--- title: "The final film in Tarik Saleh's Cairo trilogy starts filming in May with Fares Fares and Lyna Khoudri" url: 'https://press-international.sfstudios.se/post/the-final-film-in-tarik-salehs-cairo-trilogy-starts-filming-in-m' author: 'SF Studios International I Press room' published: '2024-05-18T11:00:15+00:00' updated: '2024-05-18T11:00:15+00:00' description: "Eagles of the Republic, the third and final film in Tarik Saleh's Cairo trilogy after successful The Nile Hilton Incident (Grand Jury Prize award, Sundance 2017) and Cairo Conspiracy aka Boy from Heaven (Best Screenplay, Cannes 2022) starts principal photography in May. Written and directed by Tarik Saleh with award winning actor Fares Fares in the leading role. SF Studios distributes the film pan-Nordic with theatrical release in the fall of 2025." image: 'https://frontend-assets.clipsource.com/5e956ef8ad533/sfsi-5e957016a50e1/2024/05/17/66473b7075f9c_thumbnail.jpeg' category: 'Press release' language: en --- # The final film in Tarik Saleh's Cairo trilogy starts filming in May with Fares Fares and Lyna Khoudri ![](https://frontend-assets.clipsource.com/5e956ef8ad533/sfsi-5e957016a50e1/2024/05/17/66473b7075f9c_thumbnail.jpeg) ***Eagles of the Republic*, the third and final film in Tarik Saleh's Cairo trilogy after successful *The Nile Hilton Incident* (Grand Jury Prize award, Sundance 2017) and *Cairo Conspiracy* aka *Boy from Heaven* (Best Screenplay, Cannes 2022) starts principal photography in May. Written and directed by Tarik Saleh with award winning actor Fares Fares in the leading role. SF Studios distributes the film pan-Nordic with theatrical release in the fall of 2025.** The stellar international cast includes Swedish award-winning actor **Fares Fares**, French star **Lyna Khoudri**, celebrated American-Palestinian actress **Cherien Dabis**, renowned French-Moroccan actress **Zineb Triki** and critically acclaimed Finnish-Syrian actor **Sherwan Haji**, to name a few. Principal photography started May 15th and will wrap up July 13th. **About the film** *Egypt's most adored actor, George Fahmy (Fares Fares) is pressured to star in a film commissioned by the highest authorities. He reluctantly accepts the role and finds himself thrown into the inner circle of power. Like a moth drawn to the flame he begins an affair with the mysterious wife of the general overseeing the film.* ”While writing *Eagles of the Republic* I found myself getting more and more worried about the characters in the script, it felt as if they were constantly dancing with the devil. When I had passed the point of no return in the story, I realized that I had myself passed that same point – I had to make this film – it was an equally arousing and terrifying feeling. To undertake this journey is like bungy-jumping and having lied about my weight”, says Tarik Saleh. The music of the film will be composed by Academy Award winner **Alexandre Desplat** (*Asteroid City* 2023, *Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio*, 2022, *Little Women*, 2019, *The Shape of Water*, 2017, *The Imitation Game*, 2014). International sales are picked up by **Playtime**, the French distribution is handled by **Memento Distribution** and **SF Studios** is distributing pan-Nordic. The previous films in the Cairo trilogy were both huge international successes. Tarik Saleh won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival 2022 for *Cairo Conspiracy* aka *Boy from Heaven*. The film was Sweden's Oscar entry 2023 and received a César nomination for ’Best Foreign Film’ 2023. *The Nile Hilton Incident* received the Grand Jury Award at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, the Swedish Academy Award for ’Best Film’ in 2018 and a César nomination for ’Best Foreign Language Film, to name a few awards. ”Unlimited Stories and Apparaten are thrilled to be part of Tarik’s next feature film *Eagles of the Republic* which marks a continuation of his remarkable trajectory. Tarik has firmly established himself as a master of the political thriller and his films are always pushing the boundaries between power and ideals. Eagles of the Republic promises to be as bold, complex and thrilling as his last two films, with high calibre international partners and a stellar cast”, says Linus Stöhr Torell, Linda Mutawi and Johan Lindström, Producers ”Memento Production and Memento Distribution are delighted to be reunited with Tarik Saleh to conclude his Cairo trilogy. We successfully distributed *The Nile Hilton Incident* in French cinemas (3MUSD box-office) before co-producing and distributing - again successfully - *Cairo Conspiracy* (4MUSD at French box-office, sold all over the world), so it was only logical to join him on this new project, which brings together all the elements that made the two previous films so successful but this time with even more tension, suspense and romance. The script already holds the promise of a great auteur film that is both spectacular and breathtaking, embracing the life of an entire country. Tarik Saleh has established himself as a new master of the political thriller, and *Eagles of the Republic* will confirm the unique style for which he is renowned”, says Alexandre Mallet-Guy, Producer *Eagles of the Republic* aka *Les Aigles de la République* is a Swedish (Unlimited Stories & Apparaten), French (Memento Production), Danish (Ström Pictures), Finnish (Bufo) and German (Films Boutique) co-production with a budget of 10 MUSD making it one of the biggest productions for an Arabic language film to date. Starring in the leading role as George Fahmy is award-winning **Fares Fares** who also starred in the two previous films in the Cairo trilogy, *Cairo Conspiracy* aka *Boy from Heaven*, 2022 and *The Nile Hilton Incident*, 2017, the latter for which Fares received a Guldbagge Award for ’Best actor in a leading role’. They also worked together in Saleh’s Hollywood movie *The Contractor*, 2022, the animated dystopia *Metropia*, 2009 and in the futuristic HBO-series *Westworld*, 2018. The role of Donya, George girlfriend is portrayed by French star **Lyna Khoudri** (*The French Dispatch*, 2021) who won a César in 2020 for ’Most Promising Actress’ for *Papicha* and the Orizzonti (Horizon) Award for 'Best Actress’ for *Les Bienheureux* aka *the Blessed* at the Venice Film Festival in 2017. The stellar cast also includes names like American-Palestinian actress **Cherien Dabis** (Amazon Prime’s *Fallout*, 2024, Netflix’ *Mo*, 2022, *May in the Summer*, 2013), who also is an award winning writer and director herself (*Only Murders in the Building*, 2021-2023, *Ramy*, 2019-2022, *Ozark*, 2020, *Amreeka* 2009), celebrated French-Moroccan actress **Zineb Triki** (*Vortex*, 2022, *The Bureau* aka *Le Bureau des Légendes*, 2015-2020, *Arthur Rambo*, 2021), critically acclaimed Finnish-Syrian actor **Sherwan Haji** (*Fallen Leaves* aka *Höstlöv som faller*, 2023, *Cairo Conspiracy* aka *Boy from Heaven* 2022, *The Other Side of Hope* aka *Ljus i natten*, 2017) and Jordanian actor **Suhaib Nashwan** (*Amira* (2021), *Chronicles of Her*, 2020, *Layla M.*, 2016, *The Team*, 2018), among others. ”SF Studios aim to carry on our legacy of the house of Ingmar Bergman where Tarik’s talent is well placed and taken care of. As a co-producer it is a very happy re-union with Tarik. *Eagles of the Republic* is embracing excellent writing, roles made in heaven for actors and an extremely exciting and suspenseful story”, says Yaba Holst, co-producer SF Studios *Eagles of the Republic* is produced by Unlimited Stories, Apparaten, and Memento Production, in co-production with Ström Pictures, Bufo, Films Boutique, SVT, Film i Väst, ARTE France Cinéma, SF Studios, Mikael Ahlström Films, Playtime & Post Control . With the support of the Swedish Film Institute, Playtime, Canal +, Ciné +, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fund, Memento Distribution, Bayerisher Rundfunk, ARTE France, Danish Film Institute, Centre National du cinéma et de l'image animée, Paris Region Fund, Finnish Film Foundation, Business Finland Oy, YLE and DR. Produced by **Linus Stöhr Torell**, Unlimited Stories **Linda Mutawi**, **Johan Lindström**, Apparaten and **Alexandre Mallet Guy**, Memento Production. Nordic distribution: SF Studios French distribution: Memento Distribution International sales: Playtime **Behind the camera** Director – Tarik Saleh Writer – Tarik Saleh Producers – Linda Mutawi, Linus Stöhr Torell, Johan Lindström and Alexandre Mallet-Guy Photographer – Pierre Aïm Production Designer – Roger Rosenberg Costume Designer – Virginie Montel Make up & Hair Designer – Saara Räisänen Editor – Theis Schmidt Music composer - Alexandre Desplat *among others* **Tarik Saleh – Director and Scriptwriter** Tarik Saleh has a background as one of the most influential graffiti artists in Europe in the 80’s. His dramatic feature film debut came with *Metropia*, 2009, a dystopic animation with Stellan and Alexander Skarsgård, Juliette Lewis, Vincent Gallo and Udo Kier. The film premiered at Venice Film Festival as opening film for Critics’ Week. *The Nile Hilton Incident* won ‘The Grand Jury Prize’ at Sundance 2017, received a Guldbagge Award for ‘Best film’ in 2018, was nominated as ‘Best Foreign Film’ at the César Awards and was a box office hit with more than 400 thousand tickets sold in France. Tarik Saleh won the Prix du scénario for ’Best Screenplay’ at the Cannes Film Festival 2022 for *Cairo Conspiracy* aka *Boy from Heaven*, Sweden's Oscar entry in 2023, received a César nomination for ’Best Foreign Film’ and achieved over 500,000 cinema admissions in France. He also directed *The Contractor*, 2022 starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Kiefer Sutherland, episodes of the futuristic HBO-series *Westworld* and *Ray Donavon* for Showtime 2018 and the Swedish thriller *Tommy*, 2014. Saleh also directed the documentaries *Gitmo: The New Rules of War*, 2005 and *Sacrificio: Who Betrayed Che Guevara*, 2001 together with Erik Gandini. Further, Saleh is known for his collaborations with singer Lykke Li. The music video *I follow Rivers* has over 60 million views on YouTube. **Press contact** For further information and interview requests please contact MONDAY RELATIONS: Camilla Nasiell, camilla.nasiell@mondayrelations.se, +46 70 720 65 63 **About SF Studios** SF Studios, established in 1919, is one of the world’s oldest film companies. Today SF Studios is the leading film studio in the Nordic region with its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden and offices in Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki. The company is producing and distributing feature films and TV series as well as providing the streaming service SF Anytime. SF Studios is part of the leading Nordic media company Bonnier.