The road from guerilla filmmaker to respected director has not always been easy, but for Annex resident Ruba Nadda, the journey has been well worth it every step of the way.
Nadda's latest film, Cairo Time, has earned entry into the Toronto International Film Festival, marking another step in the Montreal-born writer/director's burgeoning career.
While she has always enjoyed storytelling, Nadda only started contemplating a career in film during her last year in university.
Rather than spending another four years studying, she took an intensive six-week filmmaking course in New York and joined the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto.
Even then, her earliest works - short films based on some of her short stories - were shot on a shoestring budget and required the help of those closest to her.
"I trained my family and very good friends how to make films," she said. "It was basically us on the street, with no permits, filming and running from the cops."
While her early films were shut out of Canadian film festivals, Nadda was not one to take rejection lightly. She applied to festivals overseas and earned an audience at festivals in Europe.
Finally, her work caught the eye of Canadian filmmaking icon Atom Egoyan, who became a mentor and avid backer of her projects after seeing a tape of her early works.
"He sent me a beautiful letter saying he liked my early works and to hang in there," Nadda said. "I almost had an aneurysm. I was always a huge fan of his work."
Egoyan was so impressed with the promise she showed, he executive produced her feature film Sabah.
Cairo Time follows the tale of Juliette (played by Patricia Clarkson), a woman who travels to Cairo to spend time with her husband, a UN official working in Gaza. When her husband is delayed by work, his longtime associate Tareq (Alexander Siddig) agrees to show Juliette around the city.
As the pair spend more and more time together, Juliette finds herself falling in love not only with the gorgeous city, the pyramids and the Nile, but with her guide as well.
While the film showcases the beauty of the area, it also offers insight into the cultural differences in Egypt, particularly for a single woman navigating the city largely alone.
Cairo Time marks a return of sorts to Nadda's past. She lived in Damascus off and on when she was younger and visited Cairo with her family when she was 16. The city left an indelible impression on her.
"There's something in the atmosphere where, even though it's a chaotic, crazy, busy place, it forces you to slow down," she said.
Nadda returned to Cairo with her sister when she was in her mid-20s and found the experience completely different than when her father was with her.
"It's absolutely different when you're a single woman traveling through the city," she said. "Society's very segregated over there and it was difficult to readjust to the way of life."
If simply traveling through Cairo was a challenge, filming in the conservative Islamic city was even more challenging. As oppressive as the temperatures could be, they were nothing compared to the bureaucracy involved.
"They had a censorship minder on set who had to sign all the reels," Nadda said. "You had to have a sense of humour. My (assistant director) said every day 'we won't get the shots we need,' but we always managed to do it."
Cairo Time will be screened as part of the Toronto International Film Festival at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13 at the Winter Garden Theatre and at noon on Monday, Sept. 14 at the Scotiabank Theatres before receiving a wider release on Friday, Oct. 9.