Ali Fazal, Richa Chadha to attend Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival

Over the last few months, it has become the norm for film festivals around the world to go online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, however, will be held physically from October 23 to 30. 

The Egyptian festival has an Indian connection. One of the jury members for the short film section is Hindi film actor Ali Fazal. “His co-jury members include Tunisian director Raja Amari, Syrian actor Kinda Alloush and the popular Argentine filmmaker Santiago Amigorena,” said an official statement by Fazal’s publicist. 

Interestingly, Fazal’s fiancée and actress Richa Chadha will also be a part of the festival. She will take part in a panel discussion on women empowerment. The actress is known for speaking up on matters related to women as well as on various socio-political issues in India. 

Fazal believes that the festival signifies hope in times of distress. “It has been a fairly grim year for all of us across the world. The fact that I will be attending an on-ground physical event is a reminder that the worst is behind us. It gives me hope that things will get better world over, here on. I am looking forward to watching many short films and interacting with the people at this event,” he said in an official statement. 

The panel discussion holds a lot of significance for Chadha. “I am looking forward to the panel discussion. It’s an important dialogue that must be had to help popular culture move in the right direction. With the rising number of powerful female voices across the world, it’s important to discuss, debate and relearn norms. The narrative in 2020 must speak about gender equality which will only come from empowering the women who’ve been given the short end of the stick for far too long,” she said. 

Fazal will next be seen in the keenly awaited second season of his web-series Mirzapur. It will stream on Amazon Prime Video from 23 October.