El Gouna Artistic Director Marianne Khoury on Festival’s Full Return: ‘If I Am Convinced Something Needs to Happen, It Will Happen’
variety.comRafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor After canceling the 2022 edition for a “reset” and postponing the 2023 edition from October to December due to the war in Gaza, the El Gouna Film Festival is back in full force for its seventh edition, taking place between Oct.
24-Nov. 1 in the Egyptian resort town. The postponements and uncertainty challenged artistic director Marianne Khoury, who started at the job a few months before the festival’s sixth iteration and took over from Amir Ramses. “Last year was difficult because we had to postpone it three times but, in the end, we had a really nice edition,” Khoury told Variety. “I think I joined at a good time when there was a need to change,” she added. “El Gouna started strong.
The program was always strong but the media always concentrated the coverage on the glamor and red carpet. When I joined, I wanted to rebalance that a little bit and have the right coverage on all the programs, not just the glitz and glamor.” One of the leading film festivals in the Middle East and North Africa region, this year’s El Gouna will feature some of the most prominent films of the year’s festival circuit, including Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes-winning “The Substance,” and Pedro Almodóvar’s Golden Lion-winning “The Room Next Door.” Amongst Arab highlights, audiences will be able to see Nabil Ayouch’s Cannes Premiere breakout “Everybody Loves Touda,” Meryam Joobeur’s Berlinale competition title “Who Do I Belong To” and Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir’s “The Brink of Dreams,” which won the Golden Eye Award for best documentary at Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
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