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The Cairo Film Festival, for its 40th edition, is reinventing itself.

With Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy at the helm who, at 43, is its youngest president, the oldest fest in the Arab and African worlds is undergoing a radical revamp in a major effort to get its mojo back after a decade of decline due to the country’s post-revolution turbulence.

Hefzy, who is known internationally for the steady stream of edgy top notch titles birthed by his Film Clinic shingle — most recently Cannes standout “Yomeddine,” which is Egypt’s current candidate for the foreign-language Oscar — is the first Cairo fest chief chosen from within the country’s film industry ranks. Since being appointed in March he has been working incessantly in tandem with respected critic and academic Youssef Sherif Rizkalla, who remains the fest’s artistic director.

Eight months later, the signs of renewal are visible. Starting from a reconfiguration...

It wasn't just scatological humour and close-to-the-bone politics that sank Sacha Baron Cohen's satire's chances of a Middle East release, but its cliched view of Arab culture

Egypt got a sneak preview of The Dictator as Ramadan finished back in 2009. Okay, not that Dictator: it wasn't Sacha Baron Cohen's zany, Assyrian-bearded Gaddafi duck, but a leathery tyrant played by veteran actor Hassan Hosny with a passing resemblance to a certain shortly to-be-ousted Egyptian leader. The Arabic Eid al-Fitr blockbuster invented the country of Bambozia for its japes, while Baron Cohen's global blockbuster took place in the republic of Wadiya; adjoining fictional territories with satire holding ultimate sovereignty in both.

In theory, anyway. The Egyptian Dictator, which failed to anticipate the events in Tahrir Square of 16 months later, was apparently a bit on the toothless side. But its release at least showed that it is possible for entertainment to...