National Theatre Festival: January revolution wasn’t turmoil

CAIRO - 15 July 2017: National Theatre Festival announced its complete refusal to accept the content of the documentary film that was dedicated to the festival by the National Theatre Centre. The documentary described the January revolution as just turmoil. The festival management assured that the January revolution belongs to the Egyptians who performed it to get rid of the previous corrupt regime, and that Egyptian youth had shed blood for this goal.
The Minister of Culture, Helmy Nemnem inaugurated The Egyptian National Theatre Festival 10th edition, on Thursday, 13 July and will continue until 27 July. A group of veterans theatre makers were honoured in the opening ceremony like the great actress Aida Abdelaziz who didn’t attend, (her son Sherif Ahmed received the award on her behalf) the renowned theatre director Samir el Asfoury, the poet Samir Abdel Kader, the critic and academic Mohamed Shiha, an honour towards late director Hussein Gomaa, and Sharjah Festival head Ahmed Abou Rahima.
The Festival has chosen the UAE as this year’s guest of honour. Festival sections include a competition that consists of 20 competing performances.
It is also worth mentioning that the Festival's 10th edition holds the name of late veteran theatre critic Nehad Selaiha, who passed away this year. Selaiha was a renowned Egyptian theatre critic and academic who was highly recognized by all theatre makers. She wrote many books and articles in both Arabic and English, pertaining to theatre theories, theatre criticism, translations of plays and critiques.