EXCLUSIVE: Switzerland’s Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) and Egypt‘s El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) have struck a strategic partnership, which will see them collaborate on programming and other initiatives.
The alliance will kick off at ZFF’s upcoming 22nd edition, running September 24 to October 4, with the world premiere of feature documentary Dolphins: My Close Encounters, following Swiss marine biologist Angela Ziltener and her decades-long dolphin research conducted in the Red Sea.
The film will then get its MENA Premiere at GFF, running from October 15 to 26, just miles from the coastline where Ziltener first began her groundbreaking research.
ZFF entered a new chapter in 2025 following a management buyout led by CEO Christian Jungen. It has seen its star rise in recent years as a launch-pad for fall releases in Switzerland and key stop-off on the awards seasons circuit for international films. It is the second-largest film festival in the German-speaking world, drawing 135,000 visitors in 2025.
At the same time, it has also forged strong links with other festivals, notably San Sebastian with which it cooperates on industry and festival guests.
GFF was launched in 2017 by Egyptian tycoons Naguib and Samih Sawiris in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna created by latter and has risen to become a key date on the MENA fall festival calendar.
“Samih Sawiris has been familiar with the Zurich Film Festival for many years, and we’ve had inspiring strategic conversations. Now we are joining forces”, said ZFF CEO Christian Jungen.
“This is a true win-win partnership. We can help the El Gouna Film Festival gain access to films and talent while they provide us with invaluable logistical support and guide us on our way to gain new perspectives while navigating the film landscape of Africa and the Middle East. We are excited to collaborate with this dynamic and fast-growing festival.”
Sawiris said the partnership would bolster GFF’s founding mission of connecting regional and international film industries at an event showing world-class cinema and fostering dialogue and social impact.
“Partnering with a festival as prestigious as Zurich marks an exciting extension of this mission, reflecting a shared commitment to fostering meaningful exchange across outstanding cinema and industry leaders,” said Sawiris.
The partners said the new new alliance would also also help connect Middle East and African filmmakers with their European counterparts.
“For the better part of a decade, El Gouna Film Festival has worked tirelessly to give filmmakers in this part of the world a platform for them to collaborate and create films that share stories from the region with the rest of the world,” said GFF Artistic Director Andrew Mohsen.
“Moreover, we have worked to provide countless opportunities for up-and-coming filmmakers to develop their skills and meet with industry leaders from around the world. This partnership with ZFF will facilitate the creation of synergies with others in the industry from various parts of the world.”
“As a film festival, building bridges is one of our key functions,” said ZFF Director Reta Guetg. “We want to connect people who share our beliefs and utilize films as powerful ambassadors of cultural exchange. That is exactly what this new friendship and partnership stands for.”
As the first film presented jointly by the two festivals, Dolphins: My Close Encounters connects Zurich and the Red Sea by focusing on nature: Its protagonist Ziltener has been studying the behaviours of wild dolphin populations in the waters off the Egyptian town of El Gouna for years.
Directed by Barny Revill and produced by natural history producer Silverback Films, with Keith Scholey as executive producer, the film traces Ziltener’s more than 15 years diving alongside wild dolphins, slowly gaining a rare window into their lives.
What began as a scientific study became something far more personal, as she found herself drawn into the dolphins’ world and faced with a profound question: who was really observing whom?
