Tips from the culture desk: From a purple touch to Mr Robot

This week there is a true diversity of arts events to choose from. If you’re into top-notch local documentary, energizing theory, old films and printed cinema-related ephemera, color-themed electronic music, or tragic circus-centered love stories, you should have something exciting to do.

Um Ghayeb – Sunday

If you haven’t seen it already, it’s worth catching Nadine Salib's first feature documentary, Um Ghayeb (Mother of the Unborn, 2014), when it screens at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo this week. It’s a compelling portrait of a thoughtful, articulate woman from a countryside village near Assiut who is incapable of having children. Read our three contrasting takes on it here, from Andeel, Rowan El Shimi and Jenifer Evans. Salib will join the screening and do a Q&A afterwards.

7.30 pm, March 6 at the NVCI, Dr. Mahmoud Azmy Street, Zamalek, Cairo. Arabic with English subtitles. Free entry, but limited capacity seating. See Facebook event here.

Bassam El Baroni at MASS Alexandria – Tuesday

Taking last year’s hacktivist Netflix series Mr. Robot as a starting point, prolific Alexandrian curator and writer Bassam El Baroni will give “a lecture, an experiment, a discussion” about today's increasingly complex visual culture and its relationship to capitalism. “Mr Robot: On the Cognitive Demands of Critique in Hypercapitalism” is part of MASS Alexandria's studio and study program, which kicked off in January under the directorship of German curator Berit Schuck. Expect to be stimulated and challenged by the talk’s density.

6-10 pm, March 8. Free entry but limited seating – register here. 2 Al-Madina al-Monawwara Street, Miami, Alexandria. See Facebook event here.

Cimatheque exhibition and film evening – Tuesday and Thursday

This exhibition at Kafein gathers material from Cimatheque’s brilliant film archive, such as posters and books, with a focus on the marginal and unknown. It aims to start a discussion about Cimatheque's role as a space at this moment in time, and its aim to develop alternative approaches to archiving Egypt's visual legacy.

Around the corner, the third edition of Cimatheque’s popular Dinner at the Movies happens on Thursday at Eish w Malh, which serves specially created dishes in relation to a series of short films focused cities and urban life, including silent comedies, newsreels from Egypt and some “city symphony” films.

Building an Alternative Film Archive opens on March 8 at K Project Space, 28 Sherif Street, downtown Cairo. See Facebook event here. Dinner at the Movies is at 8 pm on March 10 at Eish w Malh, 20 Adly Street, downtown Cairo.  See Facebook event here, tel: 01098744014.

Purple Touch – Thursday

The French Cultural Center hosts DJs Dina Akladios (Egypt) and Gloria Fock (Germany) in honor of International Women’s Day, and the name of their electronic music night is modified from “French Touch” to “Purple Touch” for the occasion. You have to wear a purple item of clothing to gain entry – an accessory won’t count. All proceeds go to Egyptian development NGO Gozour Foundation, and Mada Masr is a media partner.

8 pm to 12.30, March 10. Doors open from 7 to 8 pm and from 10:30 to 11 pm. Women free entry, men LE30. Madrasset Al Huquq el Frinseya, Mounira, Cairo. See Facebook event here.

Mohakmet Kezm play – starts Thursday

We’re not sure what to expect with this event, but the image and idea is intriguing. Hassan Bekheit Abdallah, who founded Egypt’s first association for dwarfs in 1995 (The Egyptian Association for the Short of Stature) and participated in “Arabs Got Talent,” stars in a play about a circus performer who falls in love with a posh woman. Her family take him to court on false charges in order to break up this union because he is a dwarf. There’s no info on who’s written or directed this play, but apparently it’s a true story.

8 pm, March 10-15. Falaki Theater, 24 Falaki Street, downtown Cairo. See Facebook event here.