Xinhua/English.news.cn
by Mahmoud Fouly
HURGHADA, Egypt, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The entrance of the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of El Gouna as well as its streets, squares and even hotels all have featured colored or light posters of the first edition of El Gouna Film Festival (GFF), a new event that is meant to revive the cinema industry in most populous Arab country.
Held from Sept. 22 to 29, the GFF is mainly founded and funded by business tycoons Naguib Sawiris and his brother Samih Sawiris who is the founder of the two-decade-old town of El Gouna north of Egypt's world famous Hurghada resort city.
"The cinema is among the oldest industries that entered Egypt, at the same time when Hollywood started its black-and-white cinema. So, my brother and I have always had the desire to revive such a heritage and return Egypt to its filmmaking leading role in the Middle East at least," Samih Sawiris told Xinhua during the gala.
Under the slogan of "Cinema for Humanity," the GFF screens at least 69 films from about 40 countries around the world, including 16 feature films, 18 short films and 12 long documentaries, in addition to 19 films outside the official competition and four in a special program.
The GFF's opening film is "Sheikh Jackson" for promising Egyptian filmmaker Amr Salama. It tackles the issue of human inner conflict inside a society of contradictions through the life of a bearded young cleric who has an old passion for pop music and was once nicknamed by his friends as "Jackson," referring to his former idol, late pop star Michael Jackson.
"The festival actually looks glamorous and impressive and my expectations of it are very high. I am proud that the opening film of the first GFF is mine and I hope that the audience will like it when it is screened today," Salama told Xinhua on the red carpet.
The new festival brings together Egyptian, Arab and international superstars and moviemakers including top Egyptian and Arab comedian Adel Imam, who has received the Career Achievement Award during the opening night, veteran Egyptian actresses Yousra and Elham Shahin, Arab stars Hend Sabry and Hiam Abbass and Hollywood stars Michael Madsen, Dylan McDermott and Oscar-winning actor-director Forest Whitaker who will receive an honorary award later during the gala.
Golden Globe Award winner McDermott told Xinhua that the opening ceremony is beautiful, the event is very well organized and the GFF "has a chance of becoming the Cannes of the Middle East," referring to France's renowned Cannes Film Festival.
Hand in hand, Syrian actress Kinda Alloush and her husband, Egyptian actor Amr Youssef, walked on the red carpet and waved to their fans and the media while seeming very excited and enthusiastic about the GFF.
"We are very enthusiastic as the organization of the event is so wonderful and universal. Also, El Gouna is a very special place for us that we love so much and we are so proud that it hosts such a high level film festival," Alloush said.
Some world superstars would think twice about visiting Egypt due to what they hear from the media about the country's security conditions after going through political instability followed by a wave of terrorist activities over the past few years.
"This is a wrong belief and the media does not necessarily tell the truth," said Egyptian actress Bushra, one of the initiators of the GFF idea, stressing that art is a strong weapon against terror and violence.
She added that holding such film festivals in Egypt as communication bridges through a peaceful common language like cinema conveys the message that Egypt is a safe country with friendly people.
The GFF seeks to bring filmmakers together from around the globe in a cinematic event with various activities and panel discussions that would provide further opportunities for filmmaking joint projects.
Among the gala's activities is "Tayarah" workshop that is meant
to encourage young filmmakers and screenwriters to produce online-based short films. Tayarah received more than 700 short film projects that have been narrowed down to five before the festival kicked off.
The workshop concluded with announcing "Fork and Knife" short film project by Adam Abdel-Ghaffar as winner and Tayarah will produce it for online distribution in 2018.
Cairo-based Tunisian actress Hend Sabry, Tayarah jury panel member, said that the workshop has held partnership with the GFF to provide opportunities every year to screenwriting talents who might be unable to communicate with production companies to bring their works to light.
"The winning script will be produced by Tayarah and will be screened at the following GFF every year. So, Tayarah workshop celebrates talented scriptwriters and filmmakers to prepare them to meet the needs of regional online TV networks planned to open in the near future," the Tunisian actress told Xinhua.
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