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El Gouna Opens with Huppert's All About Corinne

Jonah VillalbaPublished 2m ago3 min readBased on 6 sources
El Gouna Opens with Huppert's All About Corinne
Photo by Darya Sannikova on Pexels

Isabelle Huppert has opened the autumn festival season in the Middle East and North Africa with a red-carpet gala in Egypt.

The 9th El Gouna Film Festival, held in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna, opened with a gala screening of All About Corinne, according to Deadline. The French feature is directed by Marc Fitoussi.

Huppert plays a working actress who befriends a big screen star. The story follows a performer picking up small jobs rather than leading roles. It puts two generations of French actresses in close quarters.

This edition is the first organised under artistic director Andrew Mohsen. He replaced Marianne Khoury after she stepped down earlier in 2026. Mohsen joined the El Gouna programming team in 2023 after previously working at the Cairo Film Festival.

The programme is large. El Gouna will showcase 49 features and 19 shorts across its competitions and its Out of Competition and Special screenings sidebars, according to Deadline. Out of Competition means a film is shown but does not chase prizes. Thirteen films compete.

The competition includes Safe Exit by Mohammed Hammad. It also includes Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep by Palestinian director Rakan Mayasi. The list continues with Rose by Markus Schleinzer and Fatherland by Paweł Pawlikowski.

UK director Joanna Hogg leads the jury as president. Hogg leads the jury. She is joined by Egyptian actress Nahed El Sebaie, Egyptian composer Khaled Hammad, Iraqi-Kurdish director Shawkat Amin Korki and Turkish director Yeşim Ustaoğlu.

Outside the race, the Out of Competition lineup includes Fjord by Cristian Mungiu. It also includes No Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman by Halkwat Mustafa.

For audiences, this means El Gouna sets the tone for a crowded calendar. Cairo Film Festival follows on November 11-20, 2026, then Doha on November 19-27 and Marrakech on November 20-28, according to Deadline. Carthage in Tunisia closes the run on December 12-19. Saudi Arabia's 6th Red Sea Film Festival, due December 3-12, was shelved this year.

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