Last night, I went to the Marina Theater at 6:30PM, expecting to watch a screening of Hugh Welchman’s Leaving VIncent, an interesting sounding film about Van Gogh -- it was billed by the GFF program as the world’s first fully painted film -- but instead was treated to a viewing of Angelina Jolie’s First, They Killed My Father, based on Loung Ung memoir of her experiences as a 5-year old in Cambodia.  This is a long movie about the Khmer Rouge era. The film follows the tragic story of a young family that flees the takeover of Cambodia sometime in the mid to late 70s by the Pol Pot.  We see absolutely heart-breaking scenes of violence perpetrated  against children, and of course, their parents, many of whom who were slaughtered like cattle in Cambodia.   But  that is the problem with this film: the world, during the last 40 years, has already seen a number of really good  movies on this subject, and I am not sure what this film adds to what has alrea...

Dear Members, Participants and Fellows of the Community Forum El Gouna 2030, The 14 th  Community Forum El Gouna 2030 is a part of the program of TUB Campus El Gouna Opening Day 2017. At the same time, the celebration of five years’ journey of the community forum conjugate with the stream. Participants of this Forum will be the diversified stakeholders of the Forum (flyer attached).  14 th  Community Forum El Gouna 2030 Local climate change and urban planning in El Gouna Inputs from 5 YEARS Field RESEARCH of   FREIE UNIVERSITÄT Berlin     October 14 th  2017, 17:00 – 19:00 TU Berlin Campus El Gouna Please Register  here  or click the link: https://goo.gl/forms/NQiFFRwIgb3ctGtE3 Campus El Gouna has been cooperating with the Department of Meteorology of Freie Universität Berlin (FU) for last 5 years in the field of climatology. Every year in September, a group of FU students and researchers ...

Ziad Doueri’s (The Attack, 2013) is a trivial piece of Lebanese amuse-bouche mez-mez that uses serious recent political history in the Levant as a pretext for a talky, on-the-nose, contrived personal project. The Insult never manages to transcend its origins as a script idea rthat sprang from an incident the director had three years ago with a Palestinian worker in Beirut.  According to Doueri, who personally attended The Insult’s Gouna Film Festival screening at the Marina Theater on Sunday night, this film was co-written with someone whom he was in the middle of divorcing at the time. As the director explained after the screening, he and his co-scriptwriter were on opposite sides of the political spectrum, yet chose to switch sides and pen the dialog of the characters that represented the antithesis of their personal beliefs.  The setup for the movie unfolds when Tony (Adel Karam), an ill-mannered Christian hardass who exudes Bashir Gemayel-inspired Phalangist venom, t...

I’m an immigrant. So whenever I watch a movie about people like me, I look pretty hard to see if it knows anything about what it’s talking about, and doesn’t resort to cheap melodrama, or strike other sorts of false notes, in order to achieve some contrived effect or another. You won’t find any of that in Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side of Hope. What you will find is an off-the-wall drollness as a response to the crippling problems of forced immigration, as Old Europe’s foundations crumble, and it hangs on to obliviousness in the face of political reality. The movie features two protags. One is an over-the-hill shirt salesman from Helsinki named Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen), who separates from his drunkard, sullen wife -- her face ravaged by the years -- leaving his wedding ring before her on their tacky kitchen table, where she’s smoking cigs and sipping from a glass of liquid desperation.  Impassively, his wife drops Wikström’s ring ...

El Gouna Farms Co. is glad to announce the following product offer from 21/09/2017 till end of stock: buy three pieces of duck or two bottle of olive oil and get 10% discount. This offer is available in the Farm, El Gouna outlet and Hurghada outlets. Contact, opening hours and other products are here,  http://revuespot.com/vendor/el-gouna-farm/  ,for your easy home shopping available. Kind regards, The Information Center Team El Gouna Information Center El Gouna, Red Sea

The weather is stunningly beautiful here in Gouna. Don’t know where Gouna is? Well, it’s a posh Egyptian resort town on the Red Sea, not too far away from Hurghada, and this biatch is preparing to launch her first-ever film festival on Friday.  Zowee! Yesterday, I decided to roam, as in take a gander at where the Opening Feature will be screened on Friday at 8PM. It was a semi hard find, but when I got close to the area, I saw quite a few Egyptian workers lugging heavy stuff around.  I couldn’t quite make out where the theater was, though, so I asked one of them, and don’t you ever call them native bearers, and he answered ta’ala, which means come, or  follow me, in Arabic.  Entering through makeshift plywood entrance, I suddenly was in a smallish open theater that was being built from scratch. (Gouna News Note : We would like to bring to your attention, that the public viewing screen for the op...

The Gouna Film festival, 1st Edition, runs from the 22nd to the 29th of September in El Gouna, Egypt.  Gouna News is pleased to present reviews of most of the films at the Gouna Film Festival (GFF).  Our own 'Aly' will be writing the reviews.  Aly is an experienced writer covering Film Festivals. He was a film reviewer for Eye for Film, a well known UK ezine, for 4 years covering mostly the New York City Tribeca Film Festival.  As Gouna News is a weekly e-paper and the GFF will span one week, we will cover the festival daily in a special section being updated daily.  So please return everyday to Gouna News (under headline Gouna Film Festival) for latest updates on the First Edition of the Gouna Film Festival.  To return to Gouna News - Press Here

Welcome to El Gouna International School (EGIS) 2017-2018 The new School Board of El Gouna International School has appointed a School Principal to manage both the International and National Sections, Ms. Maha Shenouda.   Along with this appointment is a renewed Mission Statement that focuses on essential Core Values to build our students’ future growth and fuel their dreams to succeed: Excellence, Loyalty, Grit, Optimism, Unity, Nurturing and Achievement, which uniquely spell out the acronym EL GOUNA!   Get to know our new school Mission and Vision with a newly developed Parent-Student Staff Handbook 2017-18. Welcome to a new EGIS!  Fly high with beautiful colours!

Soufra Poster-El-Gouna Film Festival Official Facebook Page By:  Egypt Today staff Sun, Sep. 10, 2017     CAIRO - 10 September 2017: “Soufra” documentary will premier internationally for the first time in El-Gouna Film Festival documentary film competition. The documentary’s storyline is about an old refugee camp housing refugees from Palestine, Syria and Iraq named Burj al-Barajneh in South of Beirut, Lebanon. Mariam al-Shaar, one of the refugees has pulled the women of the camp together to do what has never been done before, as she encourages them to create a food truck. Their journey contains a lot of ups and downs, but their hopes and dreams move them forward.  El-Gouna Film Festival in its first edition is headed by the Iraqi critic Inteshal al-Tamimi with the slogan, “Cinema for Humanity". Emerging Arab and Egyptian filmmakers gear up to participate in the first anticipated edition of the GFF, which will run between September 22 and...

By:  Egypt Today staff Mon, Sep. 11, 2017 CAIRO- 11 September 2017: “Manifesto” will screen for the first time in the MENA region in the first edition of El Gouna Film Festival. Acclaimed actress Cate Blanchett plays 13 different roles in the film, performing different manifestos. The film integrates multiple types of artist manifestos, dating back to different eras with contemporary scenarios. The portrayals are made through the different characters, which include a schoolteacher, factory worker, choreographer, newsreader, scientist, puppeteer, widow, and a homeless man. Emerging and established Arab and Egyptian filmmakers alike are gearing up to participate in the first anticipated edition of the Gouna Film Festival, which will run from September 22 to September 29 at El Gouna, Hurghada. Displaying an array of works from around the globe including Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, France, Italy, Finland, Switzerland, the United States, Russia, India and Japan, the festival is promoti...

La Maison Bleue management was very pleased to welcome several Gounies over the past few weeks, whom have enjoyed our weekly Candlelight Dinners or spent some good times around our pool, and we were thrilled for all the great feedback we have received. Our doors are open with love, and we would be honored to welcome you all at our house over any time. Come and enjoy La Maison Bleue, and don’t miss out on our  special candlelight dinners every Tuesday. Furthermore, we are now launching our new  “LMB Pool BBQ” , with chill-out music, delicious BBQ, and cold beers, enjoy this amazing chill out every Saturday between 2 to 6pm. Be part of La Masion Bleue’s community, and share great memories at our house Ca ll us now to reserve your table at  012 8359 1110

Dear El Gouna Homeowners and Residents, It is our pleasure to announce the launch of our newly established Quality Assurance Department in El Gouna. This department’s main concern is to maintain and further improve El Gouna’s standards and meeting your expectations and satisfaction. The Quality Assurance Department will be responsible to monitor the following: • Go-Bus. • Budget. • TokTok companies. • Pest control. • Cleaning company. • Backyards of restaurants in residential areas. It is also through valuable comments, received from any of our valuable Owners, that we are able to rectify any shortfall, if any. Please feel free to contact us for reporting any case, through the following emails: • Mr. Mark : mark.michel@elgouna.com • Customer Service : customer.services@elgouna.com Thank you for your kind support. Respectfully yours, Customer Services Department El Gouna  A Destination by Orascom Hotels & ...

The Gouna Owners Club Committee met yesterday. We were pleased that Customer Services are now issuing Residents Cards to those who rent property long-term in El Gouna.  As we have always argued, long-term renters contribute throughout the year to the businesses in El Gouna and should enjoy similar benefits to owners. We noted the ever growing membership of the Gouna Owners Club Facebook page, administered by Committee Member, Christiana Taghian, and the surge in applications to join the Gouna Owners Club.  The Club aims to complement the work of Customer Services by working with Orascom management to resolve issues affecting the quality of life in El Gouna. We discussed a number of such issues raised by our members and we will be meeting with El Gouna managers over the coming weeks to find solutions.  Members can rest assured that the Committee is working hard for us all!  If anyone is interested in joining the GOUNA OWNERS CLUB, which is sepa...

Scene from ‘Volubilis’ (Still from trailer) Sun, Sep. 3, 2017     CAIRO - 3 September 2017: The Moroccan film ‘Volubilis’ is participating in the first edition of El Gouna International Film Festival. The Festival will last from September 22 to September 29. The film was released in 2016 and was directed by Faouzi Bensaidi who is known for ‘Death for Sale’ (2011) The story of the movie shines the light on love relationships in the Moroccan society and the differences between the Moroccan social classes. A couple who love each other madly, get married and try to move in together. They meet a number of financial and social problems that change everything in their relationship. The movie was rated as a promising movie in the Moroccan cinematic scene by a number of critics and newspapers. The film screened for the first time at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. 

Scene from ‘Son of Sofia’ (Photo courtesy of IMDB) By:  Egypt Today staff Sun, Sep. 3, 2017     CAIRO – 3 September 2017: The Greek movie ‘Son of Sofia’ (2017) is participating in El Gouna International Film Festival. The Festival will kick off on September 22 to September 29. It was directed and written by Elina Psykou, starred by Victor Khomut, and Valery Tscheplanowa. The events of the film took place in 2004, after a Russian family moved to Greece while the Olympic Games were taking part. Misha, the 11 year boy finds himself far away his identity and roots, and his mother who marries a new husband that makes him feel unwelcome. The boy’s mind escapes to the dark side of fairytales in the midst of his psychological crisis. The film participated in a number of international festivals such as Sarajevo Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival. It won the Special Jury Award in Los Angeles Greek Film Festival and Best International Narrative Featur...

Fragment from promotional media (official event page) By:  Egypt Today staff   Sat, Sep. 2, 2017     CAIRO – 2 September 2017: El Gouna Film Festival is giving aspiring filmmakers the opportunity to participate in a workshop held by Tayarah. The application deadline is September 10.  If participants have an idea for a short film that they feel will be their breakthrough, this workshop is the place to go. This workshop will be aspiring filmmakers’ ticket to the online world. The selected participants will be announced on September 15.  The workshop committee is comprised of a combination of prominent filmmakers and film specialists with experience in the digital industry. If your submission is chosen, it will be produced in 2018. 

and  Egypt Today staff   (Click HERE for original article) Fri, Sep. 1, 2017     Cairo-September 1-2017: Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawaris, the main sponsor of El Gouna Film Festival, revealed the reason behind choosing “Cinema for Humanity” as El Gouna Film Festival’s (GFF) slogan. “Seeing that the world is suffering from serious conflicts across different regions, art has always been a mean of uniting people and, thus, we have chosen the theme ‘Cinema for Humanity’ as we aspire the festival to have a positive impact on our society at large,” he said in the GFF’s official Instagram account. Emerging Arab and Egyptian filmmakers gear up to participate in the first anticipated edition of the GFF, which will run between September 22 and September 29 at El Gouna, Hurghada. Sponsored by the Egyptian Culture Ministry and the Egyptian Tourism Authority, the GFF seeks to foster different cinematic voices and generate opportunities to further deve...