In 2019, Hamed served as the head of the Short Film Competition jury at the El Gouna Film Festival.
El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) has announced the appointment of Egyptian director Marwan Hamed as a new advisory board member. The festival’s seventh edition will be held from October 24 to November 1.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the GFF wrote: “We’re thrilled to announce our newest advisory board member the Egyptian film director “Marwan Hamed” the mastermind behind The Blue Elephant and The Yaacoubian Building. He has been in the industry for years and we are sure his expertise will elevate the festival to new heights.”
Marwan Hamed is a distinguished Egyptian filmmaker with more than 20 years of experience in producing and directing films, as well as directing over 300 commercials, TV drama series and music videos. He made his debut with the short film Li Li and later directed the major feature film The Yacoubian Building, based on Alaa Al Aswany’s novel and starring Adel Emam. This 2006 film was the most expensive in Egyptian cinema history at the time and received international acclaim.
In 2014, Hamed directed The Blue Elephant, which won several awards at various film festivals. The sequel, Blue Elephant: Dark Whispers, released in 2019, became the highest-grossing film in Egyptian history at that time. His most recent film, Kira & El Gen, written by Ahmed Mourad and set in the 1920s, is based on Mourad’s best-selling novel 1919 and has officially become the highest-grossing film in Egyptian cinema, with revenues exceeding EGP 110m.
In 2019, Hamed presided over the Short Film Competition jury at the El Gouna Film Festival. Recently, he has been picked by the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation to deliver a master class to educate young Saudi filmmakers about filmmaking and how to take steps to turn their vision into reality.
