Tips from the culture desk: Lots in Cairo, and a workshop in Kafr al-Sheikh

The weather is lovely and this week is an uncommonly good one for outdoor events. Cairo’s nightlife creeps out of the dark into the light, with two daytime events — Nacelle’s new Funk n Pop series at Mohammed Aly Club and Vent’s electronic music pool party at Sakkara Country Club — while Slow Food Cairo launches its third family and education-oriented Date Palm festival. There's also an exciting exhibition, an unmissable film, and up in Kafr al-Sheikh a free video-editing workshop.

To Be and To Have (Être et Avoir) - Sunday

Although we recommended another film in the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo’s education-related series of talks and screenings last week, it’s impossible not to also recommend Être et Avoir (To Be and To Have, 2002). It’s a wonderfully moving documentary by Nicolas Philibert about a tiny school in rural France. If you watch it, you’re unlikely to ever forget the children, who despite being varied in age are all taught together in the school’s single room, and their incredible teacher, Georges Lopez. French with English subtitles.

7.30 pm, free. Limited seating so get there early. Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, 1 Dr. Mahmoud Azmi Street, Zamalek, Cairo.

COLONY - Latitude, by Shady Elnoshokaty - Monday

Damietta-born Shady Elnoshokaty has had a huge impact on a generation of active young artists in Cairo, such as those behind Medrar, through his summer new media art workshops at Helwan University in the 2000s, his teaching at Helwan and at the American University in Cairo, and his recently founded non-profit, ASCII, in Artellewa. But he’s also a successful multifaceted artist himself, and he hasn’t had a big show in Egypt since 2010’s Stammer at Darb 1718.

Latitude is related to an “imaginary colonial project” and is apparently a preliminary part of a bigger project yet to come called Colony. The exhibition, which launches Gypsum’s new program after the summer break, consists of a sculpture, over 60 diagram-like multimedia drawings and an animation, is all based on an audacious collecting and classifying of information about the histories, languages, cultures, and topographies of 15 towns, cities and islands that match the contours of a birthmark on Elnoshokaty’s hand.

Opening reception on October 5 at 7pm, then open until November 25. Gypsum Gallery, 5 Ibrahim Naguib, Ground Floor, Apt 2, Garden City, Cairo. Daily from 12-8pm. Friday 4-8pm. Sunday off.

Nightlife in the daylight - Tuesday and Friday

Nacelle’s Funk n Pop is a new addition to their seasonal program centered around Friday’s House Sessions and Wednesday’s B-Side, offering more eclectic music on a lawn by the Nile. Attendees are encouraged to bring picnic baskets and blankets, and the day-to-night line-up includes local acts such as The Cadillacs and Fulltone, alongside local DJs like Minus T, Disco Misr, Wah.leed and Mada Masr’s own Habiba. Call 01001790022 for tickets.

Later in the week, Cairo’s edgiest music venue VENT — still figuring out a permanent space after leaving its downtown home — is hosting an electronic music pool party featuring Nepalese-Swiss producer Aïsha Devi with her transcendentally meditative sounds that seamlessly evolve toward industrial and electronic. The line-up also includes DJs from Devi's “abstract techno” label Danse Noire (Lyon/Geneva), followed by sets by Ahmed Samy and $$$TAG$$$. To attend, email [email protected].

Nacelle’s Funk n Pop, October 6 from 1 to 8pm at Mohamed Aly Club, 2.8 km south of Mounib Square, Upper Egypt Highway, Giza. VENT Pool Party, October 9 from noon onward at Sakkara Country Club, Sakara Touristic Road, Giza.

Date Palm Festival - Saturday

If previous editions are anything to go by, the third annual Date Palm Festival will be a beautiful day. Organized by Slow Food Cairo, it takes place annually during the date harvest season to revitalize ancient harvest celebrations and bring people together to eat lunch under huge palm trees.

Local food producers sell organic date products and other foods, and vendors sell products recycled from the palm trees themselves. There are lots of family activities like rope making, palm tree climbing and agwa making, as well as performances about dates and palm trees.

But the highlight is the food. The pit-roast-date lunch includes a slow-cooked goat marinated in date juice. For those not going for the not inexpensive gourmet-type lunch, there are more on-the-go date-centered recipes. For those into DIY, there are cooking classes for children and adults on making date crunchies and date prosciutto salad.

The Date Palm Festival starts at 10 am on 10 October at Fagnoon Art Center, 5 km before the Sakkara Pyramid on Sakkara Road in Giza. Tickets LE 70 including one date tasting and one activity, or 250 LE including lunch, date tasting and one activity.

Film editing in Kafr al-Sheikh - Friday

Karizma Foundation, an arts development NGO in Kafr al-Sheikh, is hosting a free one-day film editing workshop. It goes through the basic concepts of film editing and practicals of using Adobe Premiere for editing footage. Participants need to fill in this application to attend. The workshop is run by Karizma team member Ahmed Moghazi, an engineer who taught himself filmmaking online.

The workshop starts at 1:30pm on October 9 in Karizma Foundation’s headquarters located at the Awqaf Buildings next to the stadium, building 6, entrance G, apartment 2.