The festival renews its pledge to nurture and support the art of cinema in the Middle East and beyond for the fifth year in a row.
El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) has announced the dates of its fifth edition, scheduled to take place from October 14 -22, 2021 in El Gouna.
The fifth edition of GFF will follow the same approach that has been adopted in the past four years by the festival team, thanks to the continuous support of filmmakers and Arab and international cinema professionals, or the public, media and critical rallying.
The 2020 edition was the first public event to take place at the site of the newly established Gouna Conference and Culture Centre (GCCC) the new home for the festival and its activities, the opening and closing ceremonies, daily red-carpet events, premieres, networking events, and the closing ceremony of CineGouna Platform.
Speaking about the film festival, EL Gouna Founder and Orascom Development Holding Chairman, Samih Sawiris, said: “I am thrilled with the success achieved by GFF during the past years, especially in 2020, a year that carried a special significance for all of us. We are proud that we managed to host the fourth edition of the festival in the newly launched Gouna Conference and Culture Centre, which will contribute to further solidifying Egypt’s position as a cultural destination. What El Gouna is currently witnessing, in terms of being an artistic and cultural attraction to various local or international events, is a celebration of being a global destination for tourism, art, and culture.”
Festival director Intishal Al Timimi added: “We always aspire to develop and fortify our organisational experience and teamwork to upscale the festival’s activities and create an atmosphere for new initiatives and ideas. As we look forward to our fifth edition, we promise to continue our contribution to the development of cinema in the region and internationally.”
Due to the global changes and challenging circumstances of the covid-19 pandemic, the line-up of the fourth edition of GFF was reduced to 63 films; 16 in the Feature Narrative Competition, 10 in the Feature Documentary Competition, 18 in the Short Film Competition, 17 in the Official Selection out of Competition and two in the Special Presentations section.
