Cairo Magazine - Culture in Brief

The Egyptian Broadcasting Network has chosen Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram to sing at the annual spring festival of Sham Al Nessim, provoking criticism of the network for not choosing an Egyptian. Officials reportedly justified their decision saying that “Nancy has become more popular in Egypt than most Egyptian singers.”

The new Miss Egypt was crowned during a ceremony in Media Production City last week. Mariam George, an 18-year-old student of business administration at the Modern Academy, will represent Egypt in the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant 2005 in Thailand in July. George was one of over 800 contestants. She won a mini-cooper car, an apartment, a cash prize in addition to the crown. The contest, which began in 1997, this year used audience SMS voting to account for 25 percent of the total vote.

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian cartoonist of the popular graphic novels Persepolis, has published a new book, entitled Embroideries. The comic is based on conversations about love, sex and relationships between several generations of women in Satrapi’s family.

The total amount of the new literary awards set up by Sawiris Social Foundation (to be handed out by December 2005) has been increased from LE240,000 to LE300,000.

The first Al Jazeera Television Production Festival took place in Doha, Qatar, from 18 to 21 April. International judges evaluated more than 60 films in categories ranging from documentaries to works by independent filmmakers or prominent production companies. In the independent filmmakers genre, the gold prize went to Egyptian filmmaker Mahmoud Sulaiman’s “Living Among Us.” The film recounts the struggles of a poor Cairene woman trying to make ends meet for her children after her husband abandons the family.

Al Jazeera is also launching a new channel, Aljazeera Live, which according to a press release will be “a new specialised media service that will air live conferences, meetings, discussions and other gatherings.” An English language channel, children’s channel and documentary channel are also in the works.

Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities Zahi Hawass gave his own boss a prize. On 18 April, World Heritage Day, Hawass handed out an award for antiquities conservation—to the President of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, Culture Minister Farouq Hosni.