Three AFAC-supported films will be premiering in the 2026 edition of the El Gouna Film Festival (GFF), running from October 15 to 23. From Yemen, Egypt and Lebanon, these three films hold the protagonists’ profound desire and determination to change their realities.

From Egypt, the documentary film The Return of Captain Kabonga by Amir El Shennawy follows a group of amateur wrestlers from Ismailia and their veteran coach pursuing a bold dream. The film will premiere under the festival’s Feature Documentary Competition section.

The Yemeni film I Broke a Vase by Asim Abdulaziz will premiere in the Short Films Competition section. In the film, Ali’s vase shatters, causing the war to erupt in Yemen, and setting Ali and his friend Mustafa on a different course of events.

Lebanese filmmaker Marie-Rose Osta’s Someday, a Boy is also participating in the Short Films Competition. The film features Michel, a young boy with extraordinary powers, who lives with his uncle Khalil in a Lebanese village where the buzzing of hostile warplanes is part of their soundscape.

Alongside these three films, four AFAC-supported film projects will also take part in the festival’s CineGouna platform: Of Debt and Money by Houssem Sansa (Tunisia); Besso by Muslim Habib (Iraq); House N7 by Rama Abdi (Syria); and Lily’s Makkah by Marwa Zein (Sudan).

CineGouna Funding will also have AFAC’s Film Programs Manager Soleil Gharbieh on board during the course of the festival, mentoring film projects in development.

For the full program and films screenings schedule, check out the GFF official website.