Tips from the culture desk: The new season gets underway

Cultural organizations have been waking up again after a long summer, and this should be a good week for the arts. In Cairo we’ve chosen to recommend a large exhibition of emerging artists spanning two institutions, a fun one-off film screening, and a run of musical circus performances by the young people of Al Darb Al Ahmar Arts School. In Alexandria, an unusual screening of short films and a discussion with filmmaker Daoud Abdel Sayed in honor of the late artist Hassan Soliman.

Roznama 4 — opens Saturday September 5 and Sunday September 6

Curated by Mohamed Allam and Andrea Thal, two exhibitions featuring 28 artists aged under 30 seek to show recent notable artworks in all possible media. There's bound to be some art here that you'll find exciting. Roznama is an annual competition and exhibition for visual art organized by Medrar for Contemporary Art and — for this fourth edition — the Contemporary Image Collective.

Various awards — including two cash prizes, a residency in the UK, and a studio — are offered by the British Council, Al-Ismaelia for Real Estate Investment, Townhouse, CIC, Alwan Stationary, and artists Adel El Siwi, Ahmed El Askalani, Hala Elkoussy, Hany Rashed, Huda Lutfi and Mohamed Abla. The jury consists of artist Ahmed Badry, curator and writer Bassam El Baroni, and artist Shady El Noshokaty,

After the first opening at Medrar and the second at CIC, the exhibition is open daily, from 3pm until 9pm, except Fridays, until September 30. An awards ceremony takes place on September 17 at 7pm at Medrar.

Ice Cream in Gleam - Sunday September 6

Khairy Bishara’s 1992 film Ice Cream fi Gleam (Ice Cream in Gleam) has a one-off screening in 35mm format with English subtitles in memory of actor Aly Hassenein, who in it shouts his famous line: “I found it, you son of snakes!” An unusual collaboration between experimental filmmaker Bishara and Amr Diab, then at the beginning of his career as one of Egypt’s biggest ever pop stars, it’s most famous for its eponymous song but also offers an artistically interesting twist on the familiar poor-musician-made-good tale with an anarchically leftie rebelliousness toward society in general.

Zawya, 7:30pm, tickets LE25.

Short Film Forum: Screening in memory of artist Hassan Soliman - September 6

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina screens three shorts in homage to the late painter, writer and filmmaker Hassan Soliman (1928-2008), followed by a discussion with veteran filmmaker Daoud Abdel Sayed. The 20-minute documentary Fanoon al-Khut al-Araby (Arabic Calligraphy, 1974) by documentary pioneer Abdel-Kader al-Telmissany is followed by Abdel Sayed’s early 21-minute documentary Al-Amal fil Haql (Working in the Field, 1979), a poetic portrait of Soliman that relies on a single painting of rural workers to contemplate the painter’s work and the nature of creation. The final film is Syrian artist Ammar al-Beik’s 6-minute Hawa Bahary (Sea Breeze, 2008).

7pm, in the auditorium of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s main building. Free.

Balalaika - A Performance by Al Darb Al Ahmar Arts School - Friday September 11

https://youtube.com/watch?v=HJ302SME95o

Al Darb Al Ahmar Arts School starts a run at Geneina Theater after some warmly-greeted one-off performances of its latest show, Balalaika. The press release promises “a performance that mixes acrobatics with jazz, rope walking with juggling, singing with trapeze stunts.”

The performers are students from Al Darb Al Ahmar Arts School, aged between 8 and 18. The school was launched by Mawred al-Thaqafy in March 2011 to train, free of charge, the underprivileged children of the area to perform circus arts and play percussion and brass instruments. Mawred ceased operating in Egypt in November last year, but the school and Geneina Theater are now operating under a company called El Geneina.

8 pm at Genaina Theater in Al Azhar Park, from September 11 to November 30. Tickets LE30, excluding park entrance. For tickets, call or visit the website of Tickets Marche: 16826.