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Prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, whose epic “Kira and El Gen” about local resistance to British occupation recently scored at the local box office, is being feted with a career award by the El Gouna Film Festival.

The Egyptian fest, running Oct. 13-20 in the Red Sea resort roughly 250 miles south of Cairo, is also paying tribute to the Sudanese Film Group, a groundbreaking collective of filmmakers, and is planning an homage to late great British-French icon Jane Birkin.

Hamed (pictured above) broke out internationally in 2006 with his bold adaptation of Alaa Aswany’s bestselling novel “The Yacoubian Building” that became a game-changer in Egytian cinema due to the way it depicted homosexuality, Islamic fundamentalism and government corruption. After “Yacoubian” become a local hit and travelled widely Hamed scored again big time with “The Blue Elephant,” a thriller with supernatural elements and its sequel “The Blue Elephant 2” that more...

Egyptian filmmaker Marwan Hamed, the director of “The Yacoubian Building,” “The Blue Elephant” and “The Blue Elephant 2,” which last year became the highest-grossing Egyptian film in history, is shooting “Kira and El Gen,” based on Ahmed Mourad’s book “1919,” about Egyptian resistance to British occupation. He spoke to Variety about the project at the Cairo Film Festival.

Produced by Ahmed Badawy, managing director of Tamer Morsi’s Synergy Films, the budget is north of $10 million, making it the most expensive film in Egyptian cinema history. The film stars some of the biggest names in Arab cinema, including Karim Abdel Aziz, Ahmed Ezz, Hind Sabri and Ahmad Malek. British actor Sam Hazeldine also appears.

Hamed says that the opening of cinemas in Saudi Arabia with its sizeable box-office potential has created a landscape where Arab financiers can plan for better returns on films. “What actually encouraged such an investment...

A psychiatrist for the criminally insane, Dr. Yehia Rashed (Karim Abdel Aziz), is called out of early retirement, where he vanished after his exertions in the original The Blue Elephant (2014), to deal with a young murderess who appears to have supernatural powers. In Blue Elephant: Dark Whispers (El Feel-el Azra’a 2), director Marwan Hamed (who made his name internationally with his acclaimed first film The Yacoubian Building) turns a basically schlocky horror tale into a wild fantasy ride that benefits from more CGI than Egyptian movies have ever seen and a mesmerizing star turn by Hend Sabry as ...

A psychiatrist for the criminally insane, Dr. Yehia Rashed (Karim Abdel Aziz), is called out of early retirement, where he vanished after his exertions in the original The Blue Elephant (2014), to deal with a young murderess who appears to have supernatural powers. In Blue Elephant: Dark Whispers (El Feel-el Azra’a 2), director Marwan Hamed (who made his name internationally with his acclaimed first film The Yacoubian Building) turns a basically schlocky horror tale into a wild fantasy ride that benefits from more CGI than Egyptian movies have ever seen and a mesmerizing star turn by Hend Sabry as ...

Seven of the world’s foremost festivals dedicated to, or with strong traditions of highlighting genre cinema, have banded together to form the Fantastic 7, an initiative which sees each bring one project to be pitched at the Cannes Film Market.

The seven festivals include: Sitges Intl. Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia – which initiated the idea along with the Cannes Market; Bucheon Intl. Fantastic Film Festival, Cairo Intl. Film Festival, Guadalajara Intl. Film Festival (Ficg), International Film Festival & Awards – Macao; South by Southwest and the Toronto Intl. Film Festival (Tiff).

Cannes Film Market executive director Jérôme Paillard, Sitges deputy general manager Mónica Garcia Massagué, and Ventana Sur and Blood Window founder Bernardo Bergeret initialized and head the program.

In addition to the project pitches, Spanish director J.A. Bayona will godfather the event. Bayona has a memorable relationship with the Cannes Festival. In 2007 he premiered his now classic debut feature “The Orphanage” at Critics’ Week.