El-Gouna Film Festival announced selecting the movie project “Searching for Woody” by Sara Shazli for the Feature Documentary Projects In Development in its 5th Edition, which will occur between the 14th and 22nd of October.

The event seeks to give chances to aspiring filmmakers and assist them in perfecting their work-in-progress and scripts and access to financial aid through its industry arm, the CineGouna Platform.

The best film in post-production and the best project in development will each get a $15,000 cash reward and a CineGouna Platform certificate. The projects that take part are also eligible to receive funding from GFF’s sponsors and partners.

El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) is one of the major festivals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area. GFF strives to present a diverse range of films for a passionate and knowledgeable audience while also promoting greater cross-cultural communication through the art of filmmaking.

Her movie “Back Home” will be in the Feature Documentary Competition, which will also occur at the same festival. Five films will be granted a trophy, a CineGouna Platform certificate, and a grant between 10,000$ and 30,000$. The film is based on her love-hate connection with her homeland and her attempts to find her role as a woman.

More about Sara Shazli

Sara Shazli is a hard-working, passionate director. She earned a degree in Cinema Studies from the American University in Paris. Moreover, she completed a three-year program in Directing Fiction at Cuba’s International School of Cinema and Television (EICTV).

She also worked as an archivist at the French Cinematheque.

Some of her previous work:

She wrote and directed short films such as “Mother,” “Soma,” “Christmas,” and “Isabel,” which received high praises from the public and filmmakers alike, and took part in CIFF last year and many other film festivals.