The Brink of Dreams and The Inevitable Journey to Find a Wedding Dress will be screened in the Documentary Feature Competition and the Narrative Feature Competition, respectively.

The Brink of Dreams (Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) is directed by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir, alumni of the sixth edition of CineGouna Funding (formerly CineGouna Springboard), 2023.

The film got its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival (14-25 May), where it won the Golden Eye Documentary Prize and was nominated for the Critics' Week Grand Prize.

In El Gouna, the film will have its MENA premiere.

Starring Haidi Sameh, Monika Youssef, and Majda Masoud, the film's plot revolves around an all-female, all-Coptic theatre troupe who challenge their traditional backgrounds.

The Inevitable Journey to Find a Wedding Dress will have its world premiere at the El Gouna festival.

Starring Asmaa Galal, Yasmin Raeis, Salwa Mohamed Ali, and Ahmed Khaled Saleh, the film tells the story of a bride named Warda who searches for a white dress on her wedding eve, which leads her to rediscover the metropolis and her relationship with it. 

It is the first feature-length film written and directed by Jaylan Auf, a filmmaker known for the short films My Festival (2017) and Turning Ten (2018). 

The latter short was nominated to several awards and won Egypt's edition of Shnit Worldwide Shortfilmfestival (2019).

Filmmaker Marianne Khoury is the festival's artistic director; Amr Mansi is its executive director.

Film critic Andrew Mohsen was announced as head of the festival's programming.

The festival is held under the patronage of El Gouna founder Samih Sawiris.

It will be presented by Orascom Development, a leading developer of fully integrated destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, with the support of festival founder Naguib Sawiris.