The 8ᵉ El Gouna Film Festival, scheduled from October 16 to 24, 2025, will host fiction films in competition the first feature film by Amel Guellaty, Where the Wind Comes from. The film will hold its first in the Arab world, after an international journey already crowned with success.
Presented as a global preview at the Sundance Festival, the film quickly appealed to criticism and continued its tour in major meetings like Rotterdam and Istanbul. Everywhere, he was noticed for his mixture of humor and emotion, the correctness of his performers and the power of his images. The distinctions were not long in: Golden Bee of the best film at the Mediterranean Film Festival of Malta and Prix for Best Fiction Function at Toronto Arab Film Festival.
The specialized press unanimously praised this work. For Varietyit is ” A visually striking film that explores many themes in the simple frame of the road movie ». Cineuropa Has put forward ” the portrait of a lost generation that seeks to reinvent itself ». THE Hindustan Times spoke of ” A small miracle with a huge heart “, while Fasllah underlined ” A new and fresh voice of Tunisian cinema », Insisting on its originality compared to recent Tunisian films.
It is in this context that the film arrives in El Gouna. When the selection was announced, Amel Guellaty entrusted his emotion: ” I am deeply honored to present my film at the El Gouna film festival, a place that supported it from the first stages, from development to post-production. To finally be able to share the fruit of several years of work here is a great pride. Bringing this film back to the MENA region has a particular meaning for me, and I can’t wait to present it to the public. »»
Where the Wind Comes from tells the story of Alyssa, 19, and Mehdi, 23, two young people who dream of fleeing a stifling reality. By discovering a competition offering a chance to start, they embark on a road trip through the southern Tunisian. Their journey becomes an initiatory quest, made of tests, discoveries and revelations about themselves.
Produced by Asma Chiboub for Atlas Vision, the film brings together Slim Baccar, Eya Bellagha, Sondos Belhassen and Lobna Noomane. The photograph is signed Frida Marzouk, the assembly provided by Amel Guellaty, Ghalya Lacroix and Malek Kammoun, the music composed by Omar Aloulou and the sound by Aymen Labidi. Arab distribution and international sales are entrusted to Mad Distribution.
Born in 1988, Amel Guellaty first trained in the right to the Sorbonne before devoting herself to cinema. She started as an assistant on After May Olivier Assayas and Foreign Body of Raja Amari, before realizing in 2017 Black Mambashort film selected in more than sixty festivals, awarded twenty times, and acquired by Canal+ and the Italian channel RT. In 2022, his second short, Chitanaconfirmed his talent. She also signed campaigns for Dior, Montblanc and IWC. With Where the Wind Comes fromher first feature film, she imposed a singular and promising voice in contemporary Arab cinema.
By joining the El Gouna 2025 fiction films competition, the Tunisian film confirms the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers capable of making their cinema shine far beyond their borders, while sounding deeply in their region of origin.
Neïla Driss
