The El Gouna Film Festival reached its sixth day on Tuesday, October 20. The afternoon belonged to director Yousry Nasrallah and his masterclass. In the evening, two red carpets followed at Festival Plaza. An Egyptian psychological thriller opened the night. Then came a world premiere with two stars of Turkish television.
Yousry Nasrallah on “A Cinema of Reinvention”
The masterclass took place at 3 PM in the CineGouna Theater. Ahmed Amer moderated the session, which Barbershop Studio powered. The title, A Cinema of Reinvention, fits a career built on changing forms. Nasrallah’s Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story is also a special presentation at this year’s festival.
Red Carpet One: Safe Exit
Festival Plaza welcomed Safe Exit with a red carpet. Mohammed Hammad directed the Egyptian psychological thriller. It is his second feature. The film had its world premiere at the Berlinale in February, in the Panorama section. Variety reports that El Gouna Film Festival is its Egyptian debut.
The story follows Samaan, a young Christian caretaker of an apartment block in Cairo. ISIS murdered his parents, and he lives a solitary life marked by that trauma. Then fate pulls him into a dilemma. He must protect a young man suspected of terrorism who lives in the same building. Meanwhile, Fatima, a marginalised young woman living with epilepsy, brings a brief hope into his life.
Marwan Waleed, Noha Foad, Hazem Essam and Magda Mounir star. The 113-minute film is a co-production between Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Qatar and Germany. According to Variety, it is completely self-funded. Hammad says many studios in Egypt avoid this kind of subject.
Red Carpet Two: Spring in Imroz
second red carpet welcomed the world premiere of Spring in Imroz. Turkish director Özcan Alper made the 90-minute drama, which screens out of competition. Notably, it reunites Halit Ergenç and Meryem Uzerli after 15 years. The two starred together in the hit series Magnificent Century.
The film is set on the Turkish island of Gökçeada, known as Imroz. Arif, a 52-year-old writer with writer’s block, arrives for a month as part of a writer-in-residence program. There he meets Sonya, a 41-year-old woman who lost her husband and son three years earlier. Caught between the inadequacy of words and the silence of grief, the two begin to heal in each other’s quiet presence. Sky Films produced it.
Two Films About What Trauma Leaves Behind
The evening’s pairing was striking. Safe Exit is a tense thriller about inherited violence. By contrast, Spring in Imroz is a gentle drama about grief and renewal. Yet both ask how people live with loss. As a result, the night showed how wide the festival’s lineup runs.
What’s Next
Wednesday, October 21, brings the impact campaign session for The Voice of Hind Rajab and Joanna Hogg’s masterclass, which Andrew Mohsen moderates. On Thursday, Faouzi Bensaïdi gives his masterclass in the morning, and the Egypt Exports Laughter panel follows
