Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

El Gouna Festival Reveals Details of 3rd Edition


Tue 27 Aug 2019 | 04:03 PM
Yara Sameh

El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) announced on Monday the details for its 3rd edition, which is scheduled to run from September 19 to 27 at El Gouna Resort-town، in Red Sea governorate.

The conference was attended by El Gouna founder Engineer Samih Sawiris, GFF co-founder and CEO of GFF’s organizing company Amr Mansi, GFF co-founder and COO of GFF’s organizing company Bushra Rozza, and GFF director Intishal Al Timimi.

‘Participating Films’

Till now, 12 films are participating in the Feature Narrative Competition, 9 films in the Feature Documentary Competition, 23 films in the Short Film Competition, as well as three films in GFF's Special Presentations program.

The festival will also screen 21 films in its Out of Competition section.

The management announced its continued cooperation with a number of other film festivals, organizations, and institutions, in order to launch several social and cultural initiatives.

“39 countries are expected to participate in this year's third edition of the festival,” COO of GFF’s organizing company, actress Bushra Rozza said in televised remarks.

The festival is set to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of a late prominent writer, Ihsan Abdel Quddus.

'El Gouna Film Festival juries'

The management also revealed that Egyptian film star Sawsan Badr will be a jury at the Feature Narrative Competition, while the Feature Documentary jury will include Egyptian costume designer Nahed Nasrallah.

Moreover, Film director Marwan Hamed will head the Short Film Competition jury with Tunisian star Dorra Zarrouk.

Many Egyptian, Arab, and Hollywood celebrities are scheduled to attend including Egyptian-Canadian actor, Mena Massoud.

The festival was established to underscore the role film plays in promoting cultural interaction, fostering an awareness of different cinematic voices through encouraging dialogue and by building bridges of creative intellect, according to el Gouna film festival website.

Its goal is to generate opportunities for development and support for all contemporary forms of creative expressions in the MENA region, especially between young generations from the Arab world and their international counterparts.

Moreover, it will present a selection of the newest films from around the globe and host established and emerging filmmakers.

The program will include three competitive sections (Feature Narrative Competition, Feature Documentary Competition, and Short Films Competition) an official selection out of competition and a section devoted to special programs.

It will also give special attention to films with humanitarian content.

In parallel to the screenings, the festival will organize the “CineGouna platform”, which is a creative and business hub designed to support Egyptian and Arab talents; a wide range of meetings will be organized between Arab and international directors, producers, and distributors to enhance business opportunities for the Arab cinema. It will also present round-tables, workshops, panels, and masterclasses.