The seventh edition of the El Gouna Film Festival felt like a solid step back into stability following the cancellation of the 2022 edition for a “reset” and the postponement of last year’s edition from October to December due to the war in Gaza. This year’s fete, which took place between Oct. 24-Nov. 1 in the Egyptian resort town, welcomed keen audiences and key regional and international players as part of market platform CineGouna.
“The program was always strong but the media concentrated the coverage on the glamour and red carpet,” artistic director Marianne Khoury tells Variety. “When I joined last year, I wanted to rebalance that a little bit and have the right coverage on all the programs, not just the glitz and glamour.”
And that is exactly how the festival felt this year, with filmmakers and industry heads all acutely aware of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, including the war in Palestine currently taking place less than 500 km away. Panels focused on collaboration and solidarity, with speakers presenting solutions and posing questions regarding the future of Middle Eastern and North African cinema.
Palestine and filmmaking in times of conflict at the heart of the festival
Gouna brought back its Window on Palestine program this year, inaugurated in 2023 following the escalating conflicts in the region. On top of conversations around Palestine, the festival also welcomed debates around other conflicts in the region, including Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan.
“You cannot be a festival in the region and not be part of what is happening in the world,” says Khoury, with Jordanian producer and founder of The Imaginarium Films Rula Nasser telling Variety“I don’t understand the Sudanese accent but when I see what is happening in Sudan, I am moved. We are in an era when we see everything live. It’s not a question of where I’m from—you and me are equal. If there is a problem, we need to listen.”
Palestinian filmmakers at the festival spoke about the need to champion Palestinian voices but were also open about the weight of the pressure placed upon not only Palestinian but Middle Eastern and North African filmmakers to immediately react to the war and make films about their people’s struggles.
“I would like to write something about Gaza but it’s so difficult because it is the place where I was born, where I grew up,” says “An Orange From Jaffa” director Mohammed Almughanni. “I need distance to be able to write about that. World War II films took twenty years to get made so filmmakers could process it.”
Commercial and genre films welcomed
Market heads often mentioned how the Western world in particular still has a certain idea of what an Arab film looks like, which puts local directors at a “disadvantage.”
Renowned producer and CEO of Egypt’s Film Clinic Mohamed Hefzy says the expectations placed upon MENA films are “unfair.” “One of the comments we often hear about our films is that the film is great but the story could have happened anywhere. I feel there are some expectations when you tell a story from a certain region, that the story somehow has to be specific to that region. We just hope the films will be seen for what they are, but it’s very hard to make that happen.”
“I think we need to make projects that are attractive. If people are giving me money it’s because they are going to get it – or more — back,” says “The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry” director Faris Alrjoob. “We don’t need to make films that are just ethically necessary. Nine out of 10 films that come out of the Arab world are social issue films, but for this to be a viable industry we need more diversity. Commercial films can still be good and serious.”
“A very interesting feedback on ‘Thanks for Banking With Us!’ is that it is a feel good Palestinian film, which is highly unusual,” adds producer and CEO and co-founder of MAD Solutions Alaa Karkouti.
All eyes on Saudi
With the advent of the Red Sea Fund, created to nurture and support MENA talent, filmmakers in the region have flocked to fund their films in Saudi over the last five years. The Red Sea Film Festival and the Red Sea Souk have also provided directors with new platforms to showcase their films and network.
“It’s a big opportunity for us. We had five films in the last year and a half who received the fund,” says Hefzy, with “Thanks for Banking With Us!” director Laila Abbas adding that “Saudi is the new kid on the block so it makes sense lots of filmmakers are taking advantage of the opportunities in the country.”
Head of the Red Sea Fund Emad Eskander was in Gouna speaking about not only the fund itself but also about the synergy between Egypt and Saudi and the influence of Egyptian film in Saudi culture. “There is a natural synergy between the countries because we’ve been watching Egyptian stories for many years. Even the Egyptian dialect is widespread in Saudi, so Saudis may integrate those dialect words in their art.”
“I’m Saudi but know more about Egypt,” says general manager Saudi’s MBC Studios Zeinab Abu Alsamh. “We have been entertained by Egyptian cinema for a long time and we deserve to have our own production. We haven’t had our own productions for 40 years so it’s a great pleasure to see ourselves on screen.”
Arab co-productions on the rise
With more funding opportunities popping up in the region plus several new soundstages becoming available in countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, local filmmakers have begun to co-produce between neighbors more often.
“It’s happening. This is the big change that has happened in the last two or three years,” says Karkouti, with Hefzy adding, “We are very lucky in countries like Jordan, Tunisia and Saudi that there are local programs supporting local films and co-productions.”
Despite the logistical advantages, there is also the fact that many emerging filmmakers want to stray away from the Western machine that has long been accused of portraying the Arab world through a biased lens.
“I feel like I’ve been betrayed by the West because they position me a certain way at their festivals and financing programs,” says Alrjoob. “We should be the one saving ourselves and opening more financing options here, more opportunities to show the work and make connections. We need to build an infrastructure where this conversation about the West is not that relevant because they are not as relevant to us anymore.”