"Safe Exit" is the only Egyptian film in El Gouna's feature competition
Mohamed Hammad's "Safe Exit", which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, has its Middle East premiere at El Gouna Film Festival on 20 October at 7pm. Nahed El Sebaei and composer Khaled Hammad sit on the jury.
El Gouna
El Gouna Film Festival, which runs from 15 to 23 October, will screen "Safe Exit", written and directed by Mohamed Hammad, on Tuesday 20 October at 7pm. It is the only Egyptian film in this year's feature narrative competition and its first screening in the Middle East.
The film follows Seman, a young man who has lived with post-traumatic stress since a violent event in his childhood, and who is forced to face his past when something new happens. It had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it was in the running for the audience award, then played Shanghai, Montpellier, Belgrade, Golden Apricot and Rio de Janeiro. It is produced by Kholoud Saad and is cast largely with new faces.
The festival has also named its juries. The feature competition jury is led by British director Joanna Hogg and includes Egyptian actress Nahed El Sebaei, Egyptian film composer Khaled Hammad, Iraqi Kurdish director Shawkat Amin Korki and Turkish director Yeşim Ustaoğlu.
Festival screenings are for badge holders and ticket buyers in El Gouna; the festival's website carries the programme, and its screening schedule had not yet been posted on Wednesday morning. The opening night is Thursday 15 October.