"Eagles of the Republic" is director Tarik Saleh's third film in a trilogy of political thrillers, all set in Cairo.
Fares Fares plays Egypt's greatest actor, George. He loathes the regime, but can't refuse when powerful forces demand that he play authoritarian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in an absurd heroic portrayal.
“Not far away”
It's easy to make connections to the US, where President Trump is putting pressure on the media and Hollywood. Tarik Saleh's film was written and shot before Trump's return to power, but he understands that the connection can be made.
I don't think we're that far away from there being films that also pay tribute to Trump, he says.
Donald Trump has sued television companies over unfavorable interviews and openly interfered in what deals can be made between media companies.
Because he has a strong grip on Hollywood right now in that he can approve these deals, it's all about these tech companies and the world's richest men being in his favor, says Tarik Saleh worriedly.
George in "Eagles of the Republic" is drawn into the intrigues of the top leadership and is soon seduced by power.
It's when he starts to use it for his own benefit that he realizes that he has given his soul to the devil in some way, explains Fares Fares.
“Much bigger”
One of the points of the film is that it is not so easy to deal with power. That can also be the case in Sweden, thinks Tarik Saleh, who says that he was invited to the speaker's dinner and at first did not intend to go.
But then a little voice came into my head and whispered: "What if you get into trouble sometime while you're filming in these countries. Then it would be cool to have that short number for one of these ministers". So I went to dinner.
Tarik Saleh's trilogy is now complete. It has made him a world-renowned director.
It became much bigger and it has become much more successful than I ever dared to hope for.
After the trilogy, Tarik Saleh is planning new films. He is secretive about what he might do. But one thing is clear:
It's not like there's any high odds that Fares will be there.
"Eagles of the Republic" will have its Swedish cinema premiere on November 14th.
Tarik Saleh, 53, became known as the host of the SVT program "Elbyl" from 1996 to 1998 and worked for a while as a television producer.
He made the documentaries "Sacrificio" and "Gitmo" with Erik Gandini and made his feature film directorial debut with the animated "Metropia" in 2009.
The Cairo trilogy consists of “The Nile Hilton Incident” (2017), “Boy from Heaven” (2022) and “Eagles of the Republic” (2025).
