Reasons behind choosing Al Tamimi to head El Gouna Festival

CAIRO – 28 August 2017: The Iraqi cinema critic Intishal Al Tamimi was chosen to be the director of El Gouna Film Festival in its first edition.

Choosing Tamimi to this position raised a series of questions mainly about the reasons behind this choice; especially that Tamimi is not Egyptian. The Egyptian Billionaire Naguib Sawaris, the main sponsor of the Festival, revealed that the only criterion in choosing the Festival director was his competency, and Tamimi is competent enough to hold such A position.

Reasons behind choosing Tamimi to head El Gouna Film Festival in its first Edition
Tamimi is a veteran Iraqi cinema critic who was born in Baghdad in 1954. He obtained a Master’s in Journalism from Moscow University. Al-Tamimi held several positions as he was the technical director of the Arab Film Festival, program consultant at the Rotterdam International Festival and coordinator of the International Film Festival in Munich.

He was the jury member at each of: the Parma International Music Film Festival in Italy in 1989, Munich International Short Film Festival in 1997 and Singapore International Film Festival in 2005. Tamimi served as a member of the Advisory Board of NETPAC Network promoting the Asian Cinema in addition to working as a member and chairman of jury at the following Festivals: Berlin, Karlovy Vary, Locarno and Kerala Toronto.

Tamimi is a widely-respected figure in the regional film industry. He was the former director of Abu Dhabi's now-shuttered SANAD fund.

Emerging Arab and Egyptian filmmakers gear up to participate in the first anticipated edition of El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) that will run between September 22 and September 29 at El Gouna in Hurghada.

Sponsored by the Egyptian Culture Ministry and Egyptian Tourism Authority GFF seeks to foster different cinematic voices and generate opportunities to further develop creativity in the MENA regions.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo is also partnering in the Festival through the Premier American Film Diplomacy Program and the American Film Showcase that will host the Festival’s workshops and mentoring sessions, according to a statement released by the Cultural Attaché of the embassy.

Displaying an array of works from around the globe, the festival is promoting rising filmmakers and will include three competition categories; Feature Narrative, Feature Documentary, Short Films, ‘Official Out of Competition’ selection, and Special Programs.