Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is Back After One Year Hiatus
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival will be back this year after being put on hiatus in 2022. Organizers have announced that the prominent Arab fest’s 6th edition will take place in the Red Sea resort town Oct. 13-20, while the fest’s industry arm the CineGouna Platform, will run Oct. 15-19. The fest, which was launched in 2017 by Egyptian telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris – whose brother Samih built the El Gouna resort in a swathe of desert near Hurghada, a tourist town 250 miles south of Cairo – had been cancelled last year after five successful editions. Though no reason was given, the one year break was possibly due to Egypt’s Red Sea area is being impacted by the war between Russia and Ukraine, whose citizens represent about 40% of beach tourists who travel to Egypt annually.