"El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) proudly announces that the 6th edition of the festival will take place in El Gouna, one of Orascom Development’s fully integrated sustainable towns on the Red Sea, from October 13 to 20, 2023," reads the official press release.
The announcement comes after the festival's 2022 edition was postponed indefinitely.
The decision to postpone the festival – which was announced in June 2022 – took many cinephiles by surprise since GFF organisers had already prepared to host the sixth edition in October 2022.
The postponement also followed a few resignations from the GFF's management team.
In March 2022, British-Egyptian singer and actress Bushra Rozza stepped down as chief operating officer of the festival after serving in the post for five years to move on to “new challenges.”
The festival's artistic director, filmmaker, director, and screenwriter Amir Ramses resigned from his post during the festival's fifth edition (October 2021) right before the closing ceremony.
Ramses later released a statement saying, "after five years of working on the festival, [I am] ready to embark on a new journey and confident that I leave a team capable of doing a great job."
In March 2022, Ramses became the director of the Cairo International Film Festival’s 44th edition — which run under Hussein Fahmy’s presidency in November 2022.
The announcement of the festival's return does not clarify the names to replace Bushra Rozza and Amir Ramses.
It does state, however, that Amr Mansi, the festival's co-founder and entrepreneur, "who played a pivotal role in the establishment and success of GFF, will be its new Executive Director." Mansi succeeds Amal El-Masri, who served as the festival’s Executive Director during the 4th and 5th editions.
"The short one-year break allowed GFF’s management to reflect on the artistic and organisational aspects of the festival and to focus on consolidating the role GFF has played so far in the development of the film industry regionally and internationally," reads the press release.
The festival will continue to be held under the patronage of El Gouna Founder, Engineer Samih Sawiris and will be presented by Orascom Development, a leading developer of fully integrated destinations in Europe and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with the support of Festival Founder, Engineer Naguib Sawiris.
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