During the Cannes Film Festival, AFP published this article on The Yacoubian Building Movie and the production company, Good News Group, saying “…Egyptian cinema is making waves at this year's Cannes film market with a handful of daring new-look movies exploring the region's social and political problems which are helping to fan Islamic fundamentalism.

The far-reaching aim of these films, however, goes beyond provoking a debate about issues that remain taboo”

The goal of the films' producers, Good News Group, is to bridge the Middle East/Western divide by creating a better understanding of each other's culture.

"We need to mend the bridge between the two cultures," stressed Emad Eldin Adeeb, the high-profile Arab journalist known locally as "Murdoch of the Nile", who founded and heads-up the giant media group.

 "We are starting to open minds on a lot of taboos," he told AFP in an interview, adding, "the time is ripe to start discussions."

"The Yacoubian Building", which scooped the prize for the best new narrative filmmaker at this year's New York's Tribeca Film Festival and, more particularly, a planned movie about the Al-Qaeda terrorist group, have been creating a stir here at the world's premier market for buying and selling films.

The pipeline movie about Osama bin Laden, head of the Al-Qaeda network and the world's most wanted man, has also caught the eye of Robert de Niro, one of the world's most respected actor/directors and co-founder of the Tribeca festival.

De Niro wants to see the script when it is completed next month, Adel Adeeb, Emad's brother and head of group's GN4 Film and Music arm, told AFP.

 But though De Niro is interested in the project, which will start shooting next year, he is not planning on playing one of the characters, he emphasized.

The movie will revolve around an imaginary meeting between an American journalist and bin Laden in which both men explore their completely opposing views of world politics.

 "Our aim is not defend bin Laden" but to help create a dialogue between the Western and Middle Eastern worlds, leading to a better understanding between them, underlined both brothers.