Music, cinema, cuisine, and philosophy from the Middle East Mediterranean: seven public events

The first Middle East Mediterranean Summer Summit will involve 150 young participants from over 30 countries of the Middle East Mediterranean region and Europe, who will exchange ideas with political leaders, experts, intellectuals and entrepreneurs from the region with the aim of developing innovative solutions and concrete opportunities for dialogue and growth. Other than offering participants a valuable chance for deepening their knowledge, the Summit also aims at getting the community involved in the discussion: for this reason six events (free and open to the public) will be held from August 17 to the 25.

Friday, August 17 at 6:30pm, room 3, LAC Lugano: conference by renowned writer, blogger and chef Anissa Helou, who specializes in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and North African cuisine. The event “Cultures on the table” will be held English and will talk about food as a mean for encounter such as art and literature.

Friday, August 17 at 9pm, Piazza Luini (in front of LAC): jazz concert “Migrante” by Giovanni Falzone. Brilliant trumpet player, composer and arranger, Falzone is one of the leading figures of Italian and European jazz. He defines himself as a migrant, having left his village in the Sicilian province to embark on a journey in search of a new life.

Saturday, August 18 at 8pm, Lugano campus auditorium:  film screening (in Italian with English subtitles) of “L’intrusa” (The Intruder) by Leonardo di Costanzo, in cooperation with Locarno Film Festival. The film tells the story of Giovanna, founder of children centre “La Masseria” where mothers bring their children to escape from the degradation and mentality of organized crime. Free entrance, registration required at [email protected].

Tuesday, August 21 at 8pm, Lugano campus auditorium: film screening (in Arabic with English subtitles), of “Zindeeq”, by Michel Khleifi, in cooperation with Locarno Film Festival. The Palestinian director tells the story of a Palestinian film-maker 'M' who lives in Europe and returns to Ramallah to film witness accounts of the 1948 Nakba. Free entrance, registration required at [email protected].

Wednesday, August 22 at 6.30pm, Lugano campus auditorium: conference dedicated to Aristotele’s work “Metaphysics”, by Prof. Giovanni Ventimiglia, visiting Professor of Medieval Philosophy at USI.

Friday, August 24 at 9pm, Piazza Luini (in front of LAC): jazz concert “Mediterraneo” by Giovanni Falzone Trio. The popular Sicilian songs of the Trio will blend with other sounds of the Mediterranean, from the voice of the Sufi mysticism of the Tunisian Houcine Ataa, to the African percussions of Dudu Kouatè, to the mythical Persian instrument Santur by the Iranian Alireza Mortazavi.

Saturday, August 25 at 9pm, court of the Lugano City Hall, Piazza Riforma: concert “Symphony for Water and Peace”. The concert is organised in collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the City of Lugano, and will feature artists of the Blue Peace orchestra from all over the world: Mich Gerber (Switzerland), Alune Wade (Senegal), Tarek Younis (Jordan), Carlos Guzman (Costa Rica) and Serge Frasunkiewicz (Brasil).

For more information and to register to the MEM Summer Forum
www.mem-summersummit.ch 

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