Directly after attending the closing ceremony, I returned to Tunisia yesterday after two good weeks in Egypt during which I participated in edition III of El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) which took place from September 19 to 27, 2019.
I had been there three days in advance to stay a little in Cairo, visit a few Egyptian friends and attend the shooting of an episode of a new TV program with Fifi Abdou, which will be broadcast soon on MBC 5.
Thursday, September 19, I presented myself at 5.30 am at the airport to take the charter flight chartered by the El Gouna festival to take us from Cairo to Hurghada. The flight was very pleasant, especially since I met several of my friends.
On arrival, each guest of the festival was accompanied at their hotel. This time, I was housed at a hotel different from that of 2017. Very nice room with a superb view of the swimming pool, the palm trees and the sea.
According to a guest of the festival, each edition, festival -goers are housed in different hotels to make them known even better the city of El Gouna. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s still a good idea. We must not forget that The GFF is a festival that combines cinema and tourism And whose goals are precisely to promote the city of El Gouna, even all of Egypt. Moreover, an advertising spot praising the merits of the Egypt destination precedes the screening of all the films.
I was very excited and very happy to find myself at the GFF, especially since I had excellent memories of the first edition which had taken place in September 2017.
The opening evening, even if it was a little painful because of the fatigue of the trip, was an opportunity to find friends and start living the atmosphere of the festival.
It was not until the next day that the GFF really started with the distribution of programs, badges … and especially with my first film, that I had really chosen at random: Central Station. A magnificent Portuguese film all in emotions, dating from 1998, but which I had never heard of. I loved it. And I considered that it was a good sign to start the festival with such a beautiful film.
Some see GFF only the photos circulating on the social networks of the stars which parade on the red carpet, and therefore have a false idea of the festival. They are completely wrong. The GFF is a film festival and the programming is very beautiful. Both films and other activities offered.
Intishal El Tamimi, the executive director, Amir Ramses, the artistic director and Bushra co-founder of the GFF, go all year from one festival to another to identify and select the most beautiful films of the year.
During these nine days of festival, of course I could not see all the films, although I would have liked to be able to do it, but I saw 19, including one that I had already seen in Cannes and that I wanted to see El Gouna again:
- AD Astra by James Gray (USA)
- 1982 de Oualid Mouaness (Lebanon)
- Adam from Maryam Touzani (Morocco)
- The girl with a bracelet by Stéphane Demoustier (France)
- Lara from Jan-Ole Gerster (Germany)
- Noura’s Dream of Hinde Boujemaa (Tunisia)
- Our lady of the nile from Atiq Rahimi (France)
- They saying stays the Saturday of Joe Odagiri (Japan)
- White on White of Théo Court (Spain)
- You will die at twenty of Amjad Abu Alala (Sudan)
- Kabul, City in the Wind from ABOOZ AR AINI (Afghanistan)
- 37 seconds of Hikari (Japan)
- The Knight and the Princess from Ibrahim Mousa (Egypt)
- Piranhas by Claudio Gionannesi (Italy)
- Sisters in Arms by Caroline Fourest (France)
- System Crasher de Nora Fingscheidt (Germany)
- The Truth from Hirokazu Kore-Eda (France)
- When we are born of Tamer Ezzat (Egypt)
- Central Station by Walter Salles (Brazil)
I specify that I had already seen all the films scheduled in El Gouna and which were in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, namely:
What films I preferred or that have touched me the most?
First of all, and undoubtedly the German film System Crasher.
But in reality, most of the films selected, in competition or not, move something in us and push for reflection. They respect the festival motto: Cinema for humanity. This “human” aspect is for example very visible in films like System Crasher And 37 seconds. In the first, one becomes completely united with these devoted people who absolutely want to “save” a small kid, however of incredible violence and who represents a danger for herself and for others. In the second, we realize how difficult it is for people with a disability, to live in a world like ours and to face the contemptuous look and sometimes rejection, especially when it comes to romantic or sexual relationships.
Of course, I loved sharing the emotions and the pride of Hinde Boujemaa, Hend Sabry and Hakim Boumsaoudi during and after the screening of the Tunisian film Noura Dream. I accompanied them on the TV sets and listened to them to answer the various journalists who questioned them about the film and congratulated them.
In addition to the films, there were panels and masters classes on various subjects that concern cinema every day. It was very interesting.
The Master class that I appreciated the most was ” Renovation and preservation: everything that is old is new again “, On the restoration and preservation of old films, a heritage that could disappear, through the experience of” Indiecollect “which has been able to restore a little more than thirty independent American films and was able to give them a new life, either by redistributing them, or by making them available to the public in various museums or cinematheques.
The exhibition on the occasion of the centenary of the writer Ihsan Abdel Quddous was also a way of preserving the Egyptian and even Arabic cultural heritage. Personal photos and objects, film posters, paintings, newspaper cuts, the writer’s office … were there to remind us of how great this artist was and how much he helped enrich Egyptian cinema, with important and unforgettable films.
I also really liked the Ciné Concert, a way of plunging back into memories and reminding me of great films of my youth, as Back to the future (1985) by Robert Zemeckis or The godfather (1972) by Francis Ford Coppola. Very nice GFF initiative, initiated in 2018 with a concert dedicated to the music of Youssef Chahine films to which I would have loved to attend.
I spent nine days in El Gouna, nine days when I tried to make the most of the festival, even if it means jumping most of my meals to be able to go from one film to another or from one activity to another. Nine days also to meet beautiful meetings, to strengthen friendships, to chat with professionals, but especially with cinema enthusiasts.
I would also have liked to be able to attend all the evenings, even if I know that I could not have been because it was still necessary to rest from time to time. But what I regret is that compared to 2017, there was a kind of separation between the VIP guests of the festival and the others, like journalists. In 2017, we could have access to stars much more easily and we were invited to evenings organized by the various sponsors. Not in 2019. In 9 days, we journalists were invited to any evening. It is true that some still manage to obtain invitations, but not me. Especially since I don’t like going to beg and beg. So I only attended two evenings, those organized by UNICEF and the American Embassy by accompanying Hend Sabry and Hinde Boujemaa. I would have loved to attend the AMR Diab concert, organized by Pepsi on the beach, but hey …
Back since yesterday in Tunis, but I admit that I still have many stars in my eyes. I spent excellent moments in El Gouna. Thanks to the whole festival team, whether volunteers or professional, everything was very well organized. All were attentive and at the service of festival -goers. Bravo and thank you all.
See you next year I hope!
Neïla Driss
