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The Mañana Será Bonito era will last forever. On Tuesday night, Karol G wrapped her yearlong, 62-show tour with four sold-out shows at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, with its last show streaming live on YouTube.

“If there’s something beautiful this journey left me was learning to love myself, to value myself above what others think of me, because God made me this way for a reason. This tour helped me find my purpose, and it’s to help people to feel fully themselves,” Karol said onstage before playing “Ocean” from her second album.

Presenting murderous moppets on screen is always a dicey proposition. For every The Bad Seed or The Omen, there is always The Good Son or Mikey skulking about. It’s all about the fear – making a five or ten year old believably frightening is hard to do. As audience members, we put our faith in filmmakers to produce tension, conflict, and danger in a palpable (but not necessarily plausible) way, and when it’s tested we end up wading through Children of the Corn. But when our faith is rewarded, we find ourselves in the Village of the Damned (1960), a seminal killer kid chiller.

Based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, Village was produced by MGM’s British division and distributed there in July, with a December rollout in the States. The film was a great success, both with critics and audiences alike, luring them in with...

Farah Khan will be conferred with 'Faten Hamama Excellence Award' (for excellence in Indian cinema) at the on-going 37th Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff). As a special tribute, this year's coveted 10-day film festival honors the works of late Egyptian icons Faten Hamama, Nourel-Sheriff and Omar Sharif - all of whom passed away in the past year.

It's going to be a double whammy for Farah who's eagerly looking forward to attend the film festival. Besides being felicitated at the Ciff, the organizers have also planned a big premiere of one of her most successful films - Om Shanti Om (Oso) to be attended by the who's who of the Egyptian film industry. In addition to that, there will be performances of Farah's songs to welcome her on stage.

The opening night of the festival had a huge screen playing the montage of Oso.

Famed Egyptian actor actor Omar Sharif has died at 83, having suffered a heart attack in a hospital in Cairo. It was reported in May of this year that Sharif was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and that he would often confuse the names of some of his films and mistake fans for friends. He is survived by Tarek El-Sharif, his only son from his ex-wife Faten Hamama (who passed earlier this year in January).... Read More...

Omar Sharif, who has died aged 83, was defined by three great Anglo-American films: Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. Here we look back at his career high points

Born in Egypt in 1932, the son of a Lebanese wood merchant, Sharif got a degree in maths and physics at Cairo university before heading for Rada in London to study acting. His first significant film role came back in Egypt, when he was cast in Struggle in the Valley, directed by Youssef Chahine. Sharif played an engineer conducting an illicit love affair with his business rivals’ daughter; she was played by Faten Hamama, and the pair were married shortly after.

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Actor best known for roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago.

Actor Omar Sharif has died aged 83. The Egypt-born actor, who had stepped away from acting since being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, died following a heart attack this afternoon in a hospital in Cairo.

Sharif won two Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.

He won a further Golden Globe three years later for Doctor Zhivago.

Sharif was born Michel Demetri Chalhoub in Alexandria on April 10, 1932, and studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Sharif began his acting career in 1953 with a role in romantic drama Sira` Fi al-Wadi before appearing in more than 20 Egyptian productions, including Ayyamna el helwa with singer Abdel Halim Hafez, La anam (1958), Sayedat el kasr (1959) and Anna Karenina adaptation Nahr el hub (1961). He also starred with his wife, Egyptian actress...

Acting great Omar Sharif has died at the age of 83.

The Egyptian actor was best known for his leading role in Doctor Zhivago and major supporting role in Lawrence of Arabia.

Omar Sharif 1932-2015: Lawrence of Arabia star's incredible career in pictures

His agent Steve Kenis confirmed today (July 10): "He suffered a heart attack this afternoon in a hospital in Cairo."

In May, Kenis had revealed that the actor had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

After starring in over 20 Egyptian movies, Sharif made his English language debut in David Lean's 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.

Omar Sharif 1932-2015: Tributes and reactions from the stars

He won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for the performance, and also picked up an Oscar nomination.

Several other major roles followed, and Sharif reunited with Lean in 1965 to lead his adaptation of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago.

Sharif's last big...

Omar Sharif, by the far the most iconic film star ever to emerge out of the Arab world, has died at the age of 83. Sharif’s agent revealed he had suffered a heart attack in a hospital in Cairo. It had been revealed in May that Sharif was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Sharif, born Michel Shalhoub in Egypt to a Lebanese Greek Catholic family, converted to Islam upon meeting Faten Hamama, the love of his life, frequent co-star as well as wife and mother to his only son…...

Omar Sharif, who made audiences swoon in "Dr. Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia," died Friday at the age of 83. According to his agent, Sharif passed away after suffering a heart attack in Cairo. He had also been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

With his dark good looks and debonair flair, Sharif became an international heartthrob. He was also a fine actor who earned an Oscar nomination for "Lawrence of Arabia" and won Golden Globes for that movie as well as "Doctor Zhivago."

Born in 1932 in Egypt, Sharif developed an interest in acting as a teenager. He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Cairo, then headed to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In the 1950s, he became a well-known star in the Egyptian film industry.

In 1962, he appeared in his first English-language film, David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia," and the accolades he received threw the door open to Hollywood.

A man almost as famous for his skill at bridge as for his superlative acting abilities, as well as a patrician presence on screen for years, Omar Sharif has died at the age of 83. Born Michel Demetri Chalhoub in Egypt, he studied at Victoria College in Alexandria and showed a talent for learning languages. There, he began to develop an interest in theatre and performing, but focused instead on obtaining a degree in mathematics and physics at the University Of Cairo, before joining his father in the family business of precious woods. Yet he still felt the lure of acting, and headed to the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art in London before returning to start his film career in Egypt in 1953. He appeared in more than 20 productions, and it was during this period he met Faten Hamama who would become his wife, and inspired Sharif to convert to Islam. The couple had a son,...

Bourne and Mission: Impossible, right back to Harry Palmer and Danger Diabolik - meet the many pretenders to James Bond's throne...

Since 1962, the James Bond franchise has come to define the spy genre, for good or ill. More broadly, every thriller and action film that comes out now either uses them as inspiration, or attempts to ignore or re-work the tropes that have come to be associated with the series.

Coming off the release of Kingsman: The Secret Service, and with the release of a new Bond film this year, now seems like the perfect time to take a look at a sample of the films which have been inspired by James Bond — either as homages, parodies or reactions.

The Ipcress File (1965)

Produced by James Bond producer Harry Saltzman as a more grounded alternative to the largesse of Bond, The Ipcress File is more concerned with the intricacies of real spy-work — the endless paperwork,...

This is a fascinating account of what dubbing can do to enhance films and how an Arabic translator meets the challenges of dubbing!

By Mona Elnamoury

Renowned translator Zeinab Mobarak gave a fascinating lecture at the Auc last Monday about the challenges of translating and dubbing children’s movies from English into Arabic. However, what she said applies naturally to translating from any language into any language. The beauty of her lecture sprang from the practicality of her professional tips, together with the sweetness of the examples she showed to prove her point.

Mobarak, as introduced by Samia Mehrez, was the star of the theatre group at the Auc. She graduated from the university with a BA in anthropology and a minor in theatre studies, and also took a number of courses in playwriting, short story writing, and Arabic literature. During the lecture, one grows to realize that all those credentials were supported by real talent and passion for both translation and the dramatic element of dubbing.

To Mobarak, translation and dubbing are vital. Dubbing in particular has opened her eyes to a whole new world. Because many people look down on dubbed productions, she wanted to shed a light on how difficult this job is. She hopes to change some people’s minds about dubbing in general. Subtitling is a challenge because of limitations of time and space. All a translator has is the space of two lines that are going to be typed on the screen. Each line can only be six or seven words. If what is being said in the film is more than that, editing is inevitable. If the translation is proper and word-for-word, she might be able to fit it, but the speed in which the lines will appear on the screen will make it impossible for viewers to follow. The immense limitations of space and time in subtitling are great pressures on the translator.

Subtitling conveys the meaning of what is being said, but it does not convey the feeling. There is a lost element here that can only come through in dubbing, because you have a talented actor who acts anew what is being said in the target language.

On the other hand, it is difficult and enjoyable to be a dubbing translator. Why dubbing? Subtitling conveys the meaning of what is being said, but it does not convey the feeling. There is a lost element here that can only come through in dubbing, because you have a talented actor who acts anew what is being said in the target language. Subtitling does not work in children’s films. Adults go with kids and keep explaining to them what is happening. Dubbing solves this problem and makes everyone enjoy it.

We need dubbing because what is being presented is a spoken word that conveys meaning and nuances of the original language that needs to be presented as a spoken word.

Mobarak showed examples of dubbing of (Lady and the Tramp) in colloquial Arabic. In this particular film, the characters were street dogs. The language and performance consequently had to fit the concept of how a street dog’s language would sound. Though Mobarak always gets the film and the script, she prefers to work from the film to get the feel of the words being spoken.

Dubbing has more limitations than sub-titling

Time is the first limitation of dubbing. A translator has to be careful of the duration of the sentence to make it easy of the actor to pronounce. For instance a sentence like “Good morning my friend, how are you today?” Will be naturally translated into

صباح الخير يا صديقى، كيف حالك اليوم؟

That is fine, of course, but it does not work in dubbing because a dubbing translator actually counts the syllables of a sentence. In this case the ten syllable in English that resulted in 15 ones in Arabic. Five more syllables are not acceptable. The actor won’t be able to fit them in. So a translator has to make a decision here to delete some words without losing the meaning. صديقى can be understood from the scene so the word goes off and good morning can be replaced by another shorter salute. The sentence becomes:

مرحبا، كيف حالك اليوم؟

A dubbing translator needs to have the words fit the visual that appears on the screen.

Be careful of the synchronization. This is another piece of advice from Mobarak. A dubbing translator needs to have the words fit the visual that appears on the screen. The characters speak, and certain sounds like “o”, “a” or “m” and “p” formulate a challenge because they make certain movements in the lips. So if we have a character that says “so” — which is one of Mobarak’s least favourite words because we do not have many monosyllabic words in Arabic ending in “o” — we cannot use its Arabic equivalent ثم, which necessitates closed lips.

In addition to keeping the synch, a dubbing translator has to watch another element, which is how the sentence is divided up. “Good morning” cannot be translated into صَبَاحٌ الخَيرِ because it is too long especially as the Arabic signs add to the syllables. The third point is using easy words where phonetics are natural and suitable to the context.

“We always have to remember that it is a spoken text.” A tongue twister is a disaster. There is this famous example, a line from Julie Andrews ‘s song in The Sound of Music . The line says: “Like a lark that is learning to pray” has been translated into:

“كقبرة تتعلم الإبتهال”

Who says kakoboraten? Why would I use that word, or sing it? Or even listen to it? Why not use كطير for example? Who would leave the movie to look the word “lark” in a dictionary and double-check the accuracy when the reference is only to a bird?

So, even when sometimes a sentence fits the duration, sync, vowels and all, but is a terrible sentence to say, we end up with a whole tongue twister. Here is another example: كل قبرة كانت قريبة من الكواكب تموت ببطء Again what? How many kafs and qafs? What we need to do is to think of phonetics. Reading out the dialogue is a good way to assure that it is a good one. If there is a sentence that is giving us any trouble, we certainly change it.

Scenes with close-ups are a challenge especially in movie theatres because of the big screen. Most of the dubbing is done in Modern Standard Arabic and this puts extra limitations on the translator, because the sentences then have a certain structure. Here is another example: “A lesson we all have to learn is that the desert has no memory. “

الدرس الذى يجب ان نتعلمه جميعا هو ان الصحراء بلا ذاكرة”

The sentence sounds right, but it is too long. 18 syllables in English and like 31 in Arabic! It does not work. Ultimately, for this sentence, there could be this translation: ” فلنعرف جميعا ان الصحراء بلا ذاكرة and if it is translated into colloquial Egyptian it would be even shorter and much better: اللى لازم كلنا نعرفه ان الصحرا نساية

A dubbing translator has to be brave enough to make important decisions that make the sentence as close to natural as possible. Editing is a must.

Translating lyrics is even more challenging because the lyrics fit the music and so should the translation.

Translating lyrics is even more challenging because the lyrics fit the music and so should the translation. A translator should bear in mind that the translated words are going to be sung, not acted or read out. In a song, certain parts are stressed. For instance, in the song “My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean,” there are three stress points in the tune: the 1st. syllable of bunny, the 1st syllable of over, and the 1st. syllable of ocean. Naturally it could be translated into نام الأرنب فوق المحيط Now, how can this be really sung to the same tune? What I will have to say in colloquial is أرنوب نام فوق المحيط حبة where all the stress points are in their proper place. Of course an addition has been made in the word حبة . This can been easily solved in any language if the dubbing translator has enough courage and resources. In lyrics, we have to have stress points in their places as well as rhyme. We do not have to have the same rhyming pattern as the original language but we have to have rhyme.

The first animated film was Snow White, and it was made in 1937. Though it was all hand–made, the drawing and dubbing of that film are fantastic, and it was done in 1975. All the elements talked about earlier were observed in that film.

The main aim of translating for dubbing is to make the work sound as though it was originally produced in the dubbing language.

Zienab Mobarak is also a writer on the Sesame Street project from its beginning in Egypt in the nineties and has continued to write many songs for it for many years. She has worked with Disney in translating cartoons and songs since 1997. She did great classics like Cinderella, Pinocchio, The Princess and the Frog ,The Smurfs and many others. She did translating and dubbing and in those she mostly rewrote the songs to fit the films. She translated “The Burglar” of Tawfik Alhakeem both into English and colloquial Arabic to be performed at the Auc. She has led many translation workshops in Doha and Cairo. She also participated in compiling an English-Arabic dictionary for children that was printed and published in Egypt in the nineties. She also has two published books for pre-schoolers, and has had a great career in adaptation and translation.

Dr. Mona Elnamoury is a lecturer at the faculty of Arts, English Dept., Tanta University. She also teaches at the Msa in the faculty of Languages and Translation, and has translated Ursula LeGuin into Arabic. She also writes.

Originally published in Arabic Literature (In English) on March 2nd, 2014...

Fifty years of movie magic, from Tunisia to Iraq, as chosen by Omar al-Qattan, film-maker and chair of Shubbak – A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture

The Night (Al-Lail)

Mohammad Malas, 1993

A great Syrian film. It is about the director's home town of Quneitra, on the borders of the Golan Heights, which was almost completely destroyed by the Israelis after the 1967 war and remains in ruins. The film is a historical-autobiographical epic of three generations, taking you from the Syrian fight for independence against the French in the 1930s, through the 1948 war with Israel, and into recent times. Malas is probably the most highly regarded living Syrian director – he is still based in Damascus as far as I know – and this film is heavily influenced by Tarkovsky in the use of long, contemplative dream and memory sequences where time is as important an expressive element as space, dialogue or movement.

The...

After joyously toppling a dictator, protesters trusted the army to hold power until elections-but a vicious show of force this week has soured their faith. Ursula Lindsey reports from Cairo.

The warm relations between Egyptians protesters and their army are over. Military police and, reportedly, masked special forces violently broke up protests in downtown Cairo late Friday night. The attack-and ongoing reports of "disappearances" and abuse-has soured the once hopeful relations between the military and pro-democracy forces here.

The film director Ahmad Abdalla was in a group of several hundred protesters standing and chanting in front of the Egyptian parliament late Friday night. Military officers told the group it had to leave. "But we said no, we are here protesting peacefully," says Abdalla. Then, sometime after 2 a.m., "out of the blue they came, pushing us with machine guns. And they were shocking people with tasers. We started running and they kept running after us.

The Daily may be sleek, with its glamorous video anchor, high-res photos, and fancy graphics. But beyond the glitz, the new iPad "newspaper," which launched today, is more old media than new. Howard Kurtz and Brian Ries report.

He may be peddling a product available only to a small fraction of the population, but Rupert Murdoch is riding a tsunami of publicity.

Related story on The Daily Beast: Will the Book Survive?

With today's launch of The Daily-a "newspaper," using that term loosely, designed solely for the iPad-he has a small army of tech writers, media critics, and semi-employed kibitzers sounding off on whether it will alter the journalistic landscape as we know it.

So does this thing live up to the hype?

Well, it seems pretty snazzy-more magazine than newspaper, 360-degree rotating photos, video and audio reports that mimic television and radio. Stories can be shared on Twitter and...

Egyptian pro-democracy protesters are embracing Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Twitpic. The pictures and video making it to the internet are, in a word, stunning.

Massive street protests in Egypt are spreading virally as tech-savvy demonstrators are using Twitpic, Facebook and YouTube to disseminate videos and photographs.

Opposition leaders in Egypt declared January 25, 2011 as a “Day of Rage” where protesters would take to the street against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. The protesters include secularists, Islamists and Communists/ultra-left-wingers--a veritable who's who of the Egyptian opposition. The recent overthrow of the dictatorship in Tunisia by a peaceful democratic opposition movement has presumably emboldened the masses throughout the Arab world.

Exact numbers of protesters cannot be estimated due to the ongoing events. However, a massive flood of internet photographs and videos shows a gigantic presence in Cairo, Alexandria, and other Egyptian cities.

The Egyptian government appears to be engaging in censorship...