It was last night that the sixth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival was completed which took place from December 14 to 21, 2023.
To stay in the theme of the Palestine special edition, the closing ceremony, Always as sober and worthy as the opening ceremony, started with the Cairokee group which interpreted two songs committed and dedicated to Palestine: “Tilka al-Qadiya” (this cause) and “Ana Njim” (I am a star).
Amr Mansi, the co -founder and executive director, was delighted with the success of the festival despite the challenges, in particular the two successive reports. He underlined the complexity of the organization, in particular with the announcement of dates at the last minute, Coinciding with the Christmas holidays and leading to the absence of many planned guests.
AMR Mansi highlighted the creation this year of a hub to bring together professionals, thus facilitating work and fruitful meetings. He noted that although the festival has always been a workplace for cinema professionals, it is perhaps the first time that the press finally has given importance to cinematographic aspects rather than futile details such as clothing.
She is the artistic director of the El Gouna festival, Marianne Khourywho gave an honorary prize to the international star Christophe Lambert, whose long artistic career and her exceptional skills she recalled.
Christophe Lambert himself referred to his career for years and stressed that in the event, he did not imagine that a camera could capture the emotions of an actor on the screen. He also mentioned the El Gouna festival, welcoming its excellent achievement and stressing the importance of having a festival focused on humanity, because it was humanity that motivated him to make cinema.
A video tribute was then projected, in memory of the great personalities of the Egyptian cinema world, disappeared during this year 2023: actors Mustafa Darwich, Ashraf Abdel Ghafour, Ashraf Meselhi and Tarek Abdel Aziz, directors Ahmed El Badri and Ahmed Sami Al Adl and producer Nahed Farid Shawki.
The list of this edition was finally unveiled:
Various prices:
- The netpac price for the best Asian film was awarded to From Abdul to Leiladirected by Leila Al Bayaty, filmmaker of Iraqi origin based in France.
- The Fipresci Prize has been awarded to Hollywoodgatedirected by Ibrahim Nash’at, Egyptian filmmaker based in Germany.
- The Cinema for Humanity Public Prize which rewards a feature film embodying humanitarian themes, was awarded to Goodbye Julia (Wada’n Julia) Directed by Mohamed Kordofani, from Sudan.
Competition of short films:
- El Gouna’s Star of the best Arab short film was awarded to The caterpillars Directed by Michelle & Noel Keserwany of Lebanon (France).
- El Gouna’s bronze star for the short film was won by At Last, The Day Directed by Carolina Vergara of Argentina.
- El Gouna’s silver star for short films was won by The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry Directed by Faris Alrjoob of Jordan.
- El Gouna’s gold Star for the best short film was awarded to Cross my Heart and Hope to die Directed by Sam Manacsa of the Philippines.
Documentary competition & Prix El Gouna Green Star
- The El Gouna Green Star Prix was won by The Buriti Flower Directed by João Salaviza & Renée Nader Messora from Brazil.
- The El Gouna Star of the best Arab documentary was won by Machtat Directed by Sonia Ben Slama of Tunisia. It should be recalled that this film had made its first in the ACID section of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023.
- El Gouna’s bronze star for the documentary was won by On the Adamant Directed by Nicolas Philibert de France.
- The jury decided to award the silver Star for the documentary to two remarkable films ex-aequo: Not aligned: scenes from the Labudović archives Directed by Mila Turajlic of Serbia and Seven Winters in Tehran Directed by Steffi Niederzoll from Germany.
- El Gouna’s gold Star for the documentary was won by Hollywoodgate Directed by Ibrahim Nash’at.
Competition of fiction feature films:
- The El Gouna Star for best actor was won by BottSooj Uortaikh for the film If only I COULD Hibernate Directed by Zoljargal Purevdash from Mongolia. This first Mongol film selected in Cannes, tells the story of the young Ulzii (Bottsooj Uortaikh), proud but poor, determined to win a physics competition to obtain a scholarship.
- El Gouna’s Star of the best actress was won by bywin Rajabi, for her remarkable interpretation of a woman who never caught her husband’s attention until she falls ill, in Transient Happiness Directed by Sina Muhammed of Iraq, which also wins the El Gouna Star for the best Arab fiction film.
- El Gouna’s bronze star for a fiction film was awarded to A Strange PatH produced by Guto Parente du Brazil.
- El Gouna’s Silver Star for a fiction film was won by A Greyhound of A Girl Directed by Enzo d’Alò d’Italie.
- El Gouna’s gold Star for a fictional film was awarded by the jury to In our day Directed by Hong Sangsoo of South Korea. In this 30th addition to his impressive filmography, he depicts with mastery two separate and alternate conversations: one between an actress and an amateur, and the other between an old poet and a fan.
This sixth edition ended in style. Despite the challenges, This year’s festival presented 90 films from 49 countries in different categoriesin particular fiction feature films, documentaries, short films, official out -of -competition selection and special sections, which have captured the attention of the public and industry professionals.
It is also during this sixth edition that the El Gouna festival awarded An honorary prize for all of his work in Marwan Hamedone of the most eminent Egyptian director of his generation.
In collaboration with the Foundation of the Palestinian film, the festival presented the section ” Palestine window“, Highlighting films deepening the Palestinian stories and giving the voice to the Palestinians in these circumstances where they need to be heard.
Naguib Sawiris, founder of the festival, also recalled that the festival management had hesitated a lot after the events of October 7 and the start of the war in Gaza: was it necessary to cancel the festival or maintain it? But the decision was made to maintain it, in a special Palestine edition, in solidarity with the Palestinian people. “” It is a festival which has the cinema slogan for humanity, it was therefore logical to offer it to Palestine. Our festival is at the service of humanity which is a bit lacking in these last temps“He rightly said. And he was right!
The festival welcomed 14 discussions, conferences and workshops as part of Cinegouna Bridge, including a session entitled “Cinema in times of crisis: a look at Palestine”. A creative development and promotion workshop entitled “production marketing” was organized in collaboration with the Rawiyat group, emphasizing the projects of Egyptian directors. A master class on the film industry with the director honored this year, Marwan Hamed, also took place and Another with the big star Yousra.
For the first time, the festival launched the “El Gouna market“, An initiative to connect content with potential buyers, distributors and partners, highlighting the festival’s commitment to the film industry.
As part of this closing ceremony, Intishal Al Timimi, the director of the festival, said: ” We appreciate the contributions of each filmmaker who shared his creations with us. The spirit of the festival appreciates passion, dedication and creativity anchored in each film, recognizing that each film occupies a unique place in the fabric of this exceptional cinematic adventure. Although only certain works have won awards, each film has left an indelible imprint in our minds and our hearts, contributing in a precious way to the collective heritage of the El Gouna Film Festival this year. »»
Neïla Driss
