Cannes and Sundance-winning filmmaker Tarik Saleh starts shooting tomorrow (May 15) on political thriller Eagles Of The Republic with Playtime on board for international sales. Memento Distribution will release in France and SF Studios has bought Nordic rights.
Eagles Of The Republic is third and final film in Saleh’s Cairo trilogy after Sundance Grand Jury prize winner The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) and Cannes screenplay winner Cairo Conspiracy aka Boy from Heaven (2022).
Written and directed by Saleh, its cast includes Swedish actor Fares Fares, French star Lyna Khoudri, American-Palestinian actress Cherien Dabis, French-Moroccan actress Zineb Triki and Finnish-Syrian actor Sherwan Haji.
Fares stars as Egypt’s most adored actor, who 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 – and then begins an affair with the mysterious wife of the general overseeing the film.
The film’s $10m budget makes it one of the biggest Arabic language film productions to date.
The music of the film will be composed by Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat, whose credits include Asteroid City and The Shape of Water.
Speaking exclusively to Screen before the start of shoot, Saleh described the film as political thriller with strong noir influences. “If Cairo Conspiracy was a spy thriller set in a prison, this is back to The Nile Hilton Incident sort of world - about dodgy people in the shadows doing things.”
Although it is set in Egypt, Saleh said the film is “a mirror of what’s happening in the wider world where we idealise the strong man and believe he will save us, even though we know where it ultimately leads.”
Saleh added: “As artists we need to be very honest about what we see, in particular about the interests that are controlling people. The wealth and complacency that some of those people with the money have, it’s not going to save us right now.”
Eagles of the Republic is produced by Linus Stöhr Torell of Sweden’s Unlimited Stories, Linda Mutawi and Johan Lindström of Sweden’s Apparaten, and Alexandre Mallet Guy of France’s Memento Production. It is co-produced with Ström Pictures, Bufo, Films Boutique, SVT, Film i Väst, ARTE France Cinéma, SF Studios, Mikael Ahlström Films, Playtime & Post Control. The film is supported by the Swedish Film Institute, Playtime, Canal +, Ciné +, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fund, Memento Distribution, Bayerisher Rundfunk, ARTE France, Danish Film Institute, the CNC, Paris Region Fund, Finnish Film Foundation, Business Finland Oy, YLE and DR.
Playtime will have the script available for buyers at Cannes. Principal photography is set to wrap on July 13.
Fares also starred in Saleh’s two previous films in the Cairo trilogy. They also worked together in Saleh’s 2022 Hollywood movie The Contractor, 2009 animated dystopia Metropia and HBO-series Westworld.
Nicolas Brigaud-Robert co-CEO of Playtime said: “Eagles of the Republic is at the same time a political thriller and a witty dark comedy, all in all an irresistible page turner. Ultimately, like in all Tarik’s films, you feel entertained and enlightened. Tarik is a major voice in contemporary cinema, in our mind there is no doubt Eagles Of The Republic has great market potential and an A-list festival career ahead.”
No comments yet