Zurich, El Gouna Film Festivals Form Strategic Partnership
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- Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) and Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) have struck a strategic partnership to collaborate on programming and other initiatives, launching with a shared premiere film.
- The alliance opens at ZFF's 22nd edition (September 24 to October 4) with the world premiere of "Dolphins: My Close Encounters," which then gets its MENA Premiere at GFF (October 15 to 26) — both events fall within three weeks of each other.
- ZFF, the second-largest festival in the German-speaking world with 135,000 visitors in 2025, entered a new chapter after a 2025 management buyout led by CEO Christian Jungen and already cooperates with San Sebastian on industry guests.
- GFF was launched in 2017 by Egyptian tycoons Naguib and Samih Sawiris in the Red Sea resort their family created, and has since become a key date on the MENA fall festival calendar.
- The partners framed the alliance as a bridge for Middle East and African filmmakers to reach European industry counterparts, with ZFF citing El Gouna's "invaluable logistical support" and regional navigation in return for film and talent access.
- "Dolphins: My Close Encounters" is directed by Barny Revill, produced by natural-history outfit Silverback Films with Keith Scholey as executive producer, and traces marine biologist Angela Ziltener's 15+ years studying wild dolphins off El Gouna.
Why it matters: A 135,000-visitor European festival (ZFF) is now plugging directly into MENA's fastest-rising fall festival (GFF), giving Zurich a logistical foothold and regional expertise across Africa and the Middle East while offering El Gouna a pipeline to international films and talent it couldn't access alone.
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