Key Points
- Mona Zaki took El Gouna's Creative Achievement Award as the festival opened Thursday.
- The 9th edition runs to Oct. 23, screening 77 films under a humanity-and-archiving theme.
- Ten Arab titles mark a festival record, in the first edition under artistic director Andrew Mohsen.
The latest:
Egyptian actress Mona Zaki collected the Creative Achievement Award on Thursday as the ninth El Gouna Film Festival opened in the Red Sea resort town, according to Arab News. The edition runs until Oct. 23 under the theme Cinema for Humanity: Archiving Narratives, with 77 films programmed across narrative, documentary and short film competitions, plus special presentations and out-of-competition titles.
Details:
- The ceremony: Egyptian actress Yasmina El-Abd hosted the opening at the Festival Plaza, Arab News reported, in a program that mixed recorded and live segments built around cinema’s role in preserving stories and collective memory.
- The presenter: Director Mohamed Shaker Khodeir, who directed Zaki in the 2023 Ramadan series Under Custody, handed over the award. Zaki became emotional as she described the fear that trailed her across her career and urged younger performers not to let it restrict them.
- Her remarks: Zaki told the audience: “Don’t let fear control you. Fear restrains and limits you.” She thanked the directors, writers and crew who had backed her over the years, and a recorded voice message from her eldest daughter, Lilly, played as she accepted the honor.
- Second honoree: The festival also saluted veteran lighting technician Hassan El-Sayed for a four-decade career, with cinematographer and actor Sameh Selim presenting. His credits include The Thief of Happiness, In Search of Sayyid Marzouk and Paradise of the Devils.
- The performances: Musician Mohamed Nawara led a live set of Egyptian and international compositions. Egyptian American soprano Sherine Ahmed closed the evening with an unannounced rendition of the Egyptian classic Helwa Ya Balady, her first time singing in Arabic.
- Opening film: French director Marc Fitoussi’s All About Corrine, starring Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Kiberlain, was chosen to open the festival. Its official screening is set for Friday, a day after the ceremony itself.
- The lineup: This edition carries 10 Arab films, the highest number in festival history, Arab News reported. It is also the first programmed under artistic director Andrew Mohsen, who succeeded Egyptian filmmaker Marianne Khoury.
- Palestine strand: The Window on Palestine program returned for a fourth consecutive year. The festival did not detail the titles selected for the strand in its opening-night announcements.
- Industry arm: CineGouna launched CineGouna Series, a development program and market dedicated to Arabic-language television projects, extending the festival’s industry platform beyond feature film financing and co-production.
- Masterclasses: Sessions with Zaki, Egyptian filmmaker Yousry Nasrallah and British executive producer Angus Finney are scheduled during the festival week, though start times were not announced alongside the opening program.
Between the lines:
The record 10 Arab titles and the launch of an Arabic-language TV market land in the same edition, the first shaped by a new artistic director. Together they point the festival toward regional production rather than international showcase alone, with the returning Palestine strand now a fixture rather than a one-off.
What’s next
The official screening of All About Corrine on Friday, the masterclasses with Zaki, Nasrallah and Finney during the week, and the competition awards when the edition closes on Oct. 23.
