The town of El Gouna is a purpose-built gated community on Egypt’s Red Sea coast just north of the popular resort city of Hurghada. It’s a place of privilege, where rolling green lawns and intensely colored bougainvillea grace pleasingly designed villas varied enough to feel distinctive yet with nothing that jars or clashes. El Gouna is the opposite of, or rather the antidote to, Cairo, a cacophonous city whose residents – those within certain income brackets – require regular breaks away to cope with the capital’s chaos. Many of the nation’s top stars have homes in El Gouna, so when tycoon Naguib Sawiris decided the town needed a film festival, it became a logical magnet for top talent from across the Arab world, aiming to fill a much-needed gap once the rug was pulled out from under the Dubai International Film Festival after 2017. This year was the festival’s fifth edition, and while it retained its position as a glamorous showcase with social media users eagerly consuming the latest photos of stars on the red carpet, multiple mishaps, poor internal communication and the mid-festival resignation of artistic director Amir Ramses all combined with swirling rumors and the disguised yet not completely hidden conflicts between executive management and the festival team to make this year a roller-coaster of highs and lows.
International press took notice when the festival’s soaring, elaborately lit arched hub caught fire the day before kick-off, the dramatic images of the conflagration whipping around media platforms and making people wonder whether all was lost. Miraculously the flames were extinguished and before 24 hours were up the venue showed no trace of damage – it helps that the developer of El Gouna, Samih Sawiris, is a guiding force in the festival’s direction. Compared to earlier editions the space is unquestionably both more imposing and more attractive, acting as a convenient gathering point for receptions and screenings (though like so many open-air cinemas, sound quality is uneven and ambient light can be problematic).
The festival did much on paper to reassure guests from abroad that they were following COVID precautions, even offering vaccines to anyone who asked – never mind that the vaccine doesn’t fully kick-in until two weeks after the jab, or that only between 8% and 14% of the Egyptian population, according to reliable estimates, have received both doses. Announcements about mandatory mask wearing at indoor cinemas were made before each screening, but many ignored the rules and in truth few people, locals as well as international visitors, bothered to don masks at all. Hotels had mobile clinics stationed in front, plastered with a big image of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the side, though it’s impossible to know how often they were used.
On the industry side, with the CineGouna Platform and the development initiatives it provides, the festival has strengthened its place among MENA region events, making a good stab at picking up from where the now-defunct SANAD grants ended, though of course its pockets are not quite Abu Dhabi deep. It also remains an excellent gathering place for insiders to have meetings and socialize, and while the festival did take place last year in-person, there was a palpable feeling this round that people felt relieved to once again be together. Still to be overcome, however, is the audience problem: locals aren’t especially interested in seeing the latest international art house entries, and while Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch was predictably sold out, excellent titles with less of a buzz struggled to attract viewers.
The most talked about feature this year was Omar El Zohairy’s Feathers, making its MENA region debut following its Grand Prix win in Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique, along with numerous other awards. A rigorously composed absurdist parable that’s been highly reviewed by international critics, the film set off a firestorm in government circles immediately after its El Gouna screening, with reports that the regime was livid with the way it showed hopeless poverty in Egypt, seeing it as an anti-patriotic critique of the country’s direction. Rumors were flying that the so-called scandal would signal an even harsher imposition of already tight censorship controls, and there was talk that the festival would be significantly impacted for simply programing the film. Among the angry walk-outs was actor Sherif Mounir, who protested on a TV show about its supposed negative portrayal of Egyptians living in extreme poverty, while MP Ahmed Mehanna wanted parliament to hold the producers accountable. When artistic director Amir Ramses resigned days before the festival ended, many assumed the move had to do with the fall-out from Feathers, with even Variety speculating to this end. Screen International was more circumspect, reporting that Ramses stepped down due to internal dissension, which indeed was the case (in truth he had threatened to resign in the past but hadn’t followed through until now).
During the awards ceremony tension was high to see whether Feathers would win anything, and when it picked up the Best Arab Narrative Feature award, many in the audience pointedly gave it a standing ovation. The director delivered a moving acceptance speech in which he declared his pride in being an Egyptian filmmaker, and shortly after the government released a measured statement of support, though few insiders would be foolish enough to take that at face value given how the regime plays with uncertainty and rumor-mongering to sow the seeds of apprehension. It remains to be seen how the controversy will affect the film projects that are green-lit in the coming months.
The festival also hit the news when the Egyptian authorities denied Palestinian director Said Zagha entry, sparking an angry outcry worldwide. Zagha, meant to pitch his latest project Weedestine, was first prevented from boarding his flight from Istanbul to Hurghada; the festival rebooked him on a flight to Cairo, where he was held in detention for twelve hours and then put on a plane to London, where he has residency. While hardly the first time Palestinians have been denied entry into Egypt, the case drew widespread condemnation within the industry and led to actor Mohammad Bakri showing his support by refusing to attend the festival. Producer May Odeh, on the documentary jury, delivered a forceful statement from the stage during the awards ceremony, decrying the onerous and often random travel restrictions placed on Palestinians and calling for solidarity within the MENA region. (Several days earlier Odeh had made a colorful splash with a beautiful dress whose yoke featured the Palestinian flag, designed by Noora Khalifeh of Dar Noora.)
Even with this edition now officially ended, rumors continue to swirl on social media stating that festival director Intishal Al Timimi either stepped down or was fired, neither of which is true, and in fact Al Timimi will shortly be releasing proposed plans for the sixth edition in 2022. But it’s a measure of the problematic position of cultural bodies within Egypt in the current climate that the poisonous arrows of speculation rain so heavily and with such confusion. Perhaps it’s El Gouna’s newness as well as its heavy promotion of a red carpet presence (and therefore social media attention) that makes it so susceptible to such barbs. It will be interesting to see if the storied Cairo International Film Festival, with its 43rd edition in November, will face more scrutiny than it has in the past.