Engineer Naguib Sawiris founded the El Gouna Film Festival in 2017, in collaboration with actress and producer Bushra Rozza, international event organizer and CEO of I-Events Amr Mansi, and film producer Kamal Zadeh.
With the support of El Gouna founder Engineer Samih Sawiris, as well as many private sector sponsors, the initiative gained strength and momentum. The festival is organized under the auspices of Egypt's Ministry of Culture.
The mission of El Gouna Film Festival is to showcase a diverse range of films catering to a creative and well-versed audience. Designed for artists and filmmakers; GFF aspires to foster communication between cultures and filmmakers to benefit the industry and our region through the art of filmmaking, by connecting filmmakers from the region with their international counterparts in the spirit of cooperation and cultural exchange.
The festival is dedicated to the discovery of new voices and strives to be a catalyst for the development of cinema in the Arab world, particularly through its industry segment, CineGouna Platform.
Inspired by El Gouna’s diverse culture and picturesque environment, GFF is nestled in the midst of a groundbreaking cultural hub and the spectacular structure of the Gouna Conference and Culture Centre (Festival Plaza).