CineGouna Launches ‘Egyptian Voices’ Training Lab for Filmmakers
The new non-competitive lab will select four Egyptian film projects for tailored training, mentorship and funding preparation.
Each year, over 100 Egyptian film projects in development land on CineGouna Funding’s desk. This year, El Gouna Film Festival’s industry arm launches CineGouna Funding: Egyptian Voices—a non-competitive training lab offering tailored support to early-stage filmmakers working to secure funding.
The lab will select four Egyptian projects this year for tailored support covering project materials, film dossiers, presentations and production plans. Training and mentorship will be adapted to the specific gaps identified in each project rather than following a single standardised programme.
“We launch this new program to support projects that show great potential but still require training, mentorship, and guidance to be professionally presented and pitched to prospective financiers,” Ahmed Shawky, Head of CineGouna Funding, said. “Having identified this pattern over the years, we developed a tool to help these projects grow and evolve.”
The initiative expands CineGouna’s existing funding programme, which supports Arab films across two tracks: projects in development and films in post-production. Since launching nine years ago, CineGouna Funding has supported more than 150 Arab films and offers upwards of USD 300,000 in prizes and in-kind support to selected projects.
‘Egyptian Voices’ forms part of El Gouna Film Festival’s wider industry programme as it prepares for its ninth edition, with the festival continuing to focus on connecting filmmakers from Egypt, the Arab world and Africa with training, financing and industry networks.
