Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival closed its ninth edition on Friday, October 23, after nine days of screenings and industry events on the Red Sea coast. The closing ceremony spread the festival's top prizes across films from Egypt, Palestine, Japan and beyond.
The Golden Star for best narrative feature went to Safe Exit, directed by Mohamed Hammad. According to Variety, the psychological drama follows a young Coptic security guard in Cairo as he confronts trauma rooted in religious violence. The win gives the Egyptian film the festival's leading feature prize and a $50,000 award.
According to The Master Scene, the Silver Star for best narrative feature went to Japanese director Yukiko Sode's All the Lovers in the Night, while the documentary Golden Star went to Ahmed Hassouna's Citizen Osama, about a Gaza photojournalist balancing his work with family life during war. The short-film Golden Star went to Anders Davidsen's Stolen Memories. Jordan's Rakeen Saad won best actress and Jovan Ginić won best actor, according to Variety.
The festival's industry programme was also a central part of this year's edition. According to Variety, more than 320 projects applied for CineGouna Funding, with 19 selected projects receiving more than $350,000 across 40 awards, and participants holding more than 140 one-on-one meetings with companies, institutions and festivals.
What happens next will be watched by distributors and festival programmers. Award winners from El Gouna often gain a stronger profile on the international festival circuit, and Citizen Osama, as Palestine's Oscar entry, is likely to draw further attention in the awards season ahead.
Photo: Marc Ryckaert, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons