El Gouna Artistic Director Andrew Mohsen Puts ‘Discovery’ First: ‘We’re Trying to Draw Attention’ to Overlooked Films

Andrew Mohsen is shaping his first edition as artistic director of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival around “discovery”, giving more attention to films and filmmakers that receive less international coverage. The approach builds on the festival’s established showcase for acclaimed titles while aiming to strengthen its role as a meeting point for Arab filmmakers and the global film industry.

Mohsen wants closer links between the festival’s selection and CineGouna, its industry and talent-development programme, and says El Gouna is approaching filmmakers earlier and investing through its own funding programme to compete for films. Last year, its narrative and documentary competitions each included only one non-Egyptian Arab film, the festival’s lowest regional representation to date. This year’s programme also gives more space to genre films and adds CineGouna Series, led by Egyptian screenwriter Mariam Naoum.