The ninth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) opened on October 15, launching nine days of Arab and international cinema, industry discussions, and talent development programs under the theme “Cinema for Humanity: Archiving Narratives.” The festival runs until October 23 in the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna.
The opening ceremony at Festival Plaza featured red-carpet appearances, theatrical performances, and music, with Egyptian actress Yasmina El-Abd hosting. This year’s program includes 77 films spanning feature-length narratives, documentaries, shorts, special presentations, and out-of-competition selections, bringing together established filmmakers and emerging voices from the region and beyond.
French feature All About Corrine, directed by Marc Fitoussi and starring Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Kiberlain, opened the festival. The film follows Corinne Maclou, an aspiring actress confined largely to supporting parts, who strikes up an unexpected friendship with a celebrated actress, exploring ambition, perseverance, and the desire to find a place in the film industry.
Egyptian actress Mona Zaki received the festival’s 2026 Career Achievement Award for her contributions to cinema and television over more than three decades. The festival also presented its Special Tribute Award to veteran lighting technician Hassan El Sayed, recognizing his four-decade career in Egyptian cinema.
The 2026 program features 10 Arab films—the largest number in the festival’s history—while the Window on Palestine program returns for the fourth consecutive year. The competition selection includes narrative features, documentaries, and 13 short films exploring conflict, displacement, gender, and personal relationships. The wider slate also features internationally recognized titles, including Yellow Letters, Fatherland, and Fjord.
GFF is expanding its industry platform, CineGouna, with the launch of CineGouna Series, a development program and market for Arabic-language television projects. Six projects selected from more than 125 submissions will connect creators with producers, studios, distributors, and streaming platforms.
CineGouna Funding has selected 13 projects from more than 310 applications for development and production support, alongside six films in post-production. Selected projects will compete for a combined $310,000 in funding. The festival is also introducing Safe Harbour MENA, developed with the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the International Emerging Film Talent Fund, to support filmmakers forced to leave their countries or facing threats to their safety.
Additional initiatives include the return of the Eish short-film competition in partnership with the World Food Programme, focusing on food security and hunger. Collaborations with the Sawiris Foundation and Kaderoon Bikhtelaf Foundation will introduce accessibility measures, including sign-language interpretation at selected screenings and events. Masterclasses are scheduled with Mona Zaki, filmmaker Yousry Nasrallah, and British executive producer Angus Finney, who will explore artificial intelligence’s implications for the film industry.
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