O West Collaborates with El Gouna Film Festival to Support CineGouna Platform Starting in December 2021

Tarek Kamel: We are strengthening our role as a responsible investor to create an interactive platform for talent development to make O West a cultural and artistic destination

Intishal Al Tamimi: The continued activities of the El Gouna cinema platform will expand the circle of communication with young people interested in cinematic art

Bushra Raza: The live show of films in O West provides the opportunity for the largest number of movie fans to get to know the new in cinematography

O West, one of Orascomm's development cities in the 6 October region, announced that workshops, lectures and cultural events will be organized for El Gouna Cinematic Stage from December 2021 to June 2022, as well as a live screening of selected cinemas participating in the sixth session of El Gouna 2022 Film Festival at the same time as the festival - in a precedent that is the first of its kind in the history of the art and film festivals - to give film fans unable to attend the festival in El Gouna, Red Sea, the opportunity to follow the films presented at the festival.

The start of cooperation between O West and El Gouna Film Festival 2022 was announced during a ceremony attended by Intishal El Tamimi, director of El Gouna Film Festival, artist Bushra Riza, head of operations at El Gouna Film Festival, and Tarek Kamel, CEO of O West, and through cooperation, events will be organized for El Gouna Film Stage From December 2021 to June 2022, which includes monthly lectures, workshops, and monthly cultural activities, as well as the screening of selected films of the sixth session of the El Gouna Film Festival in O West in parallel with the festival.

Tarek Kamel, CEO of O West, stressed the importance of the El Gouna Film Festival stems from the richness of cinemas being shown. For example, this year 76 films from 44 countries participate, where cinema is one of the most important media that highlights social issues and challenges through documentaries and social films, it is considered a society's image because it Chronicles the smallest details in a simplified and smooth way to reach all social groups. Through the El Gouna film platform, we have been able to create a common language of dialogue with young people to serve as a bridge to promote communication between world cultures.

He added: "Beginning in December 2021, there will be monthly events organized for El Gouna Cinematic Platform to empower young talent, which may result in projects to be shown in the official competition of El Gouna Cinematic Platform at the sixth edition of the festival, in addition to a live show of selected films of the sixth edition of the festival in O West. Through this step, we seek to enhance our role as a responsible investor to create an interactive platform and empower young people to display and develop their talents as O West City, a destination and cultural and artistic center in West Cairo."

The director of El Gouna Film Festival, Intishal El Tamimi, expressed his pride in the success of the El Gouna Film Festival over five years, as it proved to be an important enlightening event among international film festivals in the Arab region, and had the attractiveness and effectiveness of Arab festivals that are half a century old.

He thanked Orascom Development for providing artistic, human and material support to ensure the success of the festival, noting that the screening of the films of the sixth session of the festival in O West in October, in conjunction with the festival in El Gouna, as well as the continuing activities of the El Gouna cinema platform, would broaden the reach of young people interested in cinematographic art and allow them to have excellent artistic and technical content.

While artist Bushra Raza, head of operations and founder of El Gouna Film Festival, said: The El Gouna Film Festival in its fifth session displays a group of important films at the international level that is not more than two months old, and also provides a live presentation of the same films in the city of O West to provide this opportunity for the largest number of cinema fans To get to know the new in global and regional film art, which solves Egypt's position in film art in the Arab world.

This cooperation has been in the framework of the sponsorship and support of O West for the El Gouna Film Festival since its launch and is in line with the Orascom development strategy which aims to integrate its cities, especially in the social and developmental role that makes the cities of Orascom development a beacon of art, culture and sports in Egypt and the Middle East.