This week is packed with films, music and art. Exhibitions continue at Townhouse, Gypsum, Mashrabia and the Contemporary Image Collective, and starting Friday a selling exhibition at online art dealer ArtsMart’s suburban 6th of October warehouse includes works by more than 700 Egyptian artists. Cimatheque also returns with a new curated screening program for December.
Abu Haraz screening — Sunday
As part of the program accompanying the Contemporary Image Collective’s Evasive Routes exhibition, tackling migration and displacement, there’s a screening of Maciej J. Drygas’s Abu Haraz. A Sudanese-Polish film, it shows the effects of the construction of the Merowe Dam on the Nile in northern Sudan on local villages. Rising water levels have led to the displacement of 70,000 people in the area to date, and they have received little to no compensation from the government.
7 pm, December 4 at CIC, 22 Abdel-Khalek Tharwat, 4th floor, downtown Cairo. Free admission.
In a Day — starting Wednesday
This week Zawya continues to bring us highlights from independent cinema. Egyptian filmmaker Kawthar Younis’ autobiographical documentary A Present from the Past continues daily screenings through Tuesday, and Karim Shaban’s Fi Youm (In a Day) arrives on Wednesday. The film, which premiered at the 2015 Cairo International Film Festival, tells the story of six Egyptians who have lost all hope, dignity and security — so it’s certainly still relevant today. Curator and critic Nour El Safoury, who reviewed the film for Mada last year, moderates a Q&A with the film’s director.
A Present from the Past screens through December 6. In a Day starts December 7. Zawya, behind Odeon Cinema, off Champollion Street, downtown Cairo. Tickets LE35.
PanSTARRS at Zigzag — Wednesday
Although not well-known locally, PanSTARRS is definitely worth checking out this week. The project was formed by Youssef Abouzeid, Nader Ahmed and Zuli in 2013, but they rarely perform — so the Zigzag gig is a great chance to catch them live. Writing for Mada in 2013, Maha ElNabawi introduced PanSTARRS as living-room musicians during the curfews of the time, discussing how their metaphysically galactic rock music was a reflection of too much time spent in military-enforced confinement.
10 pm, December 7 at Zigzag, 6 Qasr al-Nil Street, downtown Cairo. Tickets LE50 at the door.
Zaraeeb! by eL Seed — opens Tuesday
Thirty-five-year old French-Tunisian artist eL Seed came to widespread attention here in March with his stealthy, multi-building anamorphic mural Perception in the Zaraeeb neighborhood in Cairo’s Manshiyet Nasser district. He’s now bringing that project into ArtTalks gallery though 16 zoomed-in replicas of the work in Zaraeeb, each named after the residents he got to know while painting Perception whith his team earlier this year.
Opens 6 pm, December 6 at ArtTalks, 8 El Kamel Mohamed Street, Zamalek, Cairo. Runs through January 10. Free entry.
Mada III — Saturday
Mada Masr is three years old, and we’re having our annual anniversary blowout concert at the Swiss Club garden to celebrate. Come and support us if you can. At sunset Loulii will warm up the stage with deep, minimal indie dance and soulful house (5 – 7 pm), then we’ll be bringing back rabble-rousing keyboardist Islam Chipsy (7 to 8.30), who played at Mada I, before electronic musician Safi closes the night (8.30 – 11).
This year we’ve also joined forces with UNTY for a special UNTYxMADA collaboration: a capsule collection of just 25 collector sweatshirts produced for Mada’s event. We’ll also be selling Mada mugs, stickers, posters and more.
December 10. Swiss Club, Kit Kat, Cairo. Garden opens at 4 pm and closes at 11 pm. Tickets LE100 from November 24 – December 9 from Nevine Soliman Design at the Design Collective Showroom (15 Ahmed Sabry #5 1st floor, Zamalek) Thursday to Saturday 1 – 7pm, or email [email protected]. Tickets LE125 at the door. Space is limited, so get there early.
