After making waves at major international festivals, Amel Guellaty’s Tunisian feature WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM received an enthusiastic welcome at its Arab World premiere in the Feature Narrative Competition at the 8th El Gouna Film Festival.
The screening drew a packed house and heartfelt reactions from the audience, who connected with the film’s humor, emotion, and poetic take on youth, freedom, and belonging.
The premiere was met with warm applause and was attended by a group of stars and notable industry figures, among them Sameh Sawiris, Tamer Habib, Ahmed Malek, Hassan Malek, Tarek El Arian, Lina Sophia, Rula Nasser, and Salwa Mohamed Ali, alongside the film’s talented team including director Amel Guellaty, DOP Frida Marzouk, and lead actress Eya Bellagha.
The film follows 19-year-old Alyssa and shy 23-year-old Mehdi as they dream of escaping their reality. Upon discovering a contest offering a chance to flee, they embark on a road trip to southern Tunisia, overcoming several obstacles along the way.
Since its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the USA, WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM has been traveling across the globe, screening at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Istanbul International Film Festival in Turkey, and the Malta Mediterranean Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bee for Best Feature Film and the Best Performance Award for Eya Bellagha.
The film also received the Nakheel Award for Best Feature Film at the Toronto Arab Film Festival in Canada before holding its Arab World premiere in the Feature Narrative Competition at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.
The film is written and directed by Amel Guellaty and produced by Asma Chiboub, of Tunisia’s Atlas Vision. It stars Slim Baccar, Eya Bellagha, Sondos Belhassen, and Lobna Noomane. Cinematography is by Frida Marzouk, with editing by Amel Guellaty, Ghalya Lacroix, and Malek Kammoun. Music is composed by Omar Aloulou, and sound is by Aymen Labidi, with Arab distribution and sales handled by MAD Distribution.
Amel Guellaty, born in 1988, is a Tunisian director, screenwriter, and photographer who transitioned to cinema after studying law at the Sorbonne, working as an assistant on films such as APRÈS MAI by Olivier Assayas and FOREIGN BODY by Raja Amari.
She made her directorial debut in 2017 with BLACK MAMBA, which was selected for over 60 international festivals and won 20 awards and was later acquired by Canal+ and Italy’s RT Channel; her second short film, CHITANA (2022), received international acclaim, and she has also directed commercial campaigns for global brands including Dior, Montblanc, and IWC; WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM marks her first feature film.
