“How do we tell the story of the city? And how do we, in the telling, understand it and resolve the issue of attachment to history vs. the necessity of change?”

The above questions will be at the heart of a lecture titled "City Stories Through Cinema and Literature" centred on the beauteous cities of Alexandria and Beirut and scheduled to take place at Cairo’s Megawara on 21 January.

The lecture will feature writer Alaa Khaled, photographer and visual artist Salwa Rashad and Beirut based visual artist and documentary-maker Mae Abdel Sater who together will offer answers to the aforementioned questions by focusing on their cities, Alexandria and Beirut.

In their discussion, Khaled and Rashed will offer answers through a discussion of Amkenah, a periodical they co-founded in 1999 in Alexandria that centres on “the culture of place.”

Sater will offer her insights on the subject through her short documentary Shai Bi Labban (Milk Tea) “that tells the story of Beirut as seen through the eyes of her father and his globetrotting family” and in doing so, “narrates the tales of three generations; immigration to Brazil, the bitterness of the civil war and nowadays."

Moderating the discussion will be Ahmed Mansour, founding member of Heliopolis Heritage and principal of Mansour-Korachy Architects.

Programme:
Saturday, 21 January
6-6.30pm Screening of Shai Bi Labban (Milk Tea)
6.30 – 7pm Presentation on Amkenah
7-7.15 Conversation between Alaa Khaled, Salwa Rashad and Mae Abdel Sater moderated by Ahmed Mansour
7.15-8pm Open Discussion moderated by Ahmed Mansour

Address:
Megawra (Built Environment Collective), Al-Ashraf St, beside Shajar Al-Durr Mausoleum, Cairo 

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