Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival Announces Special Edition Featuring Focus On Palestinian Cinema

deadline.com:

Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, which put its sixth edition on hold in October due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, has announced it will run a special edition from December 14 to 21.

The festival, unfolding in its namesake Red Sea resort of El Gouna, announced the news on its website over the weekend. The revised edition will feature a special focus on Palestinian cinema, put together with the Palestine Film Institute, “aiming to shed light on the current situation and inhumane conditions in Gaza,” the event said. “Additionally, a fundraising dinner is planned to gather donations for humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza in coordination with the Egyptian Red Crescent during the festival.” The festival, which mixes show biz glamor with support of the region’s indie cinema scene, said it would not be running its famously glitzy red carpets this year. “This edition will be held without any celebrations, reaffirming El Gouna Film Festival’s solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the festival said.

El Gouna was among a number of Middle East and North Africa film festivals put on ice in October due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, sparked by a Hamas terror attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the taking of more than 240 hostages.

Israel’s retaliatory blockade of the Gaza Strip and military campaign aimed at wiping out Hamas and getting the hostages home, has displaced two-thirds of the Palestinian territory’s 2.3 million population and killed 15,000 people, according to the latest figures of the Hamas-controlled health authorities.