent production company The Population. Moderator: María Raquel Bozzi — senior director of education & international initiatives at Film Independent, and the sponsors of the discussion. The panelists include Mynette Louie — producer of The Tale, Mollye Asher — producer of Nomadland, Derek Nguyen — director of The Housemaid. Sunday 6 December 12.45pm - 1.45pm The audience will join Screen International’s Middle East Correspondent Melanie Goodfellow and six of the most talented and promising actors and directors from across the Middle East and North Africa. They have been selected for the fourth edition of its talent-spotting initiative “Arab Stars Of Tomorrow”, which is being supported by MBC Hope, a social responsibility initiative for The MBC Group. Acclaimed Egyptian actor and 2017 Arab Stars of Tomorrow recipient Ahmed Malek will also be joining the conversation. 4.45pm - 6pm Panel titled “The Role of Cinematography in Combating Human Trafficking”. Moderator: Mariam Farag, the head of corporate sustainability & social impact at MBC Group. The discussion will be joined by Ambassador Naela Gabr — chairperson of The National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons, Ambassador Laurent De Boeck — IOM chief of mission to the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Cristina Albertin — the regional representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the two stars Asser Yassin and Nelly Karim. The panel is sponsored by the National Coordinating Committee for Preventing And Combating Illegal Migration And Human Trafficking. Monday 7 December 11am - 12pm, Cairo Marriott Hotel A panel discussion entitled “The Creatives’ Advocate: The Business and Legal Principles of Filmmaking” will bring together the Legal Counsel Ismat Abidi, and Fiona Robertson — senior counsel and head of media at Al Tamimi & Company. 1pm - 2pm, Cairo Marriott Hotel A discussion “Harder Than It Looks: The Art and Business of Making Short Films”. Moderator: Andrew Mohsen. The panel will include Director and Producer May Odeh, Writer Mark Lotfy, Producer and Director Karim Abouzeid, Producer Safei Eldin Mahmoud, and Filmmaker and Programmer Tizian Buchi. 3pm - 4pm, Cairo Marriott Hotel A panel titled “OTT Partnerships in the Middle East – The Success Story of Viu”. Moderator: Alaa Karkouti — a renowned film analyst, CEO and co-founder of MAD Solutions and co-founder of the Arab Cinema Centre. The panel will feature Abe Naga — the Middle East general manager at Viu, Executive Producer Ayman Naguib, Actor Ahmed Khaled Saleh, Lebanese actress and TV host Cynthia Khalife. NOTE: The Cairo International Film Festival ensures that all the necessary safety precautions are taken by following guidelines from the Egyptian government and the World Health Organization to establish a safe space for the festival’s team, participating filmmakers, and the audience.

In the land of lexicography, out of the whole of the English language, 2020′s word of the year is a vocabulary of one. For the first time, two dictionary companies on Monday — Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com — declared the same word as their tops: pandemic. A third couldn’t settle on just one so issued a 16-page report instead along the same lines, noting that a world of once-specialized terms entered the mainstream during the COVID-19 crisis. The year, Oxford Languages said in the report last week, “brought a new immediacy and urgency to the role of the lexicographer. In almost real-time, lexicographers were able to monitor and analyze seismic shifts in language data and precipitous frequency rises in new coinages.” Its Oxford English Dictionary and others found themselves madly updating well beyond routine schedules to keep up. Such publication updates are usually planned far in advance. Because the coronavirus pandemic brought on gargantuan language changes, according to Oxford Languages, “2020 is a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single `word of the year.’” Not so at Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com, both of which also noted enormous shifts toward many other related words but announced just one nonetheless. Pandemic “probably isn’t a big shock,” Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement. John Kelly, senior research editor at Dictionary.com, told the AP before breaking the news that searches on the site for pandemic spiked more than 13,500% on March 11, the day the World Health Organization declared an outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency. The daily spike, he said, was “massive, but even more telling is how high it has sustained significant search volumes throughout the entire year.” Month over month, lookups for pandemic were more than 1,000% higher than usual. For about half the year, the word was in the top 10% of all lookup on Dictionary.com, Kelly said. Similarly, at Merriam-Webster.com, searches for pandemic on March 11 were 115,806% higher than spikes experienced on the same date last year, Sokolowski said. Pandemic, with roots in Latin and Greek, is a combination of “pan,” for all, and “demos,” for people or population, he said. The latter is the same root of “democracy,” Sokolowski said. The word pandemic dates to the mid-1600s, used broadly for “universal” and more specifically to disease in a medical text in the 1660s, he said. That was after the plagues of the Middle Ages, Sokolowski said. He attributes the lookup traffic for pandemic not entirely to searchers who didn’t know what it meant but also to those on the hunt for more detail, or for inspiration or comfort in the knowing. “We see that the word love is looked up around Valentine’s Day and the word cornucopia is looked up at Thanksgiving,” Sokolowski said. “We see a word like surreal spiking when a moment of national tragedy or shock occurs. It’s the idea of dictionaries being the beginning of putting your thoughts in order.” The pandemic, Kelly said, made us all worthy of watercooler chatter with Dr. Anthony Fauci as our knowledge grew about all things pandemic, aerosols, contact tracing, social distancing and herd immunity, along with the intricacies of therapeutic drugs, tests and vaccines that can help save lives. “These were all part of a new shared vocabulary we needed to stay safe and informed. It’s incredible,” said Kelly, who works with a team of lexicographers to come up with words of the year based primarily on site traffic. Merriam-Webster began designating a word of the year in 2008, with “bailout.” The company’s word of the year for 2019 was “they,” when a shifting use of the personal pronoun was a hot subject and lookups increased by 313% in 2019 over the previous year. Dictionary.com has been in the word of the year game since 2010, with “change.” Its word of the year in 2019 was “existential” in a year that climate change, gun violence, the very nature of democracy and an angsty little movie star named Forky from Disney’s “Toy Story 4” helped propel search spikes. Oxford went with two words last year: climate emergency. Kelly, Sokolowski and Oxford Languages noted other worthy search trends beyond the pandemic. After the May 25 death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, words around racial justice experienced spikes, including fascism, anti-fascism, defund and white fragility, Kelly said. “There was no way for us to leave that out of the conversation this year,” he said. Oxford included a range in its report, from “karen” to “QAnon.” But it was all things pandemic that ultimately won the annual word sweepstakes. Jennifer Steeves-Kiss, chief executive for Dictionary.com, said one key ingredient in the hunt for the site’s word of the year is sustained interest over time. Pandemic met that standard. “This has affected families, our work, the economy,” she said. “It really became the logical choice. It’s become the context through which we’ve had dialogue all through 2020. It’s the through line for discourse.”

Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW), headed by Maya Morsy, praised in a statement DMC’s “Ella Ana” (Except Me) TV series for addressing issues of concern to women and society. Morsy congratulated the series makers and the brilliant stars of the show, saying she is very pleased with the release of a “meaningful, sophisticated, and honest” series that confronts the daily reality of Egyptian women. She expressed her eagerness to see the rest of the series’ stories and episodes. Morsy also praised the diversity of the subjects that the stories deal with, including legal issues, marital problems, childbirth, and bullying. The most important theme in the drama is the show’s economic empowerment of women, which gives hope to women and girls who suffer from social and economic problems. The series also shows that a woman, no matter how hard she suffers in her life, has enough strength, tenacity, and challenge not to succumb to circumstances, even when living in a domineering society,” it added. “Ella Ana” is a drama inspired by life stories, written by Yousra al-Fakharany. It consists of independent stories, each presented in ten episodes.

The 42nd edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) will open on Wednesday, 2 December, amid strict safety measures against the global pandemic, with tens of activities taking place at the Cairo Opera House and other venues until 10 December. 83 films from across 43 countries, including 20 world premieres, are scheduled to screen and compete, in addition to a few workshops, honouring ceremonies, and other activities. The CIFF is one of the oldest and most prestigious festivals in the Arab world and Africa. It is also the only festival in both regions accredited as category A by the International Federation of Film Producers, alongside 14 other film festivals. Egypt resumed public cultural activities in July following the COVID-19 lockdown, with all events held under strict safety measures that include social distancing, obligatory face masks, and sanitising. The CIFF has launched a mobile application where updates on the festival can be found. Booking for the limited seats available will open on Tuesday through Tazkarti.com, with more info available on CIFF.org.eg. The CIFF s full programme has been announced on Saturday.

Egyptian feature film Lama Benetweled (“When We re Born”) is Egypt s nomination for the international feature film category at the 93rd Academy Awards Ceremony which is set to take place on 25 April 2021, two months later than its usual timing. Directed and co-written by Tamer Ezzat, the film was the last screenplay written by the late Nadine Shams (1972-2014), winner of the best screenplay category at the 10th Malmo Arab Film Festival which took place last October. Shams has also co-written Ezzat’s debut documentary feature The Place I Call Home, which ties in with When We re Born. In Malmo, When We re Born also won the Best Actor award, given to Mohamed Hatem who was accompanied by Amr Abed, Ibtihal Elserety, and Salma Hasan in the film. The film has generally won a great deal of awards at a variety of events. Hatem won the best rising actor award during the Egyptian Film Competition held by the Egyptian Society of Film Writers and Critics in 2019; the same event awarded When We re Born with the best film award, Ezzat received the best director award, and Shams won the best screenplay award. The film had its world premiere at the 2019 El Gouna Film Festival and was also screened at the Carthage Film Festival in the same year; it was then released in Egyptian cinemas at the end of the year. According to the film’s synopsis on IMDB, the film "interweaves the hopes and dreams of three characters at the center of the Egyptian lifestyle; accompanied by musical narration: a son who yearns to pursue a singing career against his father s will, a romantic Christian woman who is in love with a Muslim man, and a newly-wed personal trainer who must compromise his principles for a chance to own a gym. Will these characters make the best choices for themselves and the people they love?" The list of nominated films competing for the international feature film category at the 93rd Academy Awards will be revealed on 9 February. Egypt has been submitting films to the Oscars almost every year since 1958 when Youssef Chahine s Bab El-Hadid (Cairo s Station) was submitted to the 31st Academy Awards but was not selected for the finals. In recent years, Egyptian entries included Poisonous Roses by Fawzi Saleh, Yom El-Deen by Abu Bakr Shawky, Sheikh Jackson by Amr Salama, Clash by Mohamed Diab, Factory Girl by Mohamed Khan, Winter of Discontent by Ibrahim El-Batout, Lust by Khaled El-Hagar, among numerous others. To date, no Egyptian film has ever made it to the final list of nominations for the international feature film category.

Access Art Space will launch its second exhibition Sunday, 29 November, hosting a solo show by Egyptian artist Fathi Afifi. Titled Phases , the exhibition will present the artist s newest paintings, inviting viewers to the new gallery that was founded within the premises of the former Townhouse Art Gallery. Born in Cairo in 1950, Afifi is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts. "Afifi s paintings are characterised by roughness in touches and heterogeneous colours. He often prefers to work in black and white, with scratching on a black surface," reveals the notes to one of Afifi s previous exhibitions. Opening its doors in September this year, Access Art Space is a relatively new player in the Cairo arts scene. Located in the former Townhouse Gallery premises, the new space is managed by the Townhouse team. Programme: Opening: Sunday, 29 November, 7pm Access Art Space, 10 El-Nabarawy St, Mahmoud Bassiouny Street, Downtown Cairo

You Will Die at Twenty, directed by Amjad Abu Alala, is Sudan s first-ever submission at the Academy Awards category for Best International Feature Film. "We re so proud to announce that Sudan has entered the Academy Awards race for the first time with the selection of Amjad Abu Alala’s You Will Die at Twenty," read a post on the film s official Instagram account. "This marks a significant moment in the country’s cultural landscape and opens doors for a new wave of local filmmakers yearning to have their stories, voices, and perspectives embraced by audiences back at home and abroad," the post continued. Produced by Hossam Elouan’s Transit Films company, You Will Die at Twenty is set in a Sudanese village in the 1960s, where Sufi beliefs are central to the villagers. The film follows the life of young protagonist Muzamel after a prophecy determines that he will die at the age of 20. The film also made headlines at the Berlin International Film Festival 2017, where it participated in the Berlinale Co-Production Market. It then won numerous awards, including the Golden Star for Best Narrative Film at the Gouna Film Festival (2019), the Luigi De Laurentiis Award at the Venice Film Festival (2019), Best Screenplay at Carthage Film Festival (2019), Best Director at Malmö Arab Film Festival (2020), to name but a few. Sudanese filmmaker Abu Alala was born and raised in the UAE, where he studied media at the United Arab Emirates University. He previously directed and produced a number of short films, some of which took part in film festivals, including Coffee and Orange (2004), Feathers of the Birds (2005), Tina (2009), and His Studio (2012). He is currently head of the programming committee of the Sudan Independent Film Festival. Transit Films is a Cairo-based production company established by producer Hossam Elouan, which specialises in the production of Egyptian and Arab art-house films. The final list of the films which entered the Academy Awards race for the Best International Feature Film will be announced by the end of March 2021. Originally scheduled for 28 February 2021, the Oscars ceremony was postponed for two months. It is set to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on 25 April 2021.

Three years after standing behind the cameras and directing First They Killed My Father (2017), Angelina Jolie will return to the art again, as she is slated to direct Unreasonable Behaviour, a new biopic about British photojournalist Don McCullin. The film, produced by actor Tom Hardy, is based on the autobiography of Don McCullin, which was published in 1992 and updated in 2017. It follows the life of the wartime photographer, who moves from poverty-stricken London to some of the most dangerous war zones in the world. The film transports viewers from the fall of the Berlin wall all the way to the Syrian Civil War as McCullin risks his life to photograph it all. Jolie has been drawn to real war stories for most of her career, as she also directed The Land of Blood and Honey (2011), which presented a fictional love story that takes place during the Bosnian War. Additionally, her movie Unbroken (2014) tells the true story of Olympic hero and prisoner of war Louis Zamperini. Although First They Killed My Father (2017) is not exactly a war movie, it centers heavily on human rights activist Loung Ung, who recounts her persecuted life under the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Directed by Mahmoud Kamel, the new horror Ammar will have its world premiere during the upcoming Cairo International Film Festival (2-10 December), where it will be screened within the festival s Midnight Screenings section. Nilewood, the film s production company, has also revealed the film s official poster. The poster shows bodies submerged underwater along with a musical instrument and a mannequin. Overlooking the water is the facade of an inconspicuous villa, with a dim light emitting from its windows, and all of this is surrounded by a dark background. According to the brief provided by MAD Solutions, the film s distributing company, Ammar presents "a misfortunate family, a couple with three children, which moves to the Gharibs Castle as their new house. Their excitement soon wears off when the house swallows them one after the other, taking them to a horrifying world of past crimes that took place within its walls…or maybe these cursed walls are behind these crimes." Directed by Mahmoud Kamel, and co-written by Ahmed Al-Dahan and Haitham Al-Dahan, Ammar stars Sherif Salama and Eman El-Assi.

Among diseases, nothing compares to the effect of diabetes on the general health of human beings. It creeps silently and gradually causes complications that — if left untreated — can lead to a complete deterioration of the body. Every year experts mark the month of November to tackle the problem profoundly and address new ways of limiting the complications before they become inevitable, constantly highlighting the utmost importance of early detection. November is the month chosen by the international Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness about the cause. World Diabetes Day (WDD), marked officially by the UN since 2006, is on 14 November to coincide with the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922. The whole month of November is marked as the month of Diabetes awareness worldwide. Egypt marked the occasion in a number of ways, intertwining the efforts of governmental bodies with those of the private sector. Your senses are most important To raise awareness of the dangers of diabetes and in order to overcome the developments of this chronic disease, the National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology held a discussion session to launch the campaign "Your senses are most important" in the presence of a group of experts, lighting the building in blue shades in conjunction with WDD, under the auspices of the minister of Health. The campaign, held in cooperation with the Egyptian European Pharmaceutical company, targets the institute s diabetic patients and patients nationwide to raise awareness of the dangers of diabetes and peripheral nerve infections that may cause a lack of feeling in the limbs in the absence of follow-up and a good diagnosis, which in turn leads to suffering from Diabetic foot and exposure to ulcers and wounds. The campaign encourages the necessity of periodic follow-up, the adoption of a healthy diet, in addition to following the doctor s prescriptions for vitamin B complex and strengthening the nerves to protect from the risks of peripheral nerve infections. Post said and Upper Egypt In the governorate of Portsaid, as well as a number of governorates in Upper Egypt, the General Authority of Health Care — an affiliation of the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population — in cooperation with the National Health insurance organization in Egypt, and the private sector s Novonardisk provided diabetes testing for patients visiting a number of public hospitals. Those who were found to have the disease had a comprehensive examination in the Internal Medicine and Diabetes clinics, and ophthalmology clinics for a comprehensive eye examination. Hospitals were provided with a patient support program, which is medical support from 8 teams coming from 8 hospitals specializing in the field of heart, kidney, and chest. The events were held in the presence of the medical and executive leaders in the governorate, and a number of leaders of the Ministry of Health. Finally, a landmark hotel in Cairo was lit in blue to raise awareness about diabetes and support patients towards a better quality of life. Cairo Sheraton Cairo tower in blue Another commemoration of the cause was lighting the Cairo Tower in blue as part of a campaign titled For Your Diabetes & Heart Health , with the aim to support and educate patients with Type 2 diabetes on the complications and risks of the disease. The campaign and lighting of the famous tower was sponsored by the private sector s Boehringer Ingelheim which focuses on developing treatments and pioneering in research to fight metabolic conditions and their effect on the heart and kidney. The campaign highlighted statistics indicating that up to 40 percent of patients with heart failure develop diabetes and that 37 percent of adults suffering from diabetes are diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, all of which arouse the need for raising awareness on the impact of diabetes on other organ systems. According to the WHO, the number of diabetics worldwide is 422 million, and is expected to reach 500 million sufferers by 2030. The prevalence of the disease among Egyptians is shockingly high, almost 17 percent of all adults aged 20-79, with Egypt ranking at number nine worldwide and is expected to be the eighth by the year 2030. WDD is the world s largest diabetes awareness campaign, reaching a global audience of over 1 billion people in more than 160 countries. The campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the world of diabetes, and keeps diabetes firmly in the public and political spotlight.

The Shahid VIP platform on Thursday will exclusively premiere the fourth episode of the drama series “Nemra Etnain” (Number 2). The fourth episode, titled “Fare’ Taw’eet” (Different Timing), stars Maged al-Kedwany, and Shereen Reda, writing by Wael Hamdy and directed by Hady al-Bagoury. The episode revolves around a famous star who takes a private car to the airport on a trip lasting less than an hour, yet every minute of the journey brings back old memories. Nemra Etnain consists of various segments bringing together an elite group of Egyptian and Arab stars. Kedwany said that he enjoyed the experience with producer Hany Osama and Bagoury, after many successful experiences brought them together. “As for the high-end and talented actress Shereen Reda, I am happy to cooperate with her, especially since her professionalism made the work more fun,” he added. Kedwany hoped that the show would impress the platform’s audience. “Nemra Etnain” aims to break the stereotypes of TV drama that audiences are accustomed to, by introducing new concepts, scenes, and directorial insights in each episode. Every episode is different and follows a different set of actors. They are linked by one common theme: the phenomenon of having a “second love”, and how it affects everyone involved. Hayek said if the first season is successful, a second season may follow. Photo: Show stars Shereen Reda and Maged al-Kedwany, images taken from respective official Facebook pages

The third edition of the annual international skydiving festival “Jump Like a Pharaoh” launched on top of the Giza pyramids, Youm7 reported. The festival was organized under the supervision of Mostafa Saeed, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Skydive Egypt company, and Mahmoud Sharaf, co-founder of Skydive Egypt. Ninety people representing 19 countries around the world participated in the event. The company had been preparing for the skydiving festival on the roof of the pyramids for three days, Saeed said.The festival, met with great success in Egypt’s tourism and investment sectors, was first launched in June 2018. Sixty foreigners from 18 countries participated in the first edition, which aimed to stimulate sports tourism investment in Egypt, Saeed said. The amending of Sports Law No. 71 paved the way for further sports investments in Egypt and encouraged many companies to cooperate with the Ministry of Youth and Sports in contributing to various events, he explained, thereby bringing a shift in sports tourism.The act of jumping onto the top of the pyramids is awe-inspiring and filled with great energy, Saeed said of the appeal behind this initiative. He added that the second edition held in February 2019 saw 130 jumpers from 34 other countries participate. The third edition was originally scheduled for June 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic and the global suspension of tourism activities .Countries that participated in the third edition included Egypt, US, Brazil, France, England, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Croatia, Russia, Italy, Germany, UAE, Kuwait, Morocco , Canada, Saudi Arabia, and China. The festival consisted of making six jumps by plane to the pyramids. These jumps are made from a C130 aircraft from the Egyptian Air Force. The festival was organized on November 8 and 10. Three jumps were carried out during the first day and three others on the second, in addition to a night jump where only 33 participants took part, as it required stricter health requirements. Saeed pointed out that it was the first night jump on the pyramids in the history of Egypt. These jumps were carried out at 15,000 feet, he said, as this height is the maximum possible to implement jumps without using oxygen devices.

Egyptian actor and activist Omar al-Sharif Junior, grandson of the late actor Omar al-Sharif, announced his upcoming role in the Israeli series “The Baker and the Beauty”. Sharif confirmed the news on November 11 by sharing a story from entertainment news website Deadline on his Facebook page and writing: “I am very excited to join one of my favorite series.” The actor will join the rest of the cast in the series’ third season. Sharif’s announcement on Facebook drew both support and criticism from fans, Some praised the actor’s accomplishment, while others condemned his decision, stating that appearing on the TV show is disrespectful to the Palestinian cause. “The Baker and the Beauty”, produced by Keshet Studios, is one of the most popular TV series in Israel. The romantic drama debuted in 2013, painted for audiences a love story between a simple baker Amos (Avraham Aviv Alush) and a wealthy international superstar Noa (Rotem Sela Rotem Sela). The series gained international acclaim after being sold, re-produced, and distributed to countries like the UK, the US, Greece, the Netherlands, Russia, India, and Brazil. Sharif is Egyptian-Canadian. He spend much of his childhood between Canada, Egypt, and France, and currently resides in the US. During the Arab Spring in 2012, Sharif came out as gay and received widespread criticism and threats for his announcement. Despite the negativity, Sharif continued to be an activist at the forefront of the LGBTQ rights movement and has served as a spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm Photo: Omar Sharif Jr. arrives at the grand opening party for Delphine restaurant at the W Hollywood Hotel & Residences on February 11, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Delphine)

Five films -- two features and three shorts -- by Egyptian filmmakers will be screened at the upcoming Arab Film Festival Zurich, Switzerland. In its fifth edition, the festival is planned to take place between 19 and 29 November, bringing together a total of 36 films from several Arab countries. The Egyptian feature-length movies are Diamond Dust (2018), directed by Marwan Hamed, and A City and the Lost Art of Happiness, directed by Nada Ibrahim. The screenplay for Diamond Dust was written by Egyptian well-known author Ahmed Mourad. The film stars Asser Yassin, Menna Shalabi, and Maged El-Kedwani. According to IMDb, the crime drama Diamond Dust follows "a man who works in a pharmacy as a part-time job to aid his financial status. He finds out that his father has been exterminated by a savage brute and sought to avenge him. This is when he unlocks a whole melancholic world of crime."Written, directed and with scenography by Nada Ibrahim, the 2019 documentary A City and the Lost Art of Happiness talks about El-Qahera, Cairo, which in Arabic means the conqueror. "Al-Qahera means the conqueror, maybe because it conquered every heart that ever called it home or maybe because it conquered every soul and left it totally defeated. It is a tour among the city, capturing the minds and souls struggling to pursue the lost art of happiness in Cairo," reads a brief on IMDb. The topic reflects the director s primary interests since Ibrahim is also an architect, while in her work as a filmmaker she mostly highlights women’s issues, minorities and underrepresented, marginalised groups. The cast includes Mohamed Helmi, Maggi Zaki, Nada El-Shazly, and Omar Osman El-Shabrawy. The Arab Film Festival Zurich will also screen three Egyptian short films, including two animated movies, by Egyptian directors Habib, Black Loop and Mr. Pink. "The old hairdresser Habib and his wife Nadia are united in a stormy love-hate relationship. In one of their lighter moments, she suggests replacing their old, formal wedding photo with a new, lively one. This is the beginning of an adventure for Habib, who wants to fulfil Nadia’s wish without paying dearly for it," reads the brief of Habib (2019, 23 minutes) on the festival s website. The romantic comedy Habib is directed by Shady Fouad and the cast includes Egypt s renowned artists Sayed Ragab and Salwa Mohamed Ali.The two-minute animated film Black Loop is directed by Adel El-Badrawy who also wrote the screenplay and provided the music for the work. According to the festival s website, the film looks at the religious leaders and military commanders, the power and the people’s fortunes that remain black. The animated movie Mr. Purple (2019, 11 minutes) is directed by Osama Abu Zaid, written by Ahmed Abdel-Rahim, and the music was written by Hani Shenouda. The film s brief reads: "There is a struggle between two different forces to attract the protagonist of the film to follow their approach. Fearfully, the protagonist has a different approach that he keeps a secret. In the end, he courageously shows his difference in hopes of positively influencing others." Abu Zaid is an Egyptian animated film director who has participated in numerous animated films festivals. Mr. Purple has entered many regional and international competitions.In the fifth round of the Arab Film Festival Zurich focus will be on Tunisia and Morocco. The festival will screen a total of 36 films including 15 long feature films and documentaries.

The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) has unveiled another batch of their selections for the 42nd edition, scheduled to run between 2 and 10 December at several venues, mostly at the Cairo Opera House. 16 films will make their international premieres in Cairo. President of the festival Mohamed Hefzy is proud of his programming team, who have worked hard "to debut a selection of the most anticipated films of the year to the massive audiences of film critics and cinephiles in Cairo," he said in a statement published Tuesday. The festival s international competition encompasses three titles marking their world premiere, including Mo Er Dao Ga (China) by director Jinling Cao, German Lessons (Bulgaria) by director Pavel G. Vesnakov, and Curfew (Egypt) by Amir Ramses. The Horizons of Arab Cinema section will also feature two world premieres; the documentary On the Fence (Egypt) by Nesrine El-Zayat, and Had El-Tar (KSA) of Abdelaziz Al-Shlahei. The program also features the film Autumn of the Apples (Morocco) by Mohamed Mouftaker, in addition to the Special Screenings section s: TV Society (Lebanon) by Robert Cremona, and A Siege Diary (Russia) by Andrei Zeitsev. In the Midnight Screenings, Sideshow (UK) by Adam Oldroyd will make its world premiere, in addition to Panorama Special s Back to Wharf (China) by Li Xiaofeng. In Cinema of Tomorrow, three short films will have their world premieres; The Man Who Swallowed the Radio (Egypt) by Yasser Shafaei, I Bit My Tongue (Tunisia, France) by Nina Khada, and Sara Mesfer s The Girls Who Burned the Night (KSA). In addition to three other international premieres, namely: Isabel (Cuba) by Egyptian Sara Shazly, The Red Spiral (Venezuela) by Lorena Colmenares, and Kurchatov (Russia) of Alexander Korolev. One of the few major film festivals around the world to take place during the pandemic, this CIFF s challenging edition was rescheduled to ensure safety measures will continue until 10 December, after which the festival will feature virtual activities. The CIFF is one of the oldest and most prestigious festivals in the Arab world and Africa. It is also the only festival in both regions accredited as category A by the International Federation of Film Producers, alongside 14 other festivals that hold international competitions. Egypt resumed public cultural activities in July following the COVID-19 lockdown, with all events held under strict safety measures that include social distancing, obligatory face masks, and sanitising. However, this week saw concerns over the noticeable increase in recorded cases in the artistic community.

In the chilly autumn wet weather of the coastal city of Alexandria, tens of filmmakers and critics are participating in a series of activities in the 36th edition of the Alexandrian Mediterranean Film Festival, held between 7-12 November. Held in honour of veteran Egyptian actor Ezzat El-Alaili, the prestigious event, continuing until Thursday, is holding a series of film screenings and competitions. There is also honouring ceremonies and symposiums, in addition to workshops at various venues including the Renaissance Cinema, the Center for Freedom and Creativity, and the Alexandria Atelier. Because of the rainy weather, the opening ceremony, prepared at an open-air hall on Saturday, has faced a last-minute cancelation. "Festivals are about cinema and activities. Opening and closing shows is not the core," the festival s president Al-Amir Abazatold reporters, while stressing the importance of following the country s global safety measures to avoid the spreading of the global pandemic. On Sunday, the festival celebrated the work of late director of photography Abdel-Aziz Fahmy, iconic actor Farid Shawky, actor Salah Abdallah, director Inas El-Deghidi and others. There was also a gala screening of Qabel Lel-Kasr (Fragile), made by the well known Egyptian director Ahmed Rashwan, starring Hanan Motawie. Monday highlights included the honouring of Ezzat El-Alaili, a former jury member of the festival, who has starred in over 300 films, TV series, and theatre plays since the 1960s. He stated his appreciation for the festival and its board. "It was a challenging career that turned into a giving journey," the 85-year-old actor - whose last appearance was in 2019 s Qaid A aely (Family Registration) TV series – said during the ceremony, thanking each and everyone that supported his work. El-Alaily s legacy includes many classic films like El-Tareiq Ela Eilat (The Road to Eilat) and El-Toot Wi El-Nabbout (The Berries and the Cudgel), as well as many appearances in Youssef Chahine s films including Al-Ard (The Land) where he played a leading role. With Lebanon being the guest of honour this year, a number of Lebanese productions are been screened, in addition to celebrating the 100th anniversary of Felleni and Farid Shawky. This year, the 12 films competing in the Mediterranean Long Narrative Competition are My Lake (Albania), Fragile (Egypt), Pari (Greece), Pescamare (Italy), By Chance (Lebanon), Missing (Lebanon), The Punch (Morocco), Take Me Somewhere Nice (Netherlands), Don t Forget To Breathe (Slovenia), Window To The Sea (Spain), Mare (Switzerland), and Dark Cloud (Syria). The French Italian actress Angelique Cavallarie is leading the jury that also includes Spanish Filmmaker Marc Serena, Moroccan director of photography Daoud Wlad El-Sayed, Italian actress Marzia Tedeschi, and Egyptian director Inas El-Degheidi. Alongside Berlin-based correspondent Karsten Kastelan, Egyptian actress Salwa Mohamed Ali, and director Assad Fouladkar comprise the jury for the short competitions that will choose between 20 participating films from various countries. Egypt resumed public cultural activities in July following the COVID-19 lockdown, with all events held under strict measures that include social distancing, obligatory facemasks, and sanitising. However, this week saw concerns over the noticeable increase in recorded cases in the artistic community.

Tunisian pan-Arab singer and composer Saber Rebaï will perform during the closing ceremony of the 29th Arab Music Festival. The event will take place at the Fountain Theatre located at the Cairo Opera House grounds. The orchestra accompanying Rebai will be conducted by Hany Farahat. Born in 1967 in Tunisia to a Yemeni family from Hadramout, Saber Rebaï began his singing career at the age of 17 and was quickly recognised as an exceptional singer by the great musicians of the time, such as Mohammed Abdel-Wahab, Wadih El-Safi, Abdel-Halim Hafez, among others. As he began composing, his major success came with the song Kalima - Word. He also worked with Hilmi Baker, Salah El-Charnoubi, and other renowned musicians. To date he has released over ten albums. His fame took him to many stages across the Arab world and internationally. Rebai has been awarded numerous prizes, from many international music festivals.

Two Egyptian films will be screened at the upcoming Arab Film Festival Stockholm (30 November - 2 December) held in the Swedish capital. The event is organised by Malmö Arab Film Festival which throughout the past 10 editions has become a major promoter of Arab cinema in Scandinavia. The Arab Film Festival Stockholm will open with a Palestinian drama titled Wajib (2017), followed by two days of screenings presenting five feature movies and four short films by Arab directors. The feature films from Egypt are Induced Labour (Talq Senai, 2018) and Photocopy (2017). Both films were previously screened at the opening ceremony of the Malmö Arab Film Festival 2018, marking the edition that focused on Egyptian cinema. Egypt-related topics will be tackled through screening a documentary, What Comes Around, by Lebanese director Reem Saleh. The film was also screened in Malmö in 2018.Directed by Tamer Ashry, Photocopy focuses on a retired man in Cairo who begins to learn about the extinction of dinosaurs. This sets off a series of events that will give his life renewed meaning. The film stars Mahmoud Hemida, Sherine Reda and Farah Youssef. Photocopy garnered several awards, including the El Gouna Star for Best Arab Feature Narrative from the El Gouna Film Festival where the film premiered. It went on to receive the Best Feature Narrative Award at the Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon and Best Scriptwriting at the Ohran Arab Film Festival, among numerous other awards. In Malmö, Photocopy received the City of Malmö s Audience Award. Directed and co-written by Khaled Diab, Mohamed Diab and Sherine Diab, Induced Labour is a comedy about a couple seeking to acquire a visa to the US. The film focuses on a husband who gives his pregnant wife pills to speed up the delivery process to give birth on American soil for his son to receive US citizenship. The film stars Maged El-Kidwani, Mostafa Khater, Sayed Ragab and Bayoumi Fouad. Induced Labour was screened at the 2018 edition of the Dubai International Film Festival.

Egypt’s Ministry of Health on Saturday released the medical insurance plan of the Alexandria Film Festival, which runs from November 7-12, during a press conference held by ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed in Alexandria. According to Megahed, this insurance plan features preventive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus within the festival’s activities. Among these services include mobile clinics with medical squads, medicine and blood pressure devices. Attendees will be implored to adhere to social distancing and masks, while films will be presented on consecutive schedules. Megahed asked people to adhere to the preventive measures to avoid any penalties imposed by state authorities. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Tuesday said that authorities will become stricter in reinforcing the LE4,000 fine against unmasked riders, employees and shoppers. During a video conference meeting with Egypt’s Higher Committee for Coronavirus Crisis Management, Madbouly warned that the government may take hard preemptive measures in the case of noncompliance, which will affect the economic conditions of several classes. Several countries have imposed full lockdown measures following a second outbreak of the virus in October, he pointed out. Authorities across Egypt began enforcing the ministerial decree ordering people to wear face masks in public in May.

Five days after the Gouna Film Festival (GFF) s conclusion, three artists who took part in the festival s activities have announced that they tested positive for the coronavirus disease. Singer Wegs announced his positive result on Tuesday, and added that he was in Gouna for a long time and came into contact with many people. Wegs asked anyone with whom he was in contact to isolate and take a test. On Wednesday morning, actress Sarah Abdel Rahman announced that she had been infected with the virus, saying: “I did an coronavirus analysis, and the result came out positive, unfortunately.” Clothes designer Reem al-Adl also announced that she had been infected with the coronavirus after returning from the Gouna Film Festival, and she wrote on her Facebook account that although she is asymptomatic, she did test positive for the virus. Adl added: “Some friends tested positive and then they did a second one but tested negative. But I will isolate myself until I m a million percent sure. We all must undergo the test as a precaution.” Adl deleted the post though half an hour after she published it. Two days ago, festival attendee and director Karim al-Adl warned of an increase in the number of coronavirus cases, especially after GFF. He wrote: “In the coming few days, we are expected to see an increase in the number of coronavirus cases among the artistic community because of the Gouna Festival. Please, anyone who has been to Gouna should isolate and conduct a test before seeing anyone.” Egypt s Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed 207 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country s total number of confirmed cases to 108,329. The country has witnessed a steady rise in cases all week, while government officials have warned of possibly reinstating strict precautionary measures if the public does not adhere to those already in place.