Tips from the culture desk: Ballet, Beer in the Snooker Club, film and more D-CAF highlights

It’s another full week culture-wise. In Cairo, D-CAF continues in the city center, while Zawya and Cimatheque host one must-see film after another. Sunday alone has five events to catch: Michael Winterbottom’s raucous fiction film 24 Hour Party People (2002) on Manchester’s music scene at Cimatheque, a literary salon with writer Youssef Rakha at Townhouse, a screening of Catherine van Campen’s Zaatari Djinn at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, a screening of Jasmina Metwaly and Philip Rizk’s 2015 “hybrid documentary” Out on the Street, and a documentary about ballet in Egypt — more below. In Alexandria, the Backstreet Festival returns with dance, film, circus and theater, and there's a literary discussion that may well be interesting.

Xavier Dolan’s latest film and other Zawya releases — all week

The 28-year-old Canadian director of the hit Mommy, which Zawya released in 2015, returns to Cairo’s screens with It’s Only the End of the World. Starring Vincent Cassel (La Haine, Irreversible) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, Rust and Bone), the film centers around a terminally ill writer who returns home after a long absence. If Mommy was an indicator for Dolan’s ability to build emotional intensity and create immersive imagery, then this is a must-see. Zawya is also showing other gems all over the city: Out on the Street on Sunday at Darb 1718, Dalia twice daily at Zawya downtown and We are Egyptian Armenians at the Zamalek Cinema on Tuesday.

Zawya’s full program here.

For ballet lovers: A film on Sunday, a performance starting Tuesday

This week ballet enthusiasts not only get an opportunity to attend a ballet at the Cairo Opera House but the chance to learn about the history of the discipline in Egypt. Zawya hosts a one-off screening on Sunday of A Footnote on Ballet History by Hesham Abdel-Khaled (who will be available for a Q&A afterwards), which chronicles the start of the Cairo Ballet Company and zooms in on the life of prima ballerina Magda Saleh. If it’s the real thing you’re after, the Cairo Opera Ballet Company is staging Greek ballet Zorba for four consecutive days from Tuesday with live music by the Cairo Opera Orchestra and A Capella Choir conducted by Nayer Nagui.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD5l6bmEHO8

A Footnote in Ballet History: 7.30pm, March 26, Zawya, 4 Abdel Hamid Said Street, off Talaat Harb Street, downtown Cairo. Tickets LE35, more info here. Zorba: 8 pm, March 28 - 31, Cairo Opera House Main Hall, Gezira, Cairo. Tickets LE75, 100 and 150, more info here.

The Backstreet Festival — starts Tuesday

Slightly scaled down and keeping to theaters rather than venturing into public space this year, the Backstreet Festival returns with 16 performing arts and film events. It’s organized by Alexandria based I-ACT (International Association for Creation and Training), which is directed by Mahmoud Abodoma, who’s also founder of Teatro in both Alexandria and Cairo and head of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s programs unit. The festival launches at Cairo's Geneina Theater, before moving to Alexandria for four days of performances and films from Egypt, Sweden, Japan, Argentina, Switzerland, Hungary, the UK, Portugal, France and Austria.

Runs from March 28 to April 1, with several daily events. More info here.

Beer in the Snooker Club discussion — Thursday

In the framework of their Dokan writing workshop, Wekalet Behna hosts a talk about Waguih Ghali’s fascinating semi-autobiographical 1964 novel Beer in Snooker Club by Sahar Hamouda, professor of comparative literature and classical heritage at Alexandria University’s English department. The novel was translated from English by Iman Mersal and Reem El Rayes and published by Al Shourouk in 2013.  

5 pm, March 30, Wekalet Behna, 1 Maronite Church Street, Mansheya, Alexandria. Free entry, more info here.

What we’ll see this week at D-CAF

A few D-CAF events look promising this week. French director Pascal Rambert's two-actor drama, Cloture De L'Amour is performed in Arabic for the first time at the AUC Falaki Theater on Saturday and Sunday. On Wednesday the book accompanying Hassan Khan’s 2015 D-CAF exhibition launches at the Windsor Hotel. On Thursday, the French-Lebanese Project 99 shows at the GrEEK Campus’ Black Box Theater, using spoken word poetry and live music to address issues of cross-cultural identities. And on Friday, Iraqi musician Amir El Saffar plays contemporary jazz with an Arabic twist at a seated concert in AUC’s Falaki Theatre.

Cloture De L’Amour: 8 pm, March 25 and 26, AUC Falaki Theater, 24 Falaki Street, Bab al-Louk. Tickets LE30. More info here. Project 99: 9pm, March 30, GrEEK Campus, 28 Falaki Street. Tickets LE75, more info here. Amir El Saffar concert: 9 pm, March 31, AUC Falaki Theater. Tickets LE50, more info here.