Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival concluded its ninth edition on Friday after nine days of screenings, industry activity and a closing night that extended its top awards to the Middle East and beyond.
Mohammed Hammad’s “Safe Exit,” a psychological drama about a young Coptic security guard in Cairo who faces trauma rooted in religious violence, won the Gold Star for best narrative feature. Ahmed Hassouna’s “Citizen Osama,” following a Gaza photojournalist who balances his work with family life amid the war, received the Gold Star for both documentary and best Arab documentary. Anders Davidsson’s “Stolen Memories”, in which the discovery of childhood photographs leads an 18-year-old to question his past, won the Golden Star for short film. Rakan Mayassi’s Bekaa Valley-set “Yesterday the Day I Didn’t Sleep” was named best Arab short story, while Mary Rose Austa’s “One Day Born,” about an 11-year-old boy living under the constant threat of warplanes in Lebanon, was named best Arab short story.
Jordan’s Rakeen Saad won Best Actress for Zaid Abu Hamdan’s “Boomah”, while Jovan Ginić won Best Actor for Miroslav Terzic’s “3 Weeks After”.
Here are five takeaways from this year’s festival.
CineGauna, Industry Forum, is becoming the main event
“We want the industry to be our hero,” said Amr Mansi, co-founder and executive director of El Gouna. Diversity Before this year’s festival.
The ninth edition fulfilled that ambition. More than 320 projects applied for CineGouna funding, of which 19 selected projects ultimately received more than $350,000 in 40 awards, while participants enjoyed more than 140 in-person meetings with companies, institutions and international festivals.
Activity extended beyond financing. CineGouna now includes funding; a program of forums, panels, masterclasses and industry discussions; Marketplace, which connects filmmakers with companies and institutions; and Emerge, its initiative for young and emerging talent. This year also included the Lab, a development program for Egyptian filmmakers, Egyptian Voices and an inaugural series for Arab television projects. CineGouna is becoming as central to El Gouna’s identity as the films it screens.
Arab TV is exploring a development pipeline
Sinegouna’s expansion into television also highlighted a broader problem facing Arab television: there is an abundance of talent, but an extreme lack of opportunities to develop and sell new shows.
Veteran Egyptian screenwriter and producer Maryam Naoum, who led the six-week Cinegouna series development lab, told Diversity There are “great, great talents” in the field, but only “three or four platforms”, leaving producers competing for limited outlets.
Producer and screenwriter Haitham Dabour similarly said that fewer platforms make buyers more cautious, while director Maryam Abou Ouf warned that the business is “getting closer to a stalemate.” The six projects selected for the inaugural laboratory came to El Gouna to present their series and meet potential industry partners with the aim of taking the projects closer to production.
Displaced filmmakers need more than a platform
War and displacement are shaping filmmaking across the Arab world, impacting not only the stories that reach the screen, but also the filmmakers trying to build careers.
The first Safe Harbor MENA, launched with the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the International Emerging Film Talent Association, brought together four displaced filmmakers from the region for a program of training, project development and industry networking.
The initiative redefined support as providing a platform to tell stories about displacement more than giving filmmakers the professional connections they need to continue working. The double triumph of “Citizen Osama” served as a powerful reminder of the circumstances facing filmmakers in the region: Director Ahmed Hassouna is based in Gaza.
Egyptian filmmakers pushing for more creative freedom
The top award for “Safe Exit” comes amid a broader conversation about Egypt’s transformational industry in El Gouna.
Producer Mohammed Mashish pointed to the younger generation having “more freedom than ever” and exposing audiences to international cinema, but argued that the industry needed more time for development and screenwriting.
Producer-distributor Ziad Srouji put the challenge more succinctly: “Specialness travels, not genericity.” Mohammed Moustafa, whose documentary “Big Boys Don’t Cry” premiered in El Gouna, similarly argued for models that reduce financial risk while allowing filmmakers to take greater artistic risks.
The tension is becoming increasingly apparent: Egyptian filmmakers are looking outward while seeking ample space to work while remaining firmly at home.
El Gouna looks beyond El Gouna
One of the most locally significant launches of the festival will take place after its main guests go home.
Cinema on Wheels is taking three shorts from this year’s lineup on a free screening tour through Hurghada, Minya, Qena, Luxor and Aswan before concluding in Cairo, accompanied by discussion with the audience.
“We are always looking for ways to extend the duration of the El Gouna Film Festival and its reach beyond the city of El Gouna,” explained Artistic Director Andrew Mohsen.
For a festival created in an affluent Red Sea resort, efforts to bring its programming to audiences elsewhere in Egypt greatly expand its reach. As Mansi said: “Cinema on Wheels is our way of connecting El Gouna to the rest of the country.”