While we bid farewell to the El Gouna Film Festival for this year, we still can’t forget just how memorable the nine-day festival was. So, we’re not ready to let go of it just yet.
We recently got the chance to interview the gorgeous Raya Abirached at the El Gouna Film Festival. From mental health to the progress the film industry has made in terms of gender equality, Lebanese presenter Raya talked about it all:
Cosmo ME: How does being a celebrity affect your mental health?
Raya Abirached: It’s a very exposed industry. When you are an actor, you expose yourself all the time. On one hand, acting is the best therapy because you understand other characters, you go through different turmoil as an actor to be a character. So, on one hand, acting is the best therapy but when being a celebrity is attached to acting, it takes a very strong person to take everything that comes with it in terms of the negatives and the criticism. You’re exposed and you’re always in the public eye, so it takes a very balanced person to keep going.
I also believe that it has much more to do with being a celebrity than it has to do with acting. I think acting is a very healthy profession. However, being a celebrity nowadays along with social media requires you to have a very strong will to understand the difference between what’s right, what’s not, and what needs to affect you.
C: Do you believe gender equality exists in the film industry?
R: Currently nothing is stopping us from achieving true gender equality except for the fundamental change in mentality that is ongoing. I do believe that things are changing; if you look at the Egyptian film industry, you have a lot of very memorable leading women and this is not something new. In the media, there are also a lot of TV personalities that are women.
Of course, we are far from true gender equality, but what I like is that we are talking about it, we are making laws about it, and we are working on the changes. I hope that by the time my daughter is of age, we have changed enough where we don’t even have to mention ‘gender equality‘.
C: As a woman, have you ever faced gender inequality in the industry?
R: I have never felt that I have faced any gender inequality from my personal experience. I have been surrounded by a lot of women that have supported me, so it’s been me and the women and the support that we have given each other, which has been very important in my career.
It’s very important for me to be surrounded by this positive energy of the women that I have grown my career with.
However, I decided to be a potent woman in media. I don’t wait for anyone to elevate me. I just decide that women’s empowerment is important, and it is our right. And that is how I positioned myself.
Watch this space for more El Gouna Film Festival updates.
Interview and transcription by Yasmin Reda and Twinkle Stanly.