El Gouna Winner "The Settlement" Joins Red Sea Lineup

After striking Bronze at the eighth El Gouna Film Festival, "The Settlement" by Egyptian director Mohamed Rashad is set to screen in the Festival Favorites section at the upcoming Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) in Jeddah , marking another major stop in its celebrated festival run.

The film made waves at El Gouna, where it received the El Gouna Bronze Star for Narrative Film Award, honoring its gripping narrative, emotional depth, and remarkable performances. The recognition reinforced The Settlement’s standing as one of the most powerful voices to emerge from the Arab world this year.

Inspired by true events, the film follows two brothers — 23-year-old Hossam and his 12-year-old sibling Maro — living in a marginalized community in Alexandria. After their father dies in a workplace accident, the local factory offers them jobs as compensation, sidestepping legal accountability. As they settle into their new roles, the brothers begin to question the circumstances surrounding their father’s death.

Written and directed by Mohamed Rashad, the film held its world premiere to critical acclaim in the Perspectives section of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival — the only Egyptian film featured in that category; it later received its first accolade, the Audience Award at the sixth MiWorld Young Film Festival, before continuing its international journey with screenings at Italy’s African, Asian, and Latin American Film Festival (FESCAAL) and the Bolzano Film Festival Bozen.

Featuring rising talents Adham Shukr, Ziad Islam, Hajar Omar, Mohamed Abdel Hady, and Emad Ghoneim, "The Settlement" is shot by cinematographer Mahmoud Lotfi and edited by Heba Othman, known for her work on the acclaimed Sudanese film "Goodbye Julia".

A joint production between Egypt, France, Germany, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, the film is produced by Hala Lotfy of Hassala Films (Cairo), with co-producers Etienne de Ricaud of Caractères Productions (Paris), Kesmat Elsayed of Seera Films GmbH (Berlin), and ART (Jeddah). Ricaud’s recent film "My Favourite Cake" won both the FIPRESCI Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Berlinale, while Elsayed’s ABO ZAABAL 89 was awarded Best Feature Documentary at the 45th Cairo International Film Festival. MAD World handles global sales, while MAD Distribution oversees distribution across the Arab World.

During its development phase,  "The Settlement" received support from a slew of prestigious international funding bodies, including the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund Script and Development Initiative along with Hubert Bals Plus Co-Production Minority Support, the Doha Film Institute, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, the Red Sea Development Fund, the Fonds Image De La Francophonie Fund, and the El Gouna Film Festival’s CineGouna Funding.