O West, one of the integrated towns of Orascom Development in west Cairo, and El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) announce the launch of their partnership in Cairo with a special screening of five short films from the program of the festival’s  5^th edition. This comes as part of a collaboration to organize a series of artistic activities, aiming to support and expand communication with emerging filmmakers, industry professionals and film students by providing them with the opportunity to connect with their favorite artists, view unique cinematic content and learn about the art of cinema through monthly panels, workshops, masterclasses, events, and film screenings.

The screening event, organized by O West and El Gouna Film Festival, was attended by Tarek Kamel, CEO of O West, Intishal Al Timimi, Director of El Gouna Film Festival, a group of artists, members of the press and media and students from various film schools, the High Cinema Institute, Jesuits Cairo Film School, the German University in Cairo, and the American University in Cairo.

Tarek Kamel, CEO of O West, expressed  his happiness with this fruitful collaboration, which is part of Orascom Development’s strategy to support art, culture, sports and entrepreneurship to discover talent and empower young talents: "O West is keen to continue El Gouna Film Festival’s activities year-round in Cairo to connect with the largest number of young filmmakers, and create an interactive platform of discussions, workshops and shared experiences, with the aim to develop artistic content and reinforce young innovative ideas.”

GFF Director Intishal Al Timimi added: "El Gouna Film Festival is considered one of the top film festivals that young creatives seek to showcase their works to audiences and film professionals in Egypt and the Arab world. The collaboration between O West and GFF reinforces the festival’s message by spreading film culture among young talents year-round, creating an interactive platform that allows them to express and develop their creative works.”  

The launch event witnessed the screening of five short films from four countries: Egypt, Switzerland, Jordan, and Russia at Zamalek Cinema. The program included two films from Egypt; Ahmed Abdelsalam's CAI - BER and Morad Mostafa’s Khadiga, both films had their world premiere at GFF and international premiere at the official competition of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. From Jordan Samer Battikhi’s Arnoos, which also had its world premiere during the 5^th edition of GFF; from Switzerland Strangers by Nora Longatti; and finally, from Russia Katia by Andrey Natotcinskiy winner of El Gouna Golden Star for Short Film.

The collaboration between O West and El Gouna Film Festival was announced during the 5th edition of GFF. The activities should take place between March and June 2022. In addition, O West will host exclusive screenings in Cairo for selected films from GFF’s film program in parallel with the festival’s yearly edition.