Boy from Heaven
Tarik Saleh's new film Boy from Heaven with Tawfeek Barhom and Fares Fares in the key roles PREMIERED in the main competition at THE 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The SCRIPT, BY TARIK saleh, WAS NAMED BEST SCREENPLAY BY THE JURY.
Adam (Tawfeek Barhom), the son of a fisherman, is offered the ultimate privilege to study at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the epicenter of power of Sunni Islam. Shortly after his arrival in Cairo, the university’s highest ranking religious leader, the Grand Imam, suddenly dies and Adam soon becomes a pawn in a ruthless power struggle between Egypt’s religious and political elites.
The film was largely shot in Istanbul and is a co-production between Sweden, France, Finland and Denmark with actors from, among others, Sweden, Palestine, Yemen, Russia, Syria, Egypt, France and Gambia.
“When you make a film about something that has never been told before, you often have doubts. Will anyone care? Does anyone even want to see this? Being selected for the world's premier film festival answers that question. I feel incredibly happy today.”
Tarik Saleh
Director
“Four years ago, we decided to make Boy from Heaven. When I read Tarik's script, I understood that this was a film for the main competition in Cannes and now we have reached that goal. Once again, Tarik shows that he belongs to the absolute top of the world's filmmakers”
Kristina Åberg
Producer
Synopsis. Cairo, Al-Azhar University, the center of power in Sunni-Islam. While delivering his welcome speech to the students, the Grand Imam of the prestigious institution collapses in front of the audience. A sudden death that triggers a brutal war of succession. All blows are allowed, including the deadliest. One morning, the body of a student is found dead in the main courtyard. That's all it takes to push Adam, a young provincial who has just landed in Al-Azhar, into the heart of the ruthless power game in which the highest religious and political authorities of the country are engaged.
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
Prix François Chalais Cannes Film Festival 2022
BEST SCREENPLAY Tarik Saleh Cannes Film Festival 2022
EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS Feature Film Selection 2022
OSCARS Official Swedish entry & shortlist
Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2022 NDR Film Prize
Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2022 INTERFILM Church Prize
Lumière Awards Nominated för Best International Coproduction
GULDBAGGE AWARD Nominated för Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design
GULDBAGGE AWARD Winner Best Screenplay
Paris Film Critics Awards (PFCA) Best original screenplay
CÉSAR 2023 Nominated for Best foreign film
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW EXCERPTS
Egypt’s religious and secular institutions both breed mistrust in Tarik Saleh’s superbly realised paranoid nightmare
The new film by Swedish director of Egyptian origin Tarik Saleh is, under the guise of a thriller, a philosophical fable of Machiavellian finesse. A pure song sung in an abyss of corruption.
An implacable, hilarious, pamphlet film as fine as it is courageous. Exciting from start to finish.
…an intriguingly damning portrait of the corruption currently hitting Egypt on all levels
Complex, gloomy and brilliant ”Boy from heaven” mixes the codes of espionage, meeting secrets and other filings, in an atmosphere of ancient drama.
”A labryinthine but satisfying thriller… there’s definite commercial potential here”
Boy from Heaven can be compared to a mixture of the Name of the Rose and A Prophet.
Faces and performances are intriguing down to the smallest parts, with highlights provided by Tawfeek Barhom as Adam and the ever-watchable Fares Fares (who these days feels to Saleh like Scorsese’s De Niro or Kurosawa’s Mifune)
Saleh’s film works on many more levels than sociopolitical, delivering a sophisticated adult thriller while at the same time exploring the intense psychological dynamic of the relationship between Adam and Ibrahim
A young man is embarked on the politico-religious meanders at the heart of Egyptian power. A high-risk subject masterfully conducted.
BOY FROM HEAVEN
ولد من الجنة
Walad Min Al Janna
Resources
IMDB
Festival contact
The Swedish Film Institute
Theo Tsappos
Petter Mattsson
World sales
Memento Films International
memento-international.com
Swedish distributor
TriArt Film
Eva Esseen Arndorff
PR & Press Sweden
Camilla Nasiell
+46 (0)70 720 65 63
Press images
Hi-res images
Contact
producer
Kristina Åberg
+46 (0)70 768 31 33
kristina@atmo.se
Boy from Heaven trailer [Swedish]