Egyptian filmmaker Jad Chahine’s magical realism drama The Masters Of Magic And Magnificence and Libyan-US filmmaker Jihan’s characteristic documentary My Father And Qaddafi have scooped the highest prizes on the CineGouna business platform of the El Gouna Movie Pageant.
Operating October 25-31, the platform’s CineGouna Funding part showcased 21 initiatives in growth and post-production.
Chahine’s debut characteristic The Masters Of Magic And Magnificence gained the $15,000 CineGouna award for greatest mission in growth. The characteristic follows the magical circumstances surrounding the delivery of somewhat woman. A pair seeks counsel from the Oracle, solely to find {that a} previous mistake has cursed the household’s bloodline.
My Father And Qaddafi follows Jihan’s journey to unravel the disappearance of her father, the previous overseas minister of Libya, in Qaddafi’s regime. It gained the $15,000 post-production prize.
The jury comprised Sudanese director and producer Amjad Abu Alala, recognized for You Will Die at 20 and Goodbye Julia; Tunisian movie critic Lamia Guiga, inventive director of Carthage Movie Pageant; and Nadia Dresti, founding father of Locarno Professional.
There have been additionally a raft of sponsored prizes value $339,500 in complete.
Amongst them, Egyptian filmmaker Ayman El Amir’s characteristic mission A Pair of Sneakers in The Darkish Nook of The Moon gained a $10,000 grant from ESLSCA College and $10,000 grant from Arab Radio & Tv (ART). It tells the story of a Coptic man, estranged in his distant village in Egypt, who goals of changing into a well-known actor, however his ambitions lead him to an sudden destiny. The movie will probably be shot in Barsha village in higher Egypt, the principle location for El Amir’s Cannes Golden Eye award-winning documentary The Brink of Desires
Different huge winners of sponsored prizes included Saudi Arabia director Lama Jamjoom’s documentary Remind Me To Neglect, following the 2 generations of ladies in a shelter for divorced, widowed, and aged ladies in Saudi Arabia. Amongst its prizes have been $50,000 at least assure for gross sales and distribution from MAD Options and a $20,000 grant from MBC Studios and MBC Academy.
In the meantime, the winner of the Berlinale Golden Bear for greatest quick movie in 2023, Lebanese filmmaker Michelle Keserwany’s debut characteristic in growth collected three awards, together with $50,000 as an MG for gross sales and distribution from MAD Options.
Launched in 2017, concurrently El Gouna Movie Pageant, CineGouna has now supported varied award-winning movies, together with Egyptian filmmakers Ayman El Amir and Nada Riyadh’s The Brink Of Desires, winner of this yr’s Cannes Golden Eye for greatest documentary, Lebanese director Ely Dagher’s 2021 Cannes Critics’ Week choice The Sea Forward and Goodbye Julia by Sudanese filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani.