Egypt ’s El Gouna Film Festival got underway on Thursday amid calls for peace in the region as well as claims of censorship after an Egyptian short work with a Palestine-related subtext was pulled as the opening film at the eleventh hour without reason. Abdelwahab Shawky’s short film The Last Miracle was to have opened El Gouna’s seventh edition, but a festival press release on Wednesday announced it had been replaced by Cannes Palme d’Or winning short The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Croatian director Nebojša Slijepčević. The festival said the “adjustment to the original line-up” was because Shawky’s film “could not be screened” without giving a reason.
Local press reported that El Gouna had been forced to replace The Last Miracle after Egypt’s General Authority for Censorship of Works of Arts had revoked its screening license 48 hours ahead of the festival. Commenting on the pulling of the film, influential Egyptian film critic Tarek El Shennawi said it was likely the film had been censored even if there had been no official confirmation, and suggested a scene featuring a dervish might have been the cause. Based on short story by late writer Naguib Mahfouz, The Last Miracle stars popular actor Khaled Kamal ( The Blue Elephant , Clash ) as a 40-year-old man, who receives a phone call from a deceased Sheikh, which begins a spiritual journey with an unexpected conclusion.
In a release put out when the short’s El Gouna screening was first annou.