The Furnace Lands Arab World Premiere at El Gouna Film Festival

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With the Attendance of an Extensive Number of Celebrities & Public Figures

The Furnace Lands Arab World Premiere at El Gouna Film Festival


The Furnace by director and writer Roderick MacKay and superstar Ahmed Malek has landed its Arab world premiere at the 4th El Gouna Film Festival (GFF), with the attendance of a plethora of celebrities and superstars. The premiere took place on Saturday, 24th of October, at El Gouna Conference and Culture Center – The Festival Plaza.

The festival’s red carpet also witnessed the attendance of a wide range of celebrities, including:

Lebanese TV personality Raya Abirached, Scriptwriter Tamer Habib, Menna Shalaby, Jamal Soliman, Ahmed Dawood, Ola Roshdy, Abu, Sarah Abdulrahman, Karim Kassem, Amr Abed, Amina Khalil, Mohammad Al Sharnouby, Ahmed el-Sakka, Hani Ramzi, Bushra, Arwa Gouda, Asser Yassin, Director Amjad Abu Alala, Rogena, Ashraf Zaki and Mais Hamdan.

The Furnace’s premiere has fueled a frenzy between audiences on social media, topping the most researched and reacted upon on Google. Moreover, scriptwriter Tamer Habib congratulated young Actor Ahmed Malek through his official Instagram page, saying: “With the international talent Ahmed Malek. You are the best of this film and I’m so proud of you.”

The film is slated to have three screenings during the festival in the following screening times:
Monday, October 26 at 9:15 PM, TUB Audi max
Thursday, October 29 at 9:00 PM, Sea Cinema 2

The film landed world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, where it immediately gained international critical acclaim, and was described as “An enjoyably absorbing experience” by Variety and “Brutish western is tough as old leather and good as gold” via The Guardian. Malek also received positive reviews on his performance in the film: “Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek (a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2018) is immediately engaging as Hanif” as it was stated by the Screen Daily.

1897 Western Australia. To escape a harsh existence and return home, a young Afghan cameleer partners with a mysterious bushman on the run with two 400oz Crown-marked gold bars. Together the unlikely pair must outwit a zealous police sergeant and his troopers in a race to reach a secret furnace - the one place where they can safely reset the bars to remove the mark of the Crown. The film stars Ahmed Malek, David Wenham and Jay Ryan.

The film received a production support from a number of institutes, including Screen Australia, in association with Screenwest, Lotterywest and the Western Australian Regional Film Fund. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution and marketing in the Arab World.