Ruba Nadda, director and screenwriter of TIFF best Canadian feature winner Cairo Time, is re-teaming with the film's Canadian producer for her next project, yet to be titled. Daniel Iron of Toronto-based Foundry Films is setting the project up as a Canada/Germany coproduction with Cologne-based Tatfilm. Tatfilm founder Christine Ruppert, who will coproduce alongside Iron, has an impressive list of credits including the Oscar-winning The Last King of Scotland and Mike Hodges' Croupier, the film that launched Clive Owen's career.

Speaking with Playback Daily Iron said, "We have a working title but I don't want to say it." He pegged the budget in the $6 million to $7 million range. Conceived and written by Nadda, the thriller follows a Syrian-Canadian man who has returned to Syria to track the disappearance of his daughter, a journalist. But his return only stirs up memories of his own dark past. The film will shoot this summer in Jordan, the default location for politically charged films with a Middle East setting.

Telefilm Canada has been aboard from development through packaging. Alliance Films will distribute. Iron said he is speaking to a handful of international sales agents about world sales rights.

Iron is also setting up a new project, an animated feature entitled Pig Tale, with Aaron Woodley, director of the well-regarded Rhinoceros Eyes, a best first feature winner at TIFF in 2003. Iron is actively seeking a coproducer, ideally from Europe.

Iron's credits include Sarah Polley's Away from Her, Canada/South Africa copro The Bang Bang Club and the Showcase television series The Foundation.