El Gouna Film Festival Unveils First 10 Films for Its Ninth Edition

The El Gouna Film Festival has announced the first 10 films selected for its ninth edition, bringing together an international lineup featuring acclaimed filmmakers, emerging directors and award winning productions from some of the world’s leading film festivals.

The festival is scheduled to take place from October 15 to 23 in El Gouna, Egypt, a Red Sea resort that has increasingly established itself as an important meeting point for filmmakers, actors, producers and cinema audiences from the region and around the world.

The first selection reflects the festival’s broad international ambitions, with films coming from Europe, Asia, North America, Africa and Latin America. Several of the titles have already received major recognition at Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, Karlovy Vary and other prominent festivals.

Among the most anticipated selections is Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “All of a Sudden,” a French, Japanese, German and Belgian production starring Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto.

The film focuses on a nursing home director working in the suburbs of Paris who attempts to introduce a more humane approach to caring for residents. Her professional efforts encounter resistance, while an unexpected meeting with a terminally ill Japanese playwright changes the direction of her life.

The film received significant recognition at Cannes, where Efira and Okamoto shared the Best Actress award, adding to the anticipation surrounding its screening in El Gouna.

Another major title in the lineup is “Fatherland,” directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, the filmmaker known internationally for “Ida” and “Cold War.”

The German, Polish, Italian and French production stars Sandra Hüller and Hanns Zischler as Erika and Thomas Mann. Set against the backdrop of postwar Europe, the film follows the pair during a journey that explores family, history and the complicated atmosphere of a continent rebuilding itself after conflict.

Pawlikowski received a shared Best Director award at Cannes for the film, making “Fatherland” one of the most prominent titles in the initial El Gouna selection.

The festival will also screen “American Doctor,” directed by Poh Si Teng. The documentary follows three American doctors from different backgrounds who travel to Gaza to provide medical assistance. Their experiences eventually lead them to confront difficult realities beyond their medical mission.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and subsequently received the Amnesty International Award and the Peter Wintonick Audience Award at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival.

Its inclusion gives the festival lineup a strong documentary and humanitarian dimension, while highlighting the role of cinema in examining major political and social issues.

“The Garden We Dreamed,” directed by Joaquín del Paso, brings another distinctive perspective to the program. The film follows a Haitian family that settles in a Mexican forest affected by illegal logging.

Amid an increasingly difficult environment, the family attempts to build a life while discovering moments of love, hope and resilience. The film was presented at the Berlinale and received the Golden Biznaga for Best Ibero American Film at the Málaga International Film Festival. Del Paso also received Silver Biznaga recognition for Best Director, while the film earned another Silver Biznaga for cinematography.

The selection also introduces audiences to emerging filmmaking voices.

Danish filmmaker Mads Mengel makes his feature debut with “The Guest,” a family drama centered on new parents preparing to reveal their baby’s name. Their plans are disrupted when the father’s estranged mother unexpectedly arrives.

The film combines family tensions with questions about relationships and unresolved personal history. At the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Mengel received the Best Director award, while the film also won a special jury prize.

Another debut comes from Myrsini Aristidou with “Hold Onto Me,” a Cyprus, Denmark and Greece co production.

The story follows an 11 year old girl who searches for the estranged father she barely knows. Her journey gradually develops into a relationship between a child and a parent separated by years of distance.

The film was recognized at Sundance with the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic category, adding further attention to Aristidou’s first feature.

International star Juliette Binoche headlines “Queen at Sea,” directed by Lance Hammer. The United Kingdom and United States production explores the pressures placed on a family as a mother’s dementia progresses.

As her condition advances, the family is forced to confront difficult questions about responsibility, independence and who should ultimately determine what is best for her.

The film received the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder Marshall also shared a Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.

Austria’s official submission for the Best International Feature category at the 2027 Academy Awards is also part of the El Gouna lineup.

“Rose,” directed by Markus Schleinzer, follows a mysterious stranger who enters a village devastated by war and presents himself as its new farmer. Beneath the apparently simple arrival lies a much more ambitious deception.

Sandra Hüller, who stars in the film, received the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlinale, further strengthening the film’s international profile.

The documentary “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” brings a different kind of investigation to the festival. Directed by William Lafi Youmans and Jason Osder, the film revisits the unresolved bombing that killed Palestinian American community leader Alex Odeh four decades ago.

The documentary follows a journalist who reopens the case and investigates previously hidden records while attempting to understand why the killing has remained unresolved for so long.

The film received the Jury Award for Journalistic Excellence and the Producers Award for Nonfiction at Sundance.

Completing the first 10 titles is “Yellow Letters,” directed by İlker Çatak. The German and French production examines the relationship between a celebrated artist couple after an incident during the premiere of their play attracts the attention of state authorities.

The film received the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, giving the El Gouna program another major award winning production.

The diversity of the initial selection demonstrates the festival’s intention to combine established international filmmakers with emerging voices. The films cover family relationships, identity, migration, war, political pressure, personal responsibility, social injustice and the pursuit of truth.

El Gouna artistic director Andrew Mohsen said the films are connected through themes including family and identity, as well as the courage required to protect those values or pursue difficult truths.

The festival has become an increasingly important platform for international cinema in Egypt and the wider Middle East. Its location on the Red Sea also provides an opportunity for filmmakers and audiences from different parts of the global film industry to meet outside the traditional European and North American festival circuit.

With several of the first 10 films already carrying major festival awards, expectations are high for the ninth edition.

Organizers are expected to announce additional selections in the coming weeks, expanding what is already shaping up to be a diverse international program.

The final lineup will determine the full competitive and non competitive structure of this year’s festival, but the first announcement already establishes a strong foundation featuring acclaimed directors, promising newcomers, major performances and films tackling subjects that extend well beyond national borders.

For audiences in Egypt and international visitors attending the October event, the ninth El Gouna Film Festival is set to offer an opportunity to experience some of the year’s most talked about films alongside new discoveries from filmmakers emerging on the global cinema scene.

Courtesy: variety