Australian feature The Furnace will take part in the Official Competition of the 4 th El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) (October 23-31). Written and directed by Roderick MacKay, the film stars Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek and Australia's renowned stars David Wenham and Jay Ryan. Recently, MAD Solutions has acquired the Arab world distribution and marketing rights to the film.
The film world premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it received wide critical acclaim. It was described by Variety as “an enjoyably absorbing experience” and by The Guardian as “brutish western is tough as old leather and good as gold.” Besides, Ahmed Malek was widely praised for his performance in the film and Screen Daily wrote, “Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek (a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2018) is immediately engaging as Hanif…”
El Gouna Film Festival aims to showcase a wide variety of films for a passionate and knowledgeable audience; while fostering better communication between cultures through the art of filmmaking. Its goal is to connect filmmakers from the region with their international counterparts in the spirit of cooperation and cultural exchange.
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 Furnace received production support from several 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 across the Arab world.
