A colourful day In an attempt to transcend political and social turmoil, a group of optimistic young people organised the Colours Festival at Al-Muqattam Club last Saturday. Their goal? To celebrate the beauty of colour for a day spent in the open. From 10am to 6pm, the whole family listened to a DJ while boys and girls painted themselves in different colours from head to toe and threw bottles of coloured water at each other: Bassam El-Zoghby captured the fun. photos: Ayman Barayez On the occasion of the Spanish National Day, Spanish Ambassador to Egypt Fidel Sendagorta hosted a remarkable reception at the garden of the embassy in Zamalek in the presence of Lebanese Ambassador to Egypt Khaled Ziayada, his Moroccan counterpart Mohamed Farag Al-Dokali, Swedish Ambassador to Egypt Malin Karre, Al-Demoqrateya (Democracy) magazine Editor-in-Chief Hala Mustafa, Ambassador of the European Union to Egypt Marc Franco, French Ambassador to Egypt Jean Félix Paganon as well as a plethora of high-profile personalities. Italian Ambassador to Egypt Claudio Pacifico conferred the prestigious Italian order of merit to an assembly of Egyptian figures for their tireless efforts in reinforcing the Egyptian-Italian relations, among them were the Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Ashraf Rashed, Al-Ahram newspaper Managing Editor Aisha Abdel-Ghaffar, Al-Ahram Hebdo Managing Editor Magda Barsoum and agriculture expert Nada Bassiouni. Present were President of the International Union of Muslim-Christian-Jewish Dialogue and Peace Education Ali El-Samman as well as a delegation of ambassadors of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and diplomats. The 27th Alexandria Film Festival for Mediterranean Countries concluded its activities in a prestigious ceremony at Sayed Darwish Theatre under the auspices of Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi. The closing ceremony witnessed distributing awards among an assortment of cinema stars including director Kamal Abdel-Aziz, Ahmed El-Naggar and filmmaker Khaled Youssef. The ceremony was attended by Alexandria Governor Osama El-Fouli, head of the Musicians Syndicate Iman El-Bahr Darwish, actors Khaled Saleh, Hassan El-Raddad, Khaled El-Sawi and Gihan Fadel. Alef Bookstores celebrated the launch of their new branch in 6 October City by hosting a monthly salon for author Alaa El-Aswani discussing the recent clashes of Maspero giving his sincere condolences to the martyrs' families, besides various discussions about Egypt's future. El-Aswani welcomed media figure Mona El-Shazli and signed various copies of his previous novels to the attendees. To mark the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy, the 11th Week of Italian Language in the World started three days ago at Ain Shams University, entitled "Happy Birthday Italy". The programme highlights Italian language and culture with an emphasis on its historical relations with Egypt. On the occasion, the Italian Cultural Institute is organising a series of cultural activities that look ahead into the future but also back into the past, including an Italian- Egyptian Conference on the influence of Italian expatriates on the birth of the idea of nation in modern Egypt. Two exhibitions tackle the Italian Risorgimento or reawakening: at the Bab Gallery, Cairo Opera House, artistic reproductions of the Italian flag are on display; while at Italian Cultural Institute, portraits of early Italian freedom fighters have been brought over from the Museum of Risorgimento in Rome. Literary events include readings from the translation into Arabic of Umberto Eco's latest novel, Praga Cemetery -- a disenchanted glance at the Risorgimento. Theatre performances written and interpreted by students, and a special film review about Risorgimento will also be hosted in the theatre of the Italian Cultural Institute, to retrace the long and troubled path to national unification on stage and screen. In collaboration with the Consulate of Italy in Alexandria, an unusual and fascinating a cappella concert will be staged in both Cairo and Alexandria, while the Italian Trade Commission and Italian schools Leonardo da Vinci, Don Bosco and the Departments of Italian Studies of Egyptian universities and their lecturers have come together to organise two contests; one will test the students on language drills tracing Italian words in Egyptian ammeya (vernacular), and the other will involve photographs of Italian symbols and remains still present in everyday Egypt. ( see Listings ) , the other in Cairo). Other famous sculptures include The Secret Keeper, Isis, The Nile's Bride and Khamaseen. The Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt (BCFE), headed by Dr Mohamed Shaalan, is organising its eighth annual sports and health festival "Pink Steps towards a Healthy Life" on Friday 21 October at the Gezira Sporting Club. The event will start at 10:30 am at the track. These events are part of BCFE's contribution to the International Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The festival will include activities that emphasise the importance of exercising, proper nutrition and taking care of one's health in general to prevent the spread of diseases like breast cancer. It aims at raising awareness of early detection and eliminating misconceptions about breast cancer. Participants will be able to interact with a number of specialists, radiologists, oncologists, and nutritionists. They can also participate in the family walk for the cure to support BCFE's vision of "A World Without Breast Cancer". There will also be a talk show attended by a number of celebrities, as well as activities for children such as face-painting and a puppet show as well as the Egyptian-European circus show led by the international lion tamer Faten El-Helw. There will be raffle tickets for the participants as well as a musical performance. The Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt will offer free clinical examinations and mammograms for club members and employees at the club clinic from 25 to 27 October 2011.
