‘Soufra’ to premier for the first time in El-Gouna Festival

CAIRO - 10 September 2017: “Soufra” documentary will premier internationally for the first time in El-Gouna Film Festival documentary film competition.
The documentary’s storyline is about an old refugee camp housing refugees from Palestine, Syria and Iraq named Burj al-Barajneh in South of Beirut, Lebanon. Mariam al-Shaar, one of the refugees has pulled the women of the camp together to do what has never been done before, as she encourages them to create a food truck. Their journey contains a lot of ups and downs, but their hopes and dreams move them forward.

El-Gouna Film Festival in its first edition is headed by the Iraqi critic Inteshal al-Tamimi with the slogan, “Cinema for Humanity". Emerging Arab and Egyptian filmmakers gear up to participate in the first anticipated edition of the GFF, which will run between September 22 and September 29 at El-Gouna, Hurghada.

Sponsored by the Egyptian Culture Ministry and the Egyptian Tourism Authority, the GFF seeks to foster different cinematic voices and generate opportunities to further develop creativity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo is also partnering in the festival through the American film "Diplomacy Program" and the American film "Showcase", and 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 several competition categories: Feature Narrative, Feature Documentary, Short Films, “Official out of Competition” selection and Special Programs.