Flair Magazine Last Tuesday, El Gouna Film Festival held the press conference for its second edition at the Magenta Ballroom at Fairmont Nile Towers. The venue was packed with esteemed guests and representatives from local and international media, quickly filling up the ballroom. Attendees included GFF director Intishal Al Tamimi, CEO and Co-Founder Amr Mansi, COO and Co-Founder Bushra Abdalla Rozza, Orascom Development Chairman Samih Sawires, GFF Founder Naguib Sawiris and the Minister of Tourism Rania Al-Mashat, all of whom made brief speeches to be followed by a Q&A session and then media interviews. Here are the announcement highlights.
This year, there are 15 films participating in the Feature Narrative Competition, 12 films in the Feature Documentary Competition, 23 films in the Short Film Competition and 5 films in GFF’s special retrospectives program. The festival will also be screening 25 films Out of Competition, which brings the total count to 80 titles – 10 additional films than the first edition. Most of the films will be subtitled and most screenings will be accompanied by discussions with the said filmmakers and cast members.
The GFF Creative Achievement Award will be granted to iconic Egyptian director Daoud Abdel Sayed and Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha. Moreover, this years jury is impressively diverse as it includes actor Ali Suliman, Egyptian film star Mona Zaki, Moroccan director Ahmed Al Maanouni, Berlinale director Carlo Chatrian, Croatian producer Cedomir Kolar, Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi, film programmers Ally Derks and Mike Pandey, Georgian director Ana Urushadze, Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak, Austrian programmer Doris Bauer and Palestinian actor Kamel El Basha.
“We have 25k participants and attendees in this edition of the festival from celebrities to filmmakers to business men to young filmmakers and media in addition to viewers from Egypt, the region and the world. GFF aims to create a cultural movement that also touches upon tourism in Egypt. This year we have participants from 50 countries and in 12 languages,” said Amr Mansi.
For the big reveal, Bushra Rozza announced, “We’ve received 140 applicant projects for CineGouna and El Gouna Film Festival Springboard with an increased total awards of 175k USD. Patrick Dempsey is among the international stars attending GFF18 and the teaser trailer for his new series will be showcased during the festival.”
About GFF’s role in Egypt’s tourism enhancement, Rania El Mashat said, “GFF aims to build bridges of understanding and acceptance between cultures and that comes in line with the ministry of tourism’s agenda and our upcoming tourism campaign which is entitled “People to People”.
Regarding GFF’s itinerary, Intishal Al Tamimi said, “We have a very rich and diversified program, which will include showcasing internationally acclaimed and award winning films, in addition to receiving 50 participation requests to the official competition.”
During the Q&A session, Naguib Sawiris explained, “GFF didn’t benefit from the recent cabinet decision to support Egyptian festivals financially, however, we continue to appreciate the strong logistical support that the government offers to ensure the success of the festival.”
By Sarah Guirguis
