Ahmed Khaled Towfik’s ‘Utopia’ to Be Made into Big-budget Film

Utopia, a novel by popular science-fiction and horror writer Ahmed Khaled Towfik, is being turned into a big-budget film:

The novel, which was translated into English by Chip Rossetti and shortlisted for the 2012 SF&F Translation Awards, will be developed and co-produced by director Rami Imam’s production company, “True Motion.” Imam will also adapt the film.

According to Variety, the film will be made “in partnership with several international special effects outfits to ensure top-notch effects and cinematography highlighting the contrast between the lifestyles in both cities” — the rich of “Utopia” and the poor, who live in Cairo.

“Utopia requires a gargantuan and exceptional effort in visual and special effects, a la Marvel Studios, including greenscreens and CG shots highlighting both worlds,” Imam told Variety.

Utopia is the first of Towfik’s novels to appear in English and the first to be made into a motion picture. Set in 2023, it depicts an Egypt that is not particularly different from Egypt 2015: The country is divided into the few inhabitants of the gated, US Marine-protected “Utopia,” located on the North Coast — and the Others, who live in Cairo.

Casting of Utopia is being decided, according to Variety, and Imam is seeking to recruit at least one high-profile American actor to play one of the Marines.

The movie will be shot in both Cairo and the UAE. It’s scheduled for release in 2017.

A review of Utopia:

By Sofia Samatar, in Strange Horizons

And meanwhile:

YouTube Launches Aflam Arabic Movies Library