Tawfeek Barhom

Fares Fares

Mohammad Bakri

Makram J. Khoury

Mehdi Dehbi

Younes Medhat

Yunus Albayrak

Sherwan Haji

Amr Mosad

Hassan El Sayed

Zain Alabdin A. Fallatah

Youssef Salama Zeki

Ahmed Laissaoui

Mouloud Ayad

Ayman Fathy

Okan Bozkuş

Moe Ayoub

Ramzi Choukair

Jalal Altawil

Mark Lwoff

Toni Valla

Misha Jaari

Berke Alkan

Zeynep Burcu Keçecioglu

Tugba Usta

Anna-Karin Lindgren

Latif Albayrak

Mikael Windelin

Meral Şakrak

Olivier Jacquet

Ece Aksel

Pierre Aïm

Utku Sonmezer

Osman Yilmaz

Elina Teinilä

Pia Cornelius

Khalil Zghayou

Lukas Östergren

Theis Schmidt

Roger Rosenberg

Tayman Tekin

Zeynep Ilgaz Zencirci

Toygar Saltan

Mia Guldborg

Sune Elskær

Ilayda Güralp

Simon Mortensen

Mats Adler

Serkan Doner

Alex Hansson

Peter Hjorth

Peter Bjerggaard

Anna Potter

Paco Bouazza

Lucilio Da Costa Pais

Anne Cottreel

Celal Demir

Lilli Rutström Kugel

Jimmy Karlsson

Mustafa Gökpinar

Erhan Alpdundar

Ceren Sena Akgun

Sima Ezgi Yalman

Linda Mutawi

Camilla Nasiell

Fredrik Zander

Ahmet T. Uygun

Krister Linder

Kristina Åberg

Tarik Saleh

Aysun Bakar

Lars Carlsson

Sidney Vereycken

Pontus Borg

Samet Ekil

Viktor Gullichsen

Camilla Angelbo Hansen

Sonat Hancer

Fredrik Jonsäter

Jan Kasskawo

Tuomas Klaavo

Zacharias Kullman

Nicolas Lehtola

Jesper Miller

Hans Møller

Rasmus Pietilä

Emil Soininen

Per Sundström

Kimmo Vänttinen

Lars Wignell

Thriller

La Conspiration du Caire

Atmo Production

Memento Films Production

Bufo

ARTE France Cinéma

Final Cut for Real

Mikael Ahlström Films

Haymaker

Film i Väst

Denmark

Finland

France

Sweden

CinemaSerf

Young fisherman "Adam" (Tawfeek Barhom) receives a letter that is going to change his life. He has been accepted into the prestigious Al-Azhar University and after an emotional farewell with his family he sets off to the hubbub of Cairo. Simultaneously, the Grand Imam dies. This is a very important event for the Sunni community, but it is also an highly significant one for the government too. The President makes it known through his National Security agency whom he wants to succeed to the role. To ensure that the election delivers the required outcome, the rather dishevelled looking "Col. Ibrahim" (Fares Fares) is drafted in. Now he already has an "angel" working for him at the school, but when "Zizo" (Mehdi Dehbi) is found slaughtered in the forecourt, the Colonel must find a new informant - and he alights on the young and impressionable "Adam" - using an intriguingly effective carrot and stick combination of threats and promises. The rest of the film follows the rather perilous path the young scholar must take if he is to facilitate his puppet-master whilst protecting his family from their revenge should he fail - and staying safe from his colleagues who have their own form of sedition on their minds. What we have here is quite a plausible and at times effectively menacing look at just how easily the organs of the state can manipulate, or cause to be manipulated, the most public and seemingly inscrutable of processes. Indeed, after a short while there is a rather depressing inevitability to the whole election procedure! The actual story is not the best. There are a few things that remain unexplained - much of the activities of the honourable "Blind Sheikh" (Makram Khoury), for example, are largely undercooked; and there are one or two scenarios that end just too briefly and conveniently. At one stage I thought it was heading for a really tough and brutal ending - and that would have worked better for me than the one we are offered - but see what you think about that. This is a well written, paced and dark political drama that challenges the status quo and leaves a rather bitter taste in the mouth. The two leading actors are on good form and the film is certainly thought-provoking. The location architecture is glorious too!

Cairo Conspiracy

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