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El Gouna Film Festival Unveils Highlights of 6th Edition

Marianne Khoury, GFF artistic director, speaks during the press event. (El Gouna Film Festival).
Marianne Khoury, GFF artistic director, speaks during the press event. (El Gouna Film Festival).
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El Gouna Film Festival Unveils Highlights of 6th Edition

Marianne Khoury, GFF artistic director, speaks during the press event. (El Gouna Film Festival).
Marianne Khoury, GFF artistic director, speaks during the press event. (El Gouna Film Festival).

El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) unveiled the highlights of its sixth edition set to be held from 13 to 20 October. In a press event on Monday, the festival announced it is hosting a “film market”, for the first time, in addition to several new initiatives including the “CineGouna Emerge”.

The festival returns after a one-year hiatus, which according to Intishal al-Timimi, director of GFF, didn’t affect it, but highlighted its importance on the cinematic scene. He also noted that the void the festival left and its comeback reflected the success of its past five editions, and the sturdy foundations on which it stood since its debut in 2017.

Timimi said he’s committed to maintaining the power of GFF despite the serious competition among the Arabic film festivals, which start with the Gouna festival and ends with the Red Sea Film Festival separated by short time intervals.

This year, the Feature Narrative Competition includes 14 films. The jury of the competition is headed by Bosnian Director Jasmila Žbanić.

The GFF program also includes 12 films in the Feature Documentary Competition, 21 films in the Short Film Competition, and 17 films in the Official Selection Out of Competition section.

Also, 13 films compete for the GFF's annual Cinema for Humanity Audience Award, while five compete for El Gouna Green Star Award dedicated to the best work covering environmental causes.

Eng. Naguib Sawiris, the festival founder, said “the city of Gouna is the key behind the festival’s success. Cinema makes happiness and we need that,” noting that he’s passionate about movies and that he watches four films a day. Sawiris said the festival has succeeded since its first edition thanks to good intentions and teamwork.

Marianne Khoury, GFF artistic director, announced that 80 films are partaking in the festival, some of them won international awards. She also said that the festival received a total of 160 submissions, and the committee selected 20 projects — 13 in development and 7 in post-production, adding that 14 films will be screened simultaneously with the GFF as part of the “Zawya Cinema”, so the audience in Cairo can watch them. Yousra, the esteemed actress and member of the International Advisory Committee, called on the media to give the festival’s major segments, workshops and events the same attention usually given to the Red Carpet.

Amr Mansi, GFF executive director, said he is betting on a different edition that serves the cinema industry and puts it on par with tourism. “We were concerned about the economic situation and the lack of sponsor, but we saw a remarkable enthusiasm from the old sponsors and those who have joined as for the first time,” he added.

The press event was also attended by filmmaker Marwan Hamed, who will be handed the 2023 Career Achievement Award; and filmmaker Amr Salamah who partakes in the festival with his film “60 Pound” in the short film competition. El Gouna Film Bridge includes a panel with artist Hend Sabry, and a lecture on production with American producer Ted Hope, in addition to a number of discussion panels on topics like influential filmmaking, storytelling and climate, and the Egyptian cinema.

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Varieties

Tunisia's Sandy Beaches Eaten away by Coastal Erosion

A man looks on as a digger spreads sand on a beach in the tourist town of Hammamet as authorities fight to protect the coast from rising sea levels and erosion. FETHI BELAID / AFP
A man looks on as a digger spreads sand on a beach in the tourist town of Hammamet as authorities fight to protect the coast from rising sea levels and erosion. FETHI BELAID / AFP
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Tunisia's Sandy Beaches Eaten away by Coastal Erosion

A man looks on as a digger spreads sand on a beach in the tourist town of Hammamet as authorities fight to protect the coast from rising sea levels and erosion. FETHI BELAID / AFP
A man looks on as a digger spreads sand on a beach in the tourist town of Hammamet as authorities fight to protect the coast from rising sea levels and erosion. FETHI BELAID / AFP

In Tunisia's seaside town of Hammamet, bulldozers diligently shovel sand from a nearby desert onto a popular beach in an attempt to stop it from disappearing due to erosion.
"This beach is the postcard image of Hammamet," said environmentalist Chiheb Ben Fredj peering nostalgically at the town's iconic Yasmine beach.
"It has been seared in our minds since our childhood," he added, as laborers worked to restore the central Tunisian waterfront to its former sandy glory, reported Agence France Presse.
Like many other coastal areas in North Africa, severe erosion has led to many of Hammamet's sandy beaches vanishing in recent years, taking a toll on the holiday hotspot about 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of the capital Tunis.
Coastlines across the world are in a constant natural flux, with the seas claiming and depositing sediment.
But human activity, including coastal property development and offshore sand mining, significantly accelerates beach erosion.
Among other impacts, construction and coastal defenses in one area can stop sediment from traveling along a coastline, leaving existing beaches deprived of new material.
Studies have also shown the impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures and sea levels, exacerbate the phenomenon.
Tourism draw
In the Mediterranean, where the British National Oceanography Centre says sea levels have risen at a higher rate over the past 20 years than the entirety of the 20th century, shorelines are changing rapidly.
The sea is also warming 20 percent faster than the rest of the world, according to the United Nations.
Tunisia's coastline has been a major asset for the Mediterranean country with a struggling economy, as it aims to host some 10 million tourists this year.
Tourism accounts for up to 14 percent of the country's GDP, providing tens of thousands of jobs in a country where unemployment tops 16 percent and 40 percent among young people.
Tunisia has already lost more than 90 kilometers of beaches to erosion, according to official figures from last year.
Of the country's 570 kilometers of sandy beaches suitable for swimming, 190 kilometers are at imminent risk of disappearing, according to Tunisian reports.
A majority of the beaches most affected by erosion are located near cities.
Tunisia's environmental groups, as well as the government's Coastal Protection and Development Agency (APAL), blame the rapid erosion mostly on human activity and construction on the coast, which they say is further aggravated by climate change.
"Construction projects have not been designed to respect coastal dynamics," an APAL official told AFP.
'Not sustainable'
To save the Hammamet beach, one of Tunisia's worst-affected according to the World Bank, authorities last month began trucking in around 750 lorry loads filled with sand from the inland desert province of Kairouan, about 110 kilometers away.
APAL, which operates under the environment ministry, was in a race against time to refill the beach before the peak of tourist season.
But while the rebuilding of beaches, known as beach nourishment, may be a quick fix, "it's not a sustainable solution", said Ben Fredj.
"This sand may not last long," added the secretary general of the Environmental Education Association.
"It can be swallowed in a few days in the event of a storm", he said, as was the case in the summer of 2023.
The process can also prove expensive.
Coastal authorities estimated the cost of restoring sand to three beaches in Hammamet, Monastir and Sfax at 3.9 million Tunisian dinars ($1.25 million).
But for locals, restoring their priceless seafront is worth the money.
The Yasmine beach "is a showcase for Hammamet," said Narjess Bouasker, who runs the town's Menara hotel and leads the regional hotel federation.
"We must take back our beach that the sea has swallowed," she said, calling for a balance between safeguarding the landscape, cherished by locals and foreign visitors alike, and fighting coastal erosion.
"For us, the priority is not to touch the beauty of the city," she said.
Bouasker said she has seen increasing awareness among authorities, but refilling beaches with sand is still a gamble.
"We don't know how the sea will react", she added.