El Gouna Film Festival brings regional & international stars to Egypt

The El Gouna Film Festival made its debut in the Middle East and North Africa region just last year, and for its second edition it stepped up the pace with 80 films from more than 30 different countries.

One of this year’s highlights was The Cine El Gouna Platform which hosted more than 14 masterclasses, plus handed out twelve awards and film grants totalling US$150,000.

#GFF18LIVE MASTERCLASS: A CONVERSATION WITH OWEN WILSON “Playing against the predictability of something is important. You don’t want to be so sentimental with something already sensitive. Just try to be original, or at least not obvious.” pic.twitter.com/SHBdIKPWKF

— El Gouna Film Fest. (@ElGounaFilm) September 28, 2018

‘A Land Imagined’ by Singaporean director Siew Yeo Hua won the Golden Star for Narrative Film (find the full list of winners below). The film tells the story of a police investigation in Singapore which seeks to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of a migrant construction worker.

MUST WATCH AT #GFF18: A LAND IMAGINED // Directed by Siew Hua Yeo // Feature Narrative Competition // Golden Leopard Award at FilmFestLocarno.
Showing at:
Sea Cinema 1 on 24/9 at 8.45pm
TUB Audi Max on 25/9 at 6.30pm pic.twitter.com/qA07JLZ9XL

— El Gouna Film Fest. (ElGounaFilm) September 9, 2018

Egyptian-Austrian writer and director Abu Bakr Shawky won Best Arabic Film and the Cinema for Humanity Award, for his first movie ‘The Day of Judgment’ (Youmeddine) which tells the story of two lepers.

The film also won the François Chalais Prize in Cannes earlier this year and was pre-selected for the 2019 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

“It is a huge honor to get two awards on our movie, that we did on a very small scale,” Shawky says.

Winner – Best Arabic Narrative Film and Cinema For Humanity Awards, elgounafilmfestival. #Yomeddine is now playing in Egyptian cinemas. pic.twitter.com/D8dtcKYhmv

— Yomeddine Film (Yomeddine) October 2, 2018

Another key moment of the festival was a tribute concert to the acclaimed late-Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, who paved the way for many stars of Arab cinema during his sixty-year career.

This year’s edition of the festival featured many iconic regional celebrities, such as Egyptian actress Yousra. It also hosted international celebrities from the film and television industry, such as Sylvester Stallone, Owen Wilson, Patrick Dempsey and Jean-Jacques Annaud.

THE EL GOUNA RED CARPET ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Egyptian actor Hassan El Raddad posed for this selfie with Lebanese singer Maya Diab.

View this post on Instagram Glowing between the starry vibes at elgounafilmfestivalofficial mayadiab ?

A post shared by Hassan El Raddad (@hassanelraddad) on Sep 21, 2018 at 7:38am PDT

And Egyptian actress Yasmin Raeis danced the night away with actor Ahmed Dawood and Yousra with the hashtag ‘life as it should be’.

View this post on Instagram مجانين ،، مجانين ،، بس نعيش ? hadielbagoury ❤️ yousrawyagroup ❤️ dinaelsherbinyy ❤️ adawoodofficial ❤️ ticko69 ❤️ #gff #gff18 elgounafilmfestivalofficial #lifeasitshouldbe elgounaredsea #egypt ناسف لاغلاق التعليقات لأننا لا نريد استقبال اَي طاقات سلبيه في الوقت الحاضر وشكرا ???

A post shared by yasminraeis (yasminraeis) on Sep 21, 2018 at 8:35am PDT