Tarik Saleh closes his Cairo trilogy, which began with Cairo Confidential and continued with The Cairo Conspiracy (Prix du Scénario in 2022), with Les Aigles de la République, his new film selected for the Cannes 2025 Festival. Competing for the Palme d'Or in the Official Competition, the Egyptian-born Swedish director presented this new feature with his favorite actor, Fares Fares.
The actor, who once again delivers a performance of infinite class, plays George Fahmy, Egypt's most adored actor, nicknamed 'the pharaoh of the screen'. He's rich, buys time with his son by giving him expensive gifts, lives with an aspiring actress much younger than himself (Lyna Khoudri) and makes no secret of his views on the country's regime. A life that displeases the authorities, guardians of political thought, who consider him anti-Islam and anti-regime.
At a time when arbitrary arrests and the muzzling of artists, journalists and ordinary people are commonplace, he finds himself forced to accept a role that runs counter to his opinions, in order to be able to continue filming and, above all, to protect his son who " could be the victim of an unfortunate accident on his way to university", he is told.
The role is that of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who has reigned supreme over Egypt since 2014, in a biopic to his glory commissioned by the Ministry of the Armed Forces that, inevitably, glosses over the dictatorship. Here he is forced to set aside his convictions and ethics, finding himself at the heart of political manipulation.
With Les Aigles de la République, Tarik Saleh completes his Cairo trilogy with force and brio, in the pure tradition of the two previous opuses. A film with atense atmosphere set against a backdrop of propaganda, where the threat takes the form of total control of the hero's actions under the yoke of Dr. Manssour (Amr Waked), an icy filter on the film set. All the way to an unprecedented outburst of violence that occurs in a totally unforeseeable way, when the role and real life become one.
Les Aigles de la République will be unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival 2025. The film will be released in French cinemas on October 22, 2025.
Synopsis: Egypt's most adored actor, George Fahmy, falls out of favor with the authorities overnight. On the verge of losing everything, George is forced to accept the role of the President in a biopic celebrating him. He finds himself thrown into the inner circle of power, and soon realizes that he is not only in danger of losing his soul, but that he has literally thrown himself into a dangerous dance of death.
Cannes Festival 2025: Films in the Official Selection
Discover the official selection for the 78th Cannes Film Festival, held on the Croisette from May 13 to 24, 2025. [Read more]
Cannes Festival 2025: Films in the Official Selection
