Tips from the culture desk: Films and gigs before Ramadan

As Ramadan approaches, a time when folk arts and television dominate, film and music programmers are finishing off the spring season. Zawya’s Cairo Cinema Days continues until Tuesday, while Cimatheque’s Arab Documentary program screens until the end of the week. You can also catch a ton of music at Cairo Jazz Club, which, like many other venues, will close its doors by Ramadan's start.

Cairo Cinema Days — until Tuesday

Zawya’s Cairo Cinema Days continues in downtown Cairo and Zamalek, as well as in Alexandria, Port Said and Ismailia. The festival brings together fiction films, documentaries, shorts, masterclasses and talks. This week we’re particularly recommending: A Maid for Each (at Zawya), Hedi (in Alexandria), the Shorts 2 program (Zawya) and 104 Wrinkles (Ismailia and Zamalek).

Read our coverage of the festival so far here, and find screening times here.

Off Frame (aka Revolution Until Victory) — Monday

If you missed the screening of Mohanad Yaqoubi’s Off Frame during Cairo Cinema Days, luck would have it that you can still catch it at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo. The film has been widely praised and looks fantastic for those interested in archives. Palestinian director Mohanad Yaqoubi has made this 62-minute documentary using rarely-seen footage from the Palestine Film Unit, a group founded in the 1960s to document Palestinian narratives.

6.30 pm, May 15, NVIC, 1 Mahmoud Azmy, Zamalek, Cairo. Free admission, but early arrival recommended as seating is limited. The film is in several languages, but is subtitled in English.

Two audio-visual events — Tuesday and Wednesday

On Tuesday, a live audio-visual performance by Living Too Late Band (Omar Foda, Hashem El Saifi, Perry Moataz, Hazem El Shamy), along with journalist Elle Kurancid and video artist Nadia Khashan, takes Zigzag's stage. On Wednesday, Cairobserver’s Mohamed Elshahed takes over as DJ for our very own Mada Playlist to bring the audience his own disco set, with visuals by artist and filmmaker Nabi.

Living Too Late: 10 pm, May 16, at Zigzag, entrance LE50. Mada Playlist: 10 pm, May 17, at Zigzag. Entrance free but reservations a must. Happy hour 9 pm until 11 pm. Zigzag, 6 Qasr al-Nil Street, downtown Cairo.