El Gouna Film Festival announces new revised dates

The annual festival, now in its fourth year, has been pushed back by a month

Egyptian actress Bushra Rozza poses on the red carpet during the premier of the film '1982' at the the El Gouna Film Festival in 2019. This year, the festival announced it will be taking place in OctoShow more

Organisers of El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) have announced new dates for the returning festival. Now in its fourth year, the event has been pushed back a month and will run from Friday, October 23, to Saturday, October 31.

The annual film festival, which takes place in the Egyptian resort city of El Gouna, was originally scheduled to take place in September.

So far, 800 projects in development and in post-production have been submitted and the festival programme is expected to be revealed by the end of September.

“Several film festivals have been impacted by the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic and their return to the scene will send a positive signal that the world is on its way to normalcy,” said Intishal Al Timimi, the festival director, in a statement.

“At GFF, we choose to live in this hope and positivity and continue our commitment to make a contribution to the development of cinema internationally and in the region and to ensure a safe yet enjoyable experience for all participants.”

Organisers said that the festival will take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of participants.

Egyptian actress and festival co-founder Bushra Rozza said that they are constantly studying how they “may adapt to the current situation and continue to play their roles in developing the industry regionally and internationally".

This year, the festival is expected to be the first public event to be held at the new Gouna Conference and Culture Centre which features 8,000 square metres of open space. The programme will include some online activities as well.

"Our team participated in the virtual Marche du Film, not only to meet sales agents and producers to source their films, but also to study the experience of a digital-only film market.”