Alexandria Kaman we Kaman

Alexandria was in the news again when European Union countries chose the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria to be the focus of an archaeological study on ancient building methods and materials. The study will attempt to create a digital image of the lighthouse.

A total of 12 institutes and foundations from Europe, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria will participate in the study. Project director Ahmed Shoeib believes the project is important because it will enable researchers to identify for the first time the types of stones used to build the Alex lighthouse.

Remains of the old lighthouse sit underwater and in the archaeological gardens in Kom El-Dikka. The project will help researchers trace the stones back to the quarries from which they originated.

After posting so-so box-office returns in her film debut, Code 36, alongside Mostafa “Costner” Shaaban, singer Maya Nassri announced that she will put her cinematic career on hold to focus on music videos and TV with a new Ramadan serial co-starring Khaled Saleh.

Nora’s new look

Meanwhile, Syrian-born singer Nora Rahal recently released her second album, Donyiti Ahla (My World is Sweeter). Her new music video Kolo Aadi (Everything is Normal) has surprised fans with a sexy new look — a stark departure from her Shrek-inspired clip Malaket Zamany (Queen of My Time).

After terminating its contracts with Egyptian stars including Shahinaz, Ihab Tawfiq and Amer Mounib, Saudi-owned Rotana Music continues to bring ‘precious discoveries’ to the Egyptian market from the greater Arab world every month. Their newest discovery: Moroccan-born Rajaa, whose album Istaghrabt Lehal El-Donya (I Was Surprised by How the World Is) has already hit stores. Of the eight tracks on the album, six are performed in Egyptian dialect.

Mohammed Heneidy, one of the nation’s most-loved big-screen funnymen, disappointed fans waiting for news of when his Antar Ibn Shadad (Antar, Son of Shadad) will hit cinemas. Instead, Heneidy jumped on the press conference bandwagon, announcing he is now shooting Andaleeb El-Dokki (The Dokki Nightingale).

Andaleeb is Heneidy’s first outing with Rotana Films. The flick is the first screenplay from veteran songwriter Ayman Bahgat Qamar and will co-star Syrian actress Heba Nour. Wael Ihssan directs.

Mohammed Heneidy, comic crooner

The story revolves around a young man who loves to sing, but soon discovers that he has a twin brother singing in Khaliji dialect.

The new rage in the film industry: Holding self-congratulatory press conferences to announce the start of production on new projects. Last month, even media-shy comedic great Adel Imam got in on the act, agreeing to sit for a presser to announce the shooting of Morgan Ahmed Morgan with Good News, which last produced his 2006 smash-hit Omaret Yacoubian (The Yacoubian Building).

Morgan, billed as a political comedy, reunites Imam with Mervat Amin, who returns to the silver screen five years after playing Jehan El-Sadat, spouse of late President Anwar Sadat, in Mohamed Khan’s Ayyam Sadat (2001). Morgan’s budget is rumored to have swelled to LE 27 million, which could make it the most expensive film slated for release this coming summer.

The film is written and directed by Imam’s favorites, Youssef Maaty and Aly Idris, respectively. But if the rumor mill is anything to go by, the flick could face problems making it to cinema: Word on the street is that mega-distributor, The Arabian Company may have already reserved its best screens for its own productions.

Imam and Amin at their presser

An Upper Egyptian court has decreed that it is time for the friends and families of the 50 victims of the September 2005 Beni Suef Cultural Palace fire to forgive and forget. After all, there is no one left on whom to pin the blame, the Beni Suef Court ruled last month.

The fire killed 32 the night it broke out at a theater performance packed with some of the nation’s most talented actors, directors and critics; 18 more died from their injuries in the weeks that followed.

The Beni Suef Appeals Court overturned lower court verdicts that sentenced eight Ministry of Culture employees to 10-year terms in prison for their alleged roles in the fire. Four of the eight were handed new sentences ranging from one to three years behind bars, while four were acquitted.

The court also ruled last month that civil suits the victims’ families had filed against the state seeking compensation could go forward.

Hamid alQasmi Haifaa Wahby

We wonder: Could it be considered child abuse? That’s right, folks, among Lebanese singer Haifaa Wahby’s newest projects is her first children’s album Baby Haifaa, the title track of which is “Tooty.”

Wahby is also working on her first big-screen role, for which she was reportedly paid over half a million dollars. The fee makes her one of the highest-paid Arab actress, and there are also rumors that she will be working on a film with veteran actor Val Kilmer.

Whether the rumors turn out to be true or not, Haifa’s status as sex symbol du jour in the Middle East is more solid than ever. Much like Paris Hilton, she won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

While Kazem El-Saher was at the Oscars, actress Leila Elwy was on her way last month to Darfur with Egyptian-Sudanese human rights association Wadina. She was accompanied by a large group of businessmen, among others.

During her visit, Elwy was slated to give out over 1,000 cartons of milk to orphaned children in the war-torn region. She will also be visiting a variety of human rights organizations, women’s rights outfits and orphanages around Darfur and other areas of Sudan.

After years of bureaucratic wrangling that saw most international film productions heading to Jordan or Morocco for location shooting, Egypt’s Media Production City recently announced that an international film on ancient Egypt’s queen Cleopatra would be partially filmed in its studios.

Youssef Sherif Rizkallah, head of international productions at Media City, revealed that Syrian-American director Jalal Marhi would be on his way to visit Cairo in April to scout locations and cast Egyptian actors to co-star in the film. The four-week shoot will begin in May.

Pharaonic fact or fiction?

But the red tape is still very much uncut, and permission from Egyptian censorship is pending. Approval will take place after the production company submits the film script.

Cleopatra is only the first in Historical Legends, a series of 10 films chronicling the youth of historical figures.

Trouble was brewing over at the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), which last month objected to the historical content in the French-Belgian animated feature The Princess of the Sun, currently showing in Cairo theaters.

SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass had reportedly called for a committee to view the film, which is based on the era of Kings Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. The committee is said to have ruled that the film is full of historical inaccuracies and that the events portrayed in the film are very different from the political, historical, religious and military events of the era.

Looking for starlets

The committee has asked the distributing company, GoodNews4Me, to include a message clarifying that the events of the film are imaginary and bear no resemblance to Ancient Egyptian history.

While Somaya El-Khashab is just breaking into the fashion business, Egyptian photographer Karim Nur already has one foot firmly inside the door after recently gracing the screens of Fashion TV — no, not Fashion TV Arabia, actual worldwide FTV.

The segment Nur was featured on was called “Photographers” and he is the first Arab photographer ever to be featured on the channel.

The show offers a glimpse into the intricacies of fashion photography and usually features veteran photographers such as Mario Testino and Annie Leibovitz, of Vogue and Vanity Fair fame. Over 30 million viewers across the globe will be privy to a day in the life of Nur.

Looking for starlets

Egyptian actor Tamer Hagrass has signed up to play the lead role in the film Omar El-Shaqy (Naughty Omar). His co-star will be up-and-coming starlet Amy (could someone please convince these women to use their last names?). Wael Abd El-Megeed is slated to direct.

Hagrass turned down playing host on the romantic TV show El-Hob Tasleya (Love for Entertainment) in favor of the two series he is shooting for next Ramadan. Hagrass is also looking for Lebanese starlets to co-star in an upcoming musical film.

Somaya El-Khashab, the curvy actress most famous for her roles as the third wife in hit television series El-Hagg Metwally and as the serial killer Sekina in Raya wa Sekina, has recently launched her own fashion line.

Making movies for Melody

The name? Somaya El-Khashab Haute Couture, of course. El-Khashab announced she “created for all women,” questionable once you actually see the line. The clothes, mostly evening dresses, are concoctions of sequins, satin and shine. There’s no one style to her collection, and the only consistency seems to be the over-the-top concepts and rather gaudy materials.

El-Khashab ventured into the world of fashion design armed with her mother’s love of design and her own passion for accessories. She also loves changing her look and style as much as she possibly can. The actress, sometime songstress and now designer seems to get her inspiration from butterflies, peacocks and jewels — lots and lots of beaded jewels, everywhere and anywhere they’ll fit.

Move over, Valentino, El-Khashab is taking over.

Wahby isn’t the only Lebanese sex kitten leaving viewers drooling. Maria is back with her oh-so-inventively named album Weregayt Tani (And I’ve Come Back), which is set for release this month.

Making movies for Melody

For “Stop,” the album’s first single, she once again teams up with composer and director, Jad Choueiri. Sadly, Jad wasn’t of much help: The video is laughable, hardly more than a series of shots that mimic or create an ambiance from worldwide fashion houses including Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Chanel. The song itself is no different from her previous bubble-gum pop outings.

And remember Dana? You know, the nasally challenged popstress whose first video claimed she was the only Lebanese star not to have had plastic surgery? Her new video isn’t as designer-ridden as Maria’s, but the lyrics all go to show that she is undoubtedly back, again cooing that her name is Dana and that you should know who she is.

Egomaniac, anyone?

Not to be outdone by Rotana’s foray into celluloid productions, archrival Melody Music recently announced the launch of Melody Pictures, the company’s new film arm.

Omar Mohsen Not the hit she was looking for

Among its first outings: Together with Trailer Productions, Melody will produce Hosh Ely Weqe’e Menak (Take Care of What You Dropped), a comedy with Ahmed Rizk, Boshra and Ola Ghanem. The buzz making the rounds is that the female stars are set to receive paychecks in the LE 200,000–250,000 range for their labor.

Popular Iraqi musician Kazem El-Saher was spotted last month on the red carpet at the 2007 Academy Awards. The musician wrote, composed and sang the score for most of acclaimed director Laura Poitras’ film My Country, My Country, nominated for best documentary feature, ultimately losing to Al Gore’s global-warming epic An Inconvenient Truth.

Poitras’ feature shows the US occupation of Iraq through the eyes of Riyadh — a doctor, devout Muslim and Sunni candidate for election.

She may be popular on screen, but Tunisian actress Hend Sabry was no one’s favorite person in early March, when she was marched into the main Giza police station after allegedly hitting a man while driving.

Sabry, 27, called Ashraf Zaki, president of the Actor’s Syndicate, screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy and Sami El-Adl, who all joined her while she was transported from station to station for questioning.

Sabry was released on LE 200 bail after a few hours of questioning. The alleged victim reportedly suffered a few broken bones, but was otherwise fine. Sabry reportedly claims the man, who was talking on his mobile phone at the time of the accident, simply “jumped” in front of her car without even glancing in her direction.

At press time, there was no word on whether Sabry would be formally charged. Unconfirmed reports in the Gulf press claimed she had taken refuge in the Tunisian embassy.

Best known to Egyptian audiences for her turns in Mohamed Khan’s Banat Wust El-Balad (Downtown Girls) and last year’s smash-hit Omaret Yacoubian, Sabry made her film debut at the age of 14 before moving to Egypt seven years ago.

The fifty-fifth Annual Catholic Institute Film Festival last month celebrated outstanding achievement in filmmaking in both Egypt and the Arab world, tipping hats to prominent directors, actors and screenwriters of 2006.

Among the award winners: Malek We Ketaba (Heads and Tails), Awqat Faragh (Time to Spare), El-Rahina (The Hostage), Matab Senayee (Artificial Bump) and El-Leiba El-Sagheera.

Awards for best actor and actress went to Hend Sabry and Mahmoud Hemeida for their roles in Malek We Ketaba. The film also won best screenplay for Ahmed Al-Nasr and Samy Hussam, best direction for Kamla Abu Zekry, and — finally — best picture.  et