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Versatile Egyptian auteur Ahmad Abdalla is well known on the fest circuit for “Microphone,” about Egypt’s hip-hop scene, “Rags & Tatters,” which exposed the country’s deep post-revolution poverty, and female identity melodrama “Decor.”

In “Ext. Night,” which is his 6th feature, he returns to Egypt’s darkness with a wry comedy in which a young film director, a hooker, and a cab driver wander around Cairo’s backstreets during the course of a single night that poignantly puts on screen the city’s segregated class system and its misogyny, besides its bustling vitality. During the Cairo Film Festival where, after bowing in Toronto, the pic had its Middle East premiere, Abdalla spoke to Variety about how he built “Ext. Nigh” around the character of an empowered woman named Toutou who happens to be a prostitute.

If I’m not mistaken, after “Decor” you were supposed to make a Zombie comedy.

The 17th Marrakech International Film Festival (Nov 30 – Dec 08) has set a jury comprising Suspiria star Dakota Johnson, Indian actress Ileana D’Cruz (Barfi!), Lebanese filmmaker and visual artist Joana Hadjithomas (I Want To See), Brit director Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin), Moroccan director Tala Hadid (House In The Fields), French director Laurent Cantet (The Class), German actor Daniel Brühl (Rush) and Mexican director Michel Franco (April’s Daughter). As previously revealed, director James Gray will serve as jury president.

A total of 80 films will unspool at the festival, with Julian Schnabel’s Van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate among gala screenings and also the festival’s opener. Other galas include Roma, Green Book and Capernaum while special screenings include Wildlife, Her Smell and Birds Of Passage. The official competition, galas and special screenings are listed below.

The festival will also feature tributes to Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright,...

Films focusing on the struggles of everyday life for immigrants living into the United States aren’t a dime-a-dozen, but in this political climate, they are more vital than ever. Namour, by Egyptian-American writer-director Heidi Saman, tells the story of a young Arab-American (Kalim Saleh) who struggles between serving as a valet for a distinguish Los Angeles restaurant and the demands from his immigrant family.

“The recession is what inspired me to write the film,” Saman tells EW. “I was in my 20s when it happened. I myself had the feeling of ‘You’ve just graduated, you’re part of a mobile middle class and you have all these opportunities ahead.’ I felt like the recession took all of that away. I saw friends lose jobs. Some lose their home. And I thought the idea of having all this potential and then it’s taken away was interesting. What do you do with that?...

• Julia Roberts has joined fellow Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow and 12 Years A Slave nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor in the remake of the 2009 Argentinian film The Secret in Their Eyes. The original feature won the Best Foreign Language film Oscar in 2010. Billy Ray, who wrote the screenplay for The Hunger Games and Captain Phillips, will write and direct the story about a former Mi-5 agent (Ejiofor) on a joint task force with the FBI, who thinks he’s finally found the man who murdered the daughter of his former partner and friend (Roberts). [Deadline]

• Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette will star in the relationship drama Miss You Already.

German actress Veronica Ferres (Sans famille, Les Misérables, Schtonk) has joined the cast of Pay the Ghost, the Nicolas Cage supernatural thriller set to start lensing this week in Toronto. German helmer Uli Edel (The Baader Minhof Complex) is helming the pic, about a professor (Cage) who reunites with his estranged wife to track down the vengeful ghost who took their son years ago during a Halloween parade. Ferres will play a fellow professor and mentor to Cage who helps in the parents’ search for their child. The veteran actress has been making her way stateside in films like Adam Resurrected opposite Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe and the upcoming the Toronto title Hector and the Search for Happiness, opposite Simon Pegg. Script is by Dan Kay, based on the short story by novelist Tim Lebbon. Voltage will be selling the film at Tiff. Ferres is repped by Resolution.

Awkward...

The chaps over at ComingSoon have this new poster for Ruba Nadda’s new movie, Cairo Time which stars Patricia Clarkson, Alexander Siddig, Elena Anaya, Amina Annabi, Tom McCamus and Mona Hala.

I quite like this poster but, the more I look at it, the more I think Siddig is trying to look down Clarkson’s top! Anyone out there agree?!

ComingSoon also give us a description of the movie:

Clarkson plays Juliette, a fashion magazine editor in her 40s, who travels to Cairo to meet her husband, Mark (McCamus), a Un official working in Gaza, for a three week vacation. When he is unavoidably delayed, he sends his friend Tareq (Siddig), who had been his security officer for many years, to escort her throughout the beautiful and exotic city. The last thing anyone expects is that they will fall in love.

I’ve not managed to find a UK...

ComingSoon.net has your exclusive first look at the poster for Cairo Time , starring Patricia Clarkson, Alexander Siddig, Elena Anaya, Amina Annabi, Tom McCamus, Mona Hala. Written and directed by Ruba Nadda, the film opens on August 6th. Clarkson plays Juliette, a fashion magazine editor in her 40s, who travels to Cairo to meet her husband for a three week vacation. When he is unavoidably delayed, he sends his trusted friend Tareq (Siddig) to keep her company. As he guides her through the sights, sounds and unique customs of the exotic city, unexpected feelings emerge leading to an awakening of emotion that takes Juliette by surprise.