Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch’s Casablanca Beats was the first red carpet screening on day two of El Gouna Film Festival, which is running until October 22.
It was the first fully Moroccan film to compete for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere in July. The film is based on Ayouch’s own experiences opening a cultural centre for young people in Sidi Moumen, a poverty-stricken area on the outskirts of Casablanca.
Casablanca Beats is one of 16 feature narratives competing at the festival on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. There are 10 documentaries and 23 short films in competition.
Scroll through the gallery below to see pictures from El Gouna Film Festival's opening ceremony.
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Mohamed Ramadan went on to perform his new song 'Gaw El Banat' at the opening ceremony of El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt. All photos: El Gouna Film Festival -
Syrian actress Nesreen Tafesh -
Tunisian actress Hend Sabri -
Jordanian actress Riham Abdel Ghafour -
Egyptian artist, actress and singer Youssra -
Syrian actor Jamal Suliman -
Egyptian actor Karim Kassem -
Lebanese singer Maya Diab -
Lebanese actress and director Zeina Daccache -
Emirati media personality Mahira Abdel Aziz -
Egyptian actress Yasmine Sabri -
Egyptian actress Nardine Farag -
Tunisian actress Dorra Zarrouk. -
Egyptian actress Dalia El Behery -
Egyptian actress Laila Elwi -
Egyptian actress Bushra Rozza and her husband, Salem Haykal -
Egyptian actress Hana Shiha -
Saudi TV personality Lojain Omran -
Egyptian actress Passant Shawki and her husband, actor Mohamed Farah -
Egyptian actress Rania Youssef -
Lebanese actress Nadine Nassib Njeim
The festival, running for a fifth year, includes 75 international and regional feature narratives, short films and documentaries from 44 countries, with eight world and two international premieres.
It opened on Thursday with the usual red carpet glamour, opening ceremony and mingling in the main plaza, with no signs of the fire the day before.
Egyptian superstar Mohamed Ramadan performed his new song Gaw El Banat with Grammy-winning Moroccan-Swedish music producer RedOne and Moroccan-Dutch singer Nouamane Belaiachi.
Ramadan, known for hit song Ya Habibi with Congolese-French rapper Maitre Gims, announced Gaw El Banat as the official song of El Gouna Film Festival on his Instagram on Thursday.
The festival has a tradition of being the platform that releases new Arabic songs, right from its inaugural event in 2017 when 3 Daqat, by Abu featuring Youssra, became a phenomenal success.
