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Safe Exit Takes Best Narrative Feature at El Gouna Film Festival

Jonah VillalbaPublished 4m ago3 min readBased on 8 sources
Safe Exit Takes Best Narrative Feature at El Gouna Film Festival
Photo by Muhammed Eratilgan on Pexels

Mohammed Hammad's Safe Exit won the Golden Star for best narrative feature at the El Gouna Film Festival, which ended its ninth edition this week. The festival ran from 15 to 23 October 2026, with nine days of screenings and industry activity on the Red Sea coast of Egypt.

The film is a psychological drama about a young Coptic security guard in Cairo who faces trauma rooted in religious violence. Variety reported the award. The film had already drawn attention abroad, with a nomination for Best Screenplay at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, according to the festival's own posts.

The documentary prize went to Ahmed Hassouna's Citizen Osama. The film follows a photojournalist in Gaza as he tries to balance his work with his family during the war. It won both the Golden Star for documentary and the award for best Arab documentary.

Other winners were spread across the programme:

  • Short film: Anders Davidsen's Stolen Memories took the Golden Star for short film.
  • Best Arab narrative: Rakan Mayasi's Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep.
  • Best Arab short: Marie Rose Ousta's One Day Born.
  • Best actress: Rakeen Saad, for Zaid Abu Hamdan's Boomah.
  • Best actor: Jovan Ginic, for Miroslav Terzic's 3 Weeks After.

The festival also runs a market side for filmmakers who need money and partners. Variety reported that more than 320 projects applied to CineGouna Funding. Nineteen were selected, sharing more than $350,000 across 40 awards. Participants in the CineGouna programme also held more than 140 one-on-one meetings with companies, institutions and international festivals. Those meetings are where many projects find a co-producer or a buyer, often long before a finished film reaches a cinema.

Smaller prizes also went out. Fares El Tabey won the third edition of the Eish Short Film Competition with his concept "Between Two Shores". The contest was run jointly by the United Nations World Food Programme in Egypt, the festival and Zest. The festival also kept up its link with Zawya Cinema in Cairo for a fourth year, bringing festival films to audiences in the capital.

The festival opened with a tribute to actress Mona Zaki, who received its Creative Achievement Award. The opening ceremony was presented by director Mohamed Shaker Khodeir. Amr Mansi, co-founder and executive director of the festival, oversaw the event.

For filmmakers, the practical result is simple. Projects that won money or met buyers in El Gouna will now look for their next steps, such as funding rounds, co-production deals and festival slots elsewhere. The winners' films will carry the festival's name on their posters for the rest of their run.

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