Tips from the culture desk: A Saudi rom-com, dance, pottery and more

This week marks the first in a while in which there are no longer 10 good films to choose from each day — the film festivals are over for now. But not to worry! There are still two good films to catch at Zawya this week. Exhibitions are the main event, however: the MASS students' final exhibition continues in Alexandria and The Past is Always an Invented Land, showing objects from antique collector Ahmed Naguib’s collection continues at Townhouse, while the Contemporary Image Collective continues to show Evasive Routes, which tackles migration and forced displacement. And a new show opens at Gypsum Gallery after its long summer break — see below.

This Friday sees a new edition of Slow Downtown at downtown Cairo's Eish w Malh, where you can meet your organic shopping needs, and enjoy a slow food meal and some smooth jazz.

Barakah Meets Barakah and A Present from the Past — all week

For the past 10 days the Cairo International Film Festival took over art house cinema Zawya’s screen at Odeon in downtown, but now Zawya is back with two exciting releases. Starting on Saturday, Zawya will show Mahmoud Sabagh's Barakah Meets Barakah, a romantic comedy grappling with Saudi Arabia's conservative constraints that screened last week at the Cairo International Film Festival. Starting Wednesday there's Kawthar Younes’s A Present from The Past, which was produced during her studies at Egypt's Higher Cinema Institute. It's documentary in which Younes decides to reunite her father with his long lost lover in Rome for his 70th birthday.

Barakah Meets Barakah every day until November 29. A Present from the Past starts November 30. Zawya, behind Odeon Cinema, off Champollion Street, downtown Cairo. Tickets LE35.

Contemporary Dance Night — Monday, Tuesday

After a break last year when Ezzat Ezzat, founder of Contemporary Dance Nights, decided to pause the performance series, it's back for two nights and four performances. American dancer Jamie Scott, currently in residency at the Ezzat Ezzat Dance Studio, will present his own work in progress as well as excerpts from works by American modern dance icon Merce Cunningham. The other two performances are Nagham Saleh's Stay Put and Ezzat and Hazem Headar's The Other I. Contemporary Dance Nights started in 2011 to bring together dancers and choreographers to help people with contemporary dance.

8pm, November 28 and November 29 at Falaki Theater, Falaki Street, off Mohamed Mahmoud Street, downtown Cairo. Free admission.

I'm Not Obliged to Do This and The Trap — opens Wednesday

Gypsum Gallery is finally back with an exciting two-person show: Egyptian artist Taha Belal, who has shown at Gypsum before, shows a collection of works titled I'm Not Obliged to Do This, which was also the name of his recent exhibition at Nile Sunset Annex. It is the first time he has made works inspired by his day job at an agricultural machinery firm, and they are made of a combination of found and constructed objects.

Turkish artist Gözde İlkin, showing at Gypsum for the first time, contributes The Trap, an intimate and strange series of artworks made by cutting up found domestic fabrics, then embroidering, drawing and painting figurative and semi-abstract elements on them.

Opening reception at 7 pm, November 30. Runs through January 6. 5 Ibrahim Naguib Street, Ground Floor, Apt. 2, Garden City, Cairo.

Tunis Village Annual Festival for Pottery and Handicrafts — starts Thursday

The sixth Tunis Village Annual Festival for Pottery and Handicrafts take places this weekend in Fayoum. The small village is home to both a local community and artists who have acquired homes there, such as Huda Lutfi and Mohamed Abla (who also runs an art academy and a cartoon museum on his property). But in recent times the little village has become known for is its pottery work, made by various local artisans. The practice was introduced to the village by a Swiss artist Evelyne Porret in the 1980s, when she started training young villagers in her studio, who then grew up to establish their own businesses. The festival is an annual celebration of the handicraft and a way to bring tourism to the village.

Facebook event here.

Also, on Wednesday it's last the Mada Playlist event to be held at After Eight. Join us to say goodbye to the iconic club before it officially closes its doors in mid December. This month we're lucky to have poet and composer Abdullah Miniawy spinning his dreamy experimental minimal techno.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1284908541580345/