With North American production currently flat, Canadian post-production shops would be wise to consider partnering with other industry centres, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade sees Egypt as an ideal market.

To help bring attention to the Canadian film biz in the land of the Pharaohs, DFAIT has organized the first annual Cairo Canadian Film Festival, Feb. 16-22. This year will feature exclusively films by Cairo-born Atom Egoyan, opening with his latest, Ararat. The director will be on hand for the festival.

According to Jean-Philippe Tachdjian, the Canadian cultural attache heading the Cairo festival, Egypt, as the largest producer for an Arab audience of nearly 250 million, has a bustling film industry.

Medium-budget feature dramas and comedies dominate Egyptian production, yet local filmmakers, lacking post-production infrastructure, often farm out post work to European firms.

Tachdjian believes Egyptians’ dislike of U.S. foreign policy and the value of the Canadian dollar could make Canada a more attractive North American partner for filmmakers there.

‘When you go do post-production in the United States, producers and directors have to go there to oversee some of this stuff,’ says Tachdjian. ‘In Canada we had a stringent visa system prior to Sept. 11, but we haven’t changed it, whereas the Americans now have made it so difficult.’

An advantage Canada has over some European nations is a pool of talent familiar with Arabic language, which can come in handy in post audio, voiceover and dubbing jobs.

Daniel Iron, partner and producer at Toronto’s Rhombus Media, will also be attending the film festival and taking meetings towards a report on the state of Egyptian production and possible joint ventures that will be presented to the CFTPA.

For next year’s Cairo Canadian Film Festival, DFAIT plans to expand the movie schedule and bring over members of the Canuck production and post sectors for a conference with reps from the Egyptian film biz. One point Tachdjian hopes to impress upon the local film community is that much of the post work on big Hollywood films is actually done in Canada.