✨ A new chapter for displaced filmmakers
El Gouna Film Festival has announced the launch of Safe Harbour MENA, a new initiative developed in partnership with the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the International Emerging Film Talent Fund.
The programme focuses on filmmakers from the Middle East and North Africa who have experienced displacement or forced migration and whose professional opportunities have been affected by limited access to industry networks, financing and project-development resources.
🎬 Rather than focusing solely on the circumstances surrounding displacement, the initiative places the filmmakers and their creative projects at the center of the programme.
🌍 What is Safe Harbour MENA?
Safe Harbour MENA represents the first external regional version of the Safe Harbour programme developed by the International Film Festival Rotterdam and IEFTF.
The initiative is designed to reconnect displaced filmmakers with the professional film industry through training, mentorship, networking and project development.
Participants will also have opportunities to meet industry professionals and present their projects to CineGouna delegates.
🤝 Training and professional networking
The programme combines online activities with in-person sessions in El Gouna.
This structure gives participants access to filmmakers, producers, industry professionals and other members of the film community.
💡 Professional networking is particularly important for filmmakers whose careers have been interrupted by displacement, as film production depends on relationships between writers, directors, producers, financiers, festivals and distributors.
Safe Harbour MENA aims to help rebuild those connections and create new professional pathways.
🎥 Four filmmakers selected for the first edition
Four filmmakers have been selected for the first edition of the programme:
🎬 Hadi Bakhit from Sudan, with the project “Searching for the Memory of a Lost Homeland.”
🎬 Ezel Manai from Syria and Turkey, with “Temporary Protection.”
🎬 Ahmed Negm El Din from Sudan, Rwanda and Mauritania, with “Spari.”
🎬 Yasef Fayez from Sudan and Kenya, with “The Martyr's Wedding.”
Their projects reflect different experiences and perspectives from filmmakers whose professional and personal journeys have been shaped by displacement.
🎯 From project development to the film market
Safe Harbour MENA goes beyond traditional workshops.
Participants will have opportunities to pitch their current projects to CineGouna industry professionals, allowing them to receive professional feedback and establish relationships that may contribute to future development, production and distribution.
📌 This market connection is particularly significant for independent filmmakers, whose projects often require several partners before reaching production.
The initiative therefore creates a bridge between creative development and the professional film market.
🎬 Cinema for Humanity
The initiative forms part of El Gouna Film Festival's commitment to its “Cinema for Humanity” mission.
The programme reflects the idea that cinema can provide a platform for stories that might otherwise struggle to reach audiences.
❤️ Supporting filmmakers can involve much more than financial assistance. Training, mentorship, professional introductions and opportunities to present a project can all play an important role in helping a filmmaker continue working.
🌐 El Gouna, Rotterdam and IEFTF
The partnership brings together a regional film festival, an international festival and an organization focused on emerging film talent.
Safe Harbour was launched in 2026 to support filmmakers facing vulnerable circumstances and difficulties accessing funding and professional opportunities.
The MENA programme expands this model into the Middle East and North Africa, creating new connections between displaced filmmakers and the regional and international film community.
🎞️ MENA premieres of films supported by the Displacement Film Fund
Alongside Safe Harbour MENA, El Gouna Film Festival will host the Middle East and North Africa premieres of four films supported by the Displacement Film Fund.
The selected films include:
🎥 “Allies in Exile” by Hassan Kattan.
🎥 “The Shift” by Maryana Er Gorbach.
🎥 “The Feeling of Water” by Mohammad Rasoulof.
🎥 “A Really Very Special Afghan Gym” by Shahrbanoo Sadat.
These screenings extend the partnership beyond project development, giving completed films an opportunity to reach audiences and industry professionals in the region.
🏆 The Displacement Film Fund
The Displacement Film Fund works with filmmakers who have experienced displacement, as well as filmmakers with established experience telling authentic stories about displaced communities.
The fund awarded its second round of short-film grants in 2026, while films from its first supported group received their world premieres at the International Film Festival Rotterdam during the same year.
🎞️ Why the initiative matters to independent cinema
Independent filmmaking already involves significant challenges related to financing, production, distribution and access to international markets.
For filmmakers who have been forced to leave their countries, those challenges can become even more complicated because professional networks may be disrupted.
Safe Harbour MENA therefore focuses on an important part of the filmmaking ecosystem: rebuilding professional connections.
🎬 A filmmaker may have a strong idea and creative vision, but bringing that project to the screen can require producers, financiers, script consultants, festivals and distribution partners.
Creating access to those networks can help turn a project from an idea into a production opportunity.
🌟 Cinema as memory and continuity
The four projects participating in Safe Harbour MENA also highlight the relationship between cinema, memory and displacement.
Film can document experiences, preserve memories, explore identity and provide space for filmmakers to tell stories connected to home, belonging and change.
🎥 The initiative therefore treats displaced filmmakers not simply through the circumstances they have experienced, but as artists and professionals with projects that deserve opportunities to develop and reach audiences.
With the launch of Safe Harbour MENA, El Gouna Film Festival is expanding its support for regional filmmaking talent while connecting MENA filmmakers to broader international industry networks.
