Only two days left until the opening ceremony of the El Gouna Film Festival. This edition will take place under strict restrictions and medical persuaders due to the COVID-19 breakthrough.
The competitions of the festival include three main sections: Feature Narrative Competition, Feature Documentary Competition, and Short Film Competition.
Three Arabic films will participate in this year’s Feature Narrative Competition.
200 Meter
“200 Meter” is directed by Ameen Nayfeh, and it is a collaboration project between Palestine, Jordan, Italy, and Sweden.
The story of the film revolves around Mustafa and his wife who come from two Palestinian villages that are only 200 meters apart but separated by the wall. While their unusual living situation poses a challenge to their marriage, they do what they can to make it work. When their son is hospitalized, Mustafa rushes to the checkpoint but is denied entry.
The film was among CineGouna SpringBoard’s winning projects in development at the first edition of GFF, and it won the BNL People’s Choice Award at the 17th Venice Days.
The Man Who Sold His Skin
“The Man Who Sold His Skin” is selected to be the opening film of the festival. It is directed by Kaouther Ben Hania and two Arabic countries participated in its production: Tunisia and Saudi Arabic.
The Tunisian film sheds the light on the fears of immigrants after the Syrian War. Sam Ali, a young, sensitive, and impulsive Syrian, fled to Lebanon to escape the Syrian war. Without legal status, he is unable to get a visa to go to Europe, where his beloved Abeer lives. While in Beirut, he meets Jeffrey Godefroi, a famous American artist with whom he concludes a strange deal that will forever change his life.
This film also was among the winning CineGouna SpringBoard projects in development but it was one of the winners of the 2nd edition of GFF.
Furthermore, the film received the Edipo Re Inclusion Award, while Yahya Mahayni received the Orizzonti Award for Best Actor at the 77th Venice Film Festival.
Mica
“Mica” is a Moroccan film directed by Ismael Ferroukhi. It was also one of the participants of GFF’s 3rd CineGouna SpringBoard as a film in post-production. The film narrates the story of a young boy who tries to support his family financially.
He sells grocery bags in souks and lives with his parents in a slum near Meknes. One day, Hajj Kaddour, a handyman in a tennis club in Casablanca, comes to take Mica as his apprentice.
This job would be an opportunity to help Mica’s family, to which he would send his salary. After going through humiliation and even physical abuse, Mica slowly starts to fully take in his situation and does everything in his power to change it.
“Mica” was the winner of GFF's prize at the 7th Final Cut in Venice workshop.
Follow the latest news on Google News
