ESLSCA Returns to GFF as Its Official Educational Partner

For a generation hoping to build careers in Egypt’s film and creative industries, learning the craft is only part of the equation. The other is finding a way into the rooms where films are being made, financed, debated and discovered.

For the third consecutive year, ESLSCA University is returning to El Gouna Film Festival as its Official Educational Partner, with an expanded programme designed to bring those two worlds closer together.

Running alongside the festival’s ninth edition from October 15th to 23rd, the partnership places students from ESLSCA University’s School of Visual Arts & Creative Industries inside the working ecosystem of one of the region’s major film gatherings, giving them access not only to screenings, but to filmmakers, industry professionals, emerging talent and the conversations surrounding contemporary cinema.

This year, that access stretches across the school’s Cinematic Studies and New Media & Communication departments. Cinematic Studies students will receive full festival passes, while New Media & Communication students will cover their peers’ participation and relevant festival activity, turning El Gouna itself into a space for professional practice.

The opportunities extend beyond festival week. Two annual scholarships will cover full tuition for three years for promising filmmakers from across Egypt’s governorates, while two students will receive full funding to participate in CineGouna Emerge, GFF’s platform dedicated to emerging creative talent. Students will also take part in Meet the Experts sessions with film professionals, with up to ten nominated for Emerge Perspectives coverage.

Their own work will enter the conversation too. An ESLSCA industry reception at The Island in El Gouna will bring together students, faculty and members of the film community, while showcasing selected projects by Cinematic Studies students. Elsewhere in the festival programme, an ESLSCA × Thndr workshop will look beyond the screen to a question facing many young creatives: how to turn a creative career into an economically sustainable one, exploring entrepreneurship and financial independence alongside artistic practice.

Perhaps the most consequential development, however, looks beyond this year’s festival altogether.

During GFF, ESLSCA University will announce what it describes as Egypt’s first Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking. Overseen by Dr. Wael Khairy, Director of Graduate Studies in the Cinematic Studies Department, the MFA is intended to combine advanced filmmaking practice with postgraduate academic study, creating a specialised graduate pathway for filmmakers in Egypt.

The programme forms part of the continuing development of the School of Visual Arts & Creative Industries under Dean Dr. Mervat Abou Oaf, who also serves as Academic Advisor to El Gouna Film Festival. Its Cinematic Studies Department is chaired by Dr. Ahlam Younis, with Reem El Miligui as Associate Chair, while the New Media & Communication Department is chaired by Dr. Amira Abdel Hamied.

The partnership was formalised through an MoU signed by Kareem ElHennawy, Secretary General and CEO of ESLSCA University, and Amr Mansi, CEO and Co-Founder of El Gouna Film Festival, in the presence of Hayat Aljowaily, Director of CineGouna Emerge & International Engagement, and Andrew Mohsen, Artistic Director of GFF.

Three years into the collaboration, its most interesting proposition may be a relatively simple one: that an education in film should not end at the edge of a university campus. For ESLSCA’s students, El Gouna becomes part classroom, part laboratory and part first encounter with the industry they are preparing to enter.

And sometimes the most valuable lesson is simply getting into the room.