Gouna International Film Festival to be held on Sept. 20-28

CAIRO – 14 August 2018: The second round of the Gouna International Film Festival presents numerous film productions that deserve to be viewed, according to critics in the local film industry.

The films competing in the festival’s first round achieved numerous awards from reputable film festivals around the world such as Sundance Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Berlin International Film Festival and Cannes International Film Festival.

The films competing in the festival’s second round come from Japan, Italy, Poland, Australia, and Denmark, among others.

Intishal al-Tamimi, head of the Gouna International Film Festival, said “The second round of our festival will present a bundle of special film productions that achieved booming success in the most significant international film festivals worldwide.”

Amir Ramsis, technical manager of the festival, explained that the films selected to compete within the festival’s program this year were carefully chosen to match the expectations of pioneer film producers from all over the world.

The 11 films participating in the Gouna International Film Festival are as follows:

- Japanese movie “Shoplifters” – Directed and written by Hirokazu Kore-eda. The movie revolves around a family that turns to shoplifting to combat their life of poverty. The movie stars Lily Franky and Sakura Ando.

- The Polish movie, "Cold War", won the Best Director award at the Cannes International Film Festival; its events take place in the period of the cold war during which Europe suffered extensively. The movie is directed by Pawel Pawlikowski and was inspired by the director’s parents. The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others).

- “Dogman”, an Italian movie directed by Matteo Garrone and starring Marcello Font, revolves around a man who resides in Rome, and is totally obsessed with his daughter Aida. The man eventually turns to cocaine dealing in order to support his daughter and faces problems with a criminal who terrorizes the neighborhood in which the man and his daughter reside.

- The Italian movie, “Happy as Lazzaro” coming from Cannes International Film Festival, will also participate in the Gouna festival. The movie revolves around a naïve young man named Lazzaro who gets used by the people around him. In a twist of events, the people who used Lazzaro become enslaved to a mean lady who owns a farm in an act of Karma.

- “Samouni Road” is an Italian documentary directed by Stefano Savona. It was selected for the Oeil d’or prize for best documentary in the Cannes International Film Festival. The movie revolves around a Palestinian family that got unrightfully gored by the invasive army of Israel in 2009.

- “All These Creatures” is a short Australian documentary revolving around a 13 year old boy who hates his abusive father, and wonders what type of man he will end up being once he grows up. The movie is directed by Charles Williams.

- “Mug”, coming from the International Berlin Film Festival, is a Polish comic movie that revolves around a man who gets into an accident at work and needs to perform a facial implant to survive. The man ends up facing numerous identity problems once his new face got implanted.

- A shared production between Paraguay, Germany, Uruguay, Brazil, Norway and France; “The Heiresses” will participate in the Gouna festival. The film is directed by Marcello Martinessi and revolves around the story of Chela and Chiquita, both wealthy girls from Paraguay, who start selling their inherited possessions after their financial situation worsens.

- “Winter Flies” is another great movie participating in the Gouna festival for director Olmo Omerzu. It revolves around two teenagers who set out into the freezing night in a car looking for an adventure. The boys end up in a police station in a twisted turn of events. The film focuses on boyhood friendships that require an irrepressible desire to experience something new. The movie is a joint production between Check Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia and France.

- “The Guilty”, a Danish movie starring Jakob Cedergren, is participating in the Gouna festival after being awarded in the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The movie is directed by Gustav Muller and revolves around a police officer who receives emergency calls in everyday's work shift, eventually receiving a phone call from a woman who got abducted. The phone call changed his life.

- “Of Fathers and Sons” is a Syrian-Danish joint production and is directed by Syrian director Talal Derky. The director befriended a man related to a terrorist group throughout a period of 2 years in order to understand how people from such radical groups think and view the world.

The Gouna International Film Festival aims to please cinema enthusiasts by viewing the best movie productions in the world. The festival also aims to boost the Arab film industry through exposing Arab filmmakers to the best international film productions.

The Gouna International Film Festival will be held in El-Gouna city residing along the Red Sea on September 20 – 28, 2018.