Cairo Time

Cairo Time, written and directed by Ruba Nadda, is a Canadian romantic drama about a Canadian magazine editor (Patricia Clarkson) who forms a platonic but deep connection with an Egyptian family friend (Alexander Siddig) while waiting for her husband in Cairo. Because Canada had no co-production treaty with Egypt, producers structured the film as a Canadian-Irish co-production in order to secure filming permission in Cairo. The film won Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. The film holds an 80 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and 67 on Metacritic. Who it's for: anyone curious about a fragile, restrained love story set in Cairo, a Canadian drama whose producers restructured it as a co-production with another country just to secure filming permission in Egypt. Who it's not for: viewers looking for a love story built on physical intimacy, since this remains platonic and restrained throughout.