El Gouna Film Festival opens its doors for film submissions

CAIRO - 6 June 2017: The first round of submissions for the El Gouna Film Festival will be open from May 23 until July 31. The inaugural run of the festival will be held at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of El Gouna from September 22-29, 2017. Prize money for the festival exceeds $200,000 combined.

The first round of the festival will be divided into three categories: long feature film, long documentary film and short film.

The judges, who will consist of prominent figures and film professionals, will be giving out awards for: El Gouna Golden Star, El Gouna Silver Star, El Gouna Bronze Star and Best Arabic Film. The long feature film category will have an additional two awards for best actor and best actress.

Engineer Naguib Sawiris said the Festival's initiative is to push the film movement forward. "The idea behind the awards and their prizes is to catalyze the development and promotion of cinematic creativity and the introduction of new ideas, which will contribute to a better future for cinema in the region and the world," Sawiris said.

"The films that will be presented at the festival will allow the viewing committee and the programming team to identify some unique cinematic voices and wonderful films that have been overlooked for many reasons, which will be additional enrichment for the program," said Intishal Tamimi, the festival’s manager.

He added that El Gouna Film Festival will be held under the slogan "Cinema for Humanity" and will set a fixed date for meeting Egyptian, Arab and international filmmakers at the end of September each year.

Three committees of judges, composed of prominent figures in cinema and culture, will be awarding the following prizes:

Long Feature Film Competition:

- El Gouna Golden Star - $50,000
- El Gouna Silver Star - $25,000
- El Gouna Bronze Star - $15,000
- El Gouna Star for Best Arab Feature Film - $20,000
- El Gouna Star for Best Actor
- El Gouna Star for Best Actress

All financial awards are split between the director and producer equally.

Long Documentary Film Competition:

- El Gouna Golden Star - $30,000
- El Gouna Silver Star - $15,000
- El Gouna Bronze Star - $7,500
- El Gouna Star for the best Arabic documentary film - $10,000

All financial awards are split between the director and producer equally.

Short Film Competition:

- El Gouna Golden Star - $15,000
- El Gouna Silver Star - $7,500
- El Gouna Bronze Star - $ 4,000
- El Gouna Star for Best Arabic Short Film - $5,000

All financial awards are awarded to the director.

El Gouna Cinematic Platform, an innovative and professional forum designed to develop and support promising talent from Egypt and the Arab countries, will also take place alongside the festival. The platform will allow Arab and international directors, producers and distributors to enhance productive partnership opportunities for the development of Arab cinema. Moreover, panel discussions, workshops, and lectures will be held.