El Gouna 2023

Seven Winters in Tehran

by Deborah Young | Dec 16, 2023 | Festivals, El Gouna 2023

The cruel and gripping story of Reyhaneh Jabbari, a 19-year-old Iranian woman convicted of murdering a man who attempted to rape her, unfolds like a thriller in Steffi Niederzoll’s documentary recreation, ‘Seven Winters in Tehran’.

From Abdul to Leila

by Stephen Dalton | Dec 16, 2023 | El Gouna 2023, Festivals

French-Iraqi director Leila Albayaty explores her own complex cultural roots, painful family tensions and buried traumatic memories in her emotionally raw docu-musical ‘From Abdul to Leila’.

Marwan Hamed: Industry First!

by Adham Youssef | Dec 15, 2023 | El Gouna 2023, Featured, Festivals

Marwan Hamed’s work cannot be separated from the industry aspects of his successful film career.

Dreaming & Dying

by Deborah Young | Dec 15, 2023 | El Gouna 2023, Festivals

Magical realism and Far East ghost stories inject a thrilling, if not always crystal clear, element into Nelson Yeo’s fishy tale of an overage and not completely human love triangle, ‘Dreaming & Dying’.

Scrapper

by Stephen Dalton | Dec 14, 2023 | El Gouna 2023, Festivals

A charmingly eccentric 12-year-old girl struggles to bond with her estranged father in writer-director Charlotte Regan’s funny, sunny, prize-winning debut feature ‘Scrapper’.

Ahmed Shawky discusses FIPRESCI, diversity, and post Arab Spring cinema

by Adham Youssef | Dec 14, 2023 | El Gouna 2023, Festivals

FIPRESCI President and head of CineGouna SpringBoard Ahmed Shawky aspires for more diversity in film circles and more freedom for Arab narratives.

Marianne Khoury and Intishal Al-Timimi Negotiate El Gouna’s Special Edition

by Adham Youssef | Dec 13, 2023 | El Gouna 2023, Festivals

“Art should not be sacrificed during wars”: El Gouna’s Intishal Al Timimi and Marianne Khoury tell TFV

How to Have Sex

by Stephen Dalton | Dec 12, 2023 | Festivals, El Gouna 2023

A timely coming-of-age drama about young women dealing with the complexities of sexual consent, writer-director Molly Manning Walker’s prize-winning debut feature ‘How to Have Sex’ is impressively nuanced and emotionally rich.

A “Special Edition” of El Gouna Film Festival 2023

by TheFilmVerdict | Nov 26, 2023 | FestMarket Clips, El Gouna 2023, Featured, Festivals

Festival confirms dates will be December 14 – 21.

Festival Reviews