'The Irishman' to Open Cairo Film Festival

Martin Scorsese's all-star epic will have its Middle East and North African premiere on Nov. 20.

Martin Scorsese's all-star gangster epic The Irishman is continuing its international tour.

The film, starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino, is set to open the 41st edition of the Cairo International Film Festival, marking its Middle East and North African premiere with a screening at the Cairo Opera House on Nov. 20, a week before it lands on Netflix.

Having bowed at the New York Film Festival on Sept. 27, The Irishman recently closed the London Film Festival and is already set to screen at the Mill Valley, Hamptons, Lumière, San Diego, Mumbai, Rome, Philadelphia, Chicago, Tokyo, Camerimage, and Los Cabos film festivals.

“We are extremely excited to be raising the red curtain of the festival with the epic masterpiece from one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, the genius that is Martin Scorsese," said Cairo festival president Mohamed Hefzy.

The Irishman will be among 150 features and shorts from 63 countries due to screen over the 10-day festival, including 30 world premieres. The emphasis is, as ever, on Arab cinema, with 20 films hailing from the Middle East and North Africa being showcased in the lineup.