There are a lot of countries around the world that have their own thriving movie industry, but a lot of the films never make their way over to North America because they simply wouldn’t work for a Western audience. It only makes sense after all… the cultural divide is great, and a lot of Hollywood films never get exported overseas either. Well now Cinematical brings news of a production company in Egypt who are making an effort to release movies more palatable for foreign markets.

Last year they released The Yacoubian Building, a dramatic reflection of Egyptian society that screened at various festivals around the world and received fairly positive reviews. Now they’re planning to follow up on the success of that movie with a couple of new projects, one of which will be a biopic of Osama Bin Laden! The idea is to tell the history of al Qaeda through a framed narrative where two fundamentalists relate their life story to an American journalist. While I can’t help but be curious about such a film, I also know that they’re going to have a hell of a time selling a movie here that is sympathetic to Mr. Public Enemy Number 1. Then again who knows? Maybe it would actually help promote understanding between North America and the Arab world. We can always dream, can’t we?

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