El Gouna Unveils Third Cohort Of CineGouna Emerge Program’s Rising Stars — SkimNews
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- El Gouna Film Festival announced the third cohort of its Rising Stars program under CineGouna Emerge, naming Egyptian director Abdallah Dnewar, Saudi writer-director Razan AlSoghayer, Palestinian filmmaker Omar Rammal, Palestinian Jordanian director-producer Asmahan Bkerat, and Syrian DoP/editor/director Rama Abdi.
- Rammal won best short documentary at the 2026 David di Donatello awards for Everyday in Gaza, and his fiction short Kentucky Gaza makes its MENA premiere at El Gouna after debuting in France's Clermont-Ferrand competition.
- Bkerat's debut feature documentary Concrete Land premiered at Locarno, won the Insights Audience Award at VIFF Vancouver, and recently played to sold-out screenings at the BFI London Film Festival.
- Dnewar produced the Rotterdam-selected animated short My Brother, My Brother and Locarno-selected Khufu, and currently serves as Head of Specials at Egyptian media company Zest.
- AlSoghayer explores womanhood, memory and Saudi cultural change in her work; her debut short Son Of Badriyah screens at this edition of El Gouna.
- Abdi is presenting her first feature-length documentary House Number 7 in the CineGouna Funding project showcase at the festival.
- CineGouna director Hayat Aljowaily framed the program as 'not a beginning, but a moment of recognition,' noting that Rising Stars participants are fully integrated into festival panels, the Funding showcase and the official selection.
Why it matters: All five filmmakers already carry international festival credentials — Locarno, Rotterdam, David di Donatello, BFI London — meaning El Gouna is not launching unknowns but formally anointing a cohort whose work is already competing at the world's top festivals, strengthening the festival's role as a MENA talent pipeline.
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