As the ninth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival wrapped in Egypt, the conversation among some of the country’s and region’s leading producers and filmmakers turned to what the industry needs next: better scripts and wider distribution to turn Egypt’s wealth of talent into films that find audiences both at home and abroad.
Egyptian cinema at El Gouna (Credits: Variety)
Egyptian Cinema’s Next Act: Better Scripts, Wider Distribution
Egyptian cinema once dominated film production across the Arab world, but output fell dramatically from its late-20th-century heights. According to figures from the Egyptian Chamber of Cinema Industry, the country produced 112 films in 1988, before output fell to just 16 a decade later.
More recently, production has shown signs of recovery, rising from 51 feature films in 2022 to 67 in 2023. Industry veterans at El Gouna argued that the next step is not just making more films, but making stronger ones — and getting them seen beyond Egypt’s borders.
El Gouna’s CineGouna Platform Grows
The festival’s industry arm, CineGouna, has become central to that effort. El Gouna co-founder and executive director Amr Mansi told Variety ahead of this year’s festival: “We want the industry to be our hero.” The ninth edition made good on that ambition, with more than 320 projects applying to CineGouna Funding and 19 selected projects receiving more than $350,000 across 40 awards.
CineGouna now spans Funding, Forum, Market and Emerge, its initiative for young talent, alongside a new Egyptian Voices development program for local filmmakers and an inaugural Series lab for Arab television projects. Yet gaps remain: CineGouna Funding head Ahmed Shawky pointed to the lack of national film funds in many Arab countries, limited co-production treaties and the volatility of regional funding. In Egypt, he noted, there is still no national film fund despite more than 4,000 features in a century of cinema history.
The message from El Gouna is clear: the talent is there, and the pipeline is growing. What Egyptian cinema needs now is the script development, funding stability and distribution reach to carry its next act to audiences across the region and the world.
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Source: Variety — read the full story there.
