Before the 5th edition of the widely celebrated film festival of the year, El Gouna Film Festival, we dive into the International Advisory Panel that has been appointed this year.
Youssra
Actress, Egypt
A true icon of Egyptian cinema, Youssra has gained international recognition through her prolific and illustrious career, as both an actress and a singer. Recipient of numerous awards for her work, she has starred in many films that have participated in international festivals. EL Gouna Film Festival
She has also been invited to serve as a jury member at numerous prestigious film events. In 2006, Youssra was chosen to be a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program.
Atiq Rahimi
Author, Film Director, France, Afghanistan
Atiq Rahimi, born in Kabul in 1962, is a French-Afghan writer and filmmaker. In addition to his insightful, thought-provoking novels, some of his works have gone on to become award-winning films.
In 2004, he won the Prix du Regard vers l’Avenir at the Cannes Film Festival, for his debut film Earth and Ashes, based on his own book. In 2012, Rahimi directed an award-winning film adaptation of the book The Patience Stone from a screenplay he co-authored with Jean- Claude Carrière.
FOREST WHITAKER
Actor, USA
American actor Forest Whitaker has accrued more than 50 international acting performance awards, among them an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a New York Film Critics Circle Award for his portrayal of former Ugandan president Idi Amin in Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland (2006).
Committed to supporting humanitarian causes, Whitaker is the founder of the International Institute for Peace and the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative and is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation, and a UNESCO Special Envoy working to combat poverty and hunger.
Hend Sabry
Actress, Tunisia
Tunisian-born Hend Sabry, who is a resident of Cairo, has garnered international acclaim through her performances in diverse film roles, working alongside some of Egypt’s leading directors.
Recipient of numerous awards for her memorable performances, she has also dedicated herself to humanitarian causes. In 2010, she was chosen to be a UN World Food Programme Ambassador and has been working for years to raise awareness on hunger in the region.
Hiam Abbass
Actress, Writer, Film Director, Palestine
Hiam Abbass was born and raised in a village in northern Galilee. After studying photography in Haifa, Abbass moved to France in the late 1980s and embarked on her career as an actress.
Throughout her career, she has worked with prominent filmmakers of many nationalities, including her work as an adviser to Stephen Spielberg during the filming of Munich (2005) and to Alejandro G. Iñárritu for his film Babel (2006), she has directed three short movies.
Margarethe Von Trotta
Actress, Filmmaker, Germany
Actress, writer and film director Margarethe von Trotta began her career in cinema as an actress, before going on to co-script works with Volker Schlöndorff with whom she co-directed The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1975).
Her subsequent works dealt with recurring themes of the complexities of female bonding and the uses and effects of violence. In 1981 von Trotta gained international acclaim with Marianne and Juliane, also known as The German Sisters. It was the first film directed by a woman to win the Golden Lion at Venice since Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia (1938).
Tarak Ben Ammar
Producer, Distributor, Tunisia, France
Tarak Ben Ammar and his studio Carthago Films, launched in 1975, have been instrumental in promoting Tunisia as a shooting destination. He provided production services to many high-profile films, then in the early 90s, he started to transition from servicing and production to media business.
He has produced or co-produced more than 70 movies, and has developed a group presence in several countries, including France, Italy, North Africa and the United States.
Mohamed Malas
Film Director, Syria
Born in 1945 in the town of Quneitra in the Golan, Mohamad Malas represents the Syrian cinéma d’auteur. The turmoil and conflict he witnessed while growing up is something that was to play a major role in his later work. He has received international acclaim for his feature and documentary films and won several awards at film festivals around the world. Malas has also authored The Dream. EL Gouna Film Festival
A Diary of the Film, a haunting chronicle of life in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. An English-language book titled The Cinema of Muhammad Malas (Visions of a Syrian Auteur), written by Samirah Alkassim and Nezar Andary presents Malas’s work and gives dimension and humanity to a country currently defined by ruin and catastrophe.
Yousry Nasrallah
Film Director, Egypt
One of Egypt’s most highly regarded filmmakers, Yousry Nasrallah, was born in Cairo in 1952. He studied economics and political science before moving to Lebanon, where he worked as a journalist. His career in film began as an assistant to Volker Schlöndorff on his film Die Fälschung, followed by assisting Youssef Chahine on his well-known works Al-Dhakira and Adieu Bonaparte, which he also co-wrote.
Nasrallah’s films have been screened at festivals around the world since his 1988 debut Summer Thefts. Produced by Youssef Chahine, the film made a significant contribution to the revival of Egyptian cinema. His much celebrated films are known for depicting Egypt’s social and political complexities.
Abderrahmane Sissako
Film Director, Producer, Mauritania
Born in Mauritania in 1961, Sissako grew up in Mali and moved to Moscow to study at the Federal State Film Institute, VGIK. After moving to France in the early 90s, he directed Life on Earth (1998), which was invited to Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes.
He returned to Cannes with Bamako (2006), an outdoor courtroom drama, in which the Malian people accuse the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of harming their economy. EL Gouna Film Festival
Sissako, whose work offers serious narratives about the realities facing Africa, is one of the few film personalities from the Sub-Saharan Africa to be considered as one of the world’s leading filmmakers.
