The El Gouna Film Festival (GFF; Egyptian Arabic: مهرجان الجونة السينمائي) is an annual film festival held in the Red Sea resort city of El Gouna in Egypt each October. Founded in 2017, the event hosts a number of awards. The festival also runs CineGouna, a brand that provides support to Egyptian and Arab filmmakers.
History
The El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) was co-founded in 2017 by Egyptian telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris, whose brother Samih built the resort, Amr Mansi, Bushra Abdallah Rozza, and Kamal Zadeh.
Its inaugural event started on 22 September. The inaugural artistic director was Intishal Al Timimi, who had previously overseen Arab films at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival until the festival was dissolved in 2015. The psychological thriller Scary Mother, by Georgian first-time director Ana Urushadze, took the Golden Star, the festival's top feature film competition prize, in 2017. Oscar-winning actor-director Forest Whitaker was feted with a lifetime achievement award.
The fifth iteration of the event was held from 14 October 2021.
The festival was cancelled in 2022, after being scheduled to run from 13 to 22 October that year, although its future was not clear. In 2023, Marianne Khoury took over from took over from Amir Ramses as artistic director, but the festival was postponed until December, owing to the Gaza war, and a full festival lineup returned in 2024.
Description
The festival is hosted by the El Gouna Convention and Culture Centre, and focuses on storytelling trends, as well as emerging talents from Egypt and the rest of the world, and increased tourism at the resort.
As of 2026[update], Amr Mansi is executive director, and Andrew Mohsen is artistic director.
CineGouna
CineGouna is a festival brand that covers a number of programs designed to support and empower Egyptian and Arab filmmakers, both artistically and financially. As of 2026[update] there it runs CineGouna Funding, CineGouna Forum, CineGouna Market, CineGouna Emerge, and CineGouna Shorts.
Awards
The following awards are awarded at the festival:
Feature Narrative Competition
El Gouna Gold Star for a Narrative Film (Trophy, Certificate and USD 50,000)
El Gouna Silver Star for Narrative Film (Trophy, Certificate and USD 25,000)
El Gouna Bronze Star Narrative Film (Certificate, Trophy and USD 15,000)
El Gouna Star for Best Arab Narrative Film (Trophy, Certificate and USD 20,000)
El Gouna Star for Best Actor (Trophy and Certificate)
El Gouna Star for Best Actress (Trophy and Certificate)
Feature Documentary Competition
El Gouna Gold Star for a Documentary Film (Trophy, Certificate and USD 30,000)
El Gouna Silver Star for Documentary Film (Trophy, Certificate and USD 15,000)
El Gouna Bronze Star Documentary Film (Trophy, Certificate and USD 7,500)
El Gouna Star for Best Arab Documentary Film (Trophy, Certificate and USD 10,000)
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