El Gouna Film Festival Opens Submissions for CineGouna Funding 2025

The El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) has officially opened submissions for the 8th edition of CineGouna Funding, a platform designed to support Arab filmmakers during key stages of development and post-production.

Submissions for projects in development are open until July 15th, while films in post-production can be submitted up until August 1st. CineGouna Funding will once again provide financial, technical, and networking support to selected projects, with available awards totalling USD 400,000.

During the 7th edition of the programme, 13 development projects and eight films in post-production were selected. Awarded projects included Jad Chahine’s ‘The Masters of Magic and Beauty’, which received Best Project in Development, and Jihan El-Tahri’s ‘My Father and Qaddafi’, which received Best Film in Post-Production. Notably, Mohamed Rashad’s ‘The Settlement’—also a CineGouna alumnus—became the first Arab film selected for Berlinale’s “Perspectives” competition in 2025.

CineGouna alumni have gone on to achieve widespread international success. Abu Bakr Shawky’s ‘Yomeddine’ competed at Cannes, Ayten Amin’s ‘Souad’ was selected for Cannes and Berlinale, and Soudade Kaadan’s ‘The Day I Lost My Shadow’ won the Lion of the Future at Venice. In 2023, Mohamed Kordofani’s ‘Goodbye Julia’ received the Freedom Prize at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, while in 2024, ‘The Brink of Dreams’ by Nada Riyadh & Ayman El Amir won Best Documentary at Cannes. Most recently, Morad Mostafa’s ‘Aisha Can’t Fly Away’ was selected for the 2025 edition of Un Certain Regard.

“The continuous success of the films that were in El Gouna as projects in development or films in post-production before reaching the biggest platforms in the globe is clear evidence of the GFF’s commitment to foster the best in Arab cinema,” GFF co-founder and executive director Amr Mansi said.

Head of CineGouna Funding Ahmed Shawky added that participation continues to rise. “Last year, we received more than 240 new Arab film projects. This number reflects Arab filmmakers' enthusiasm to participate in CineGouna Funding,” Shawky said.

The 7th edition of the El Gouna Film Festival will run from October 16th to 24th, 2025. Further details and submission criteria are available at the official El Gouna Film Festival website.