Cairo-set Cannes thriller takes aim at Egypt's president
In his explosive political thriller "Eagles of the Republic", which premiered in Cannes on Monday, the Swedish-Egyptian filmmaker used real footage of President Abdelfattah al-Sisi and even found a lookalike to briefly play him.
"I don't have a choice because he's a constant. He will sit there until he dies," the Sweden-based director told AFP ahead of the screening in the Cannes Festival's main competition.
His third Cairo-set feature -- after 2017 "The Nile Hilton Incident" and "Cairo Conspiracy" which won best screenplay at Cannes in 2022 -- includes a hair-raising twist that Saleh said surprised even him when he wrote it.
Shot in Turkey with largely non-Egyptian actors, the film starts off following the fictional George Fahmy, Egypt's most celebrated actor, who is pressured into starring in a propaganda film about the country's leader.
Fahmy -- played by Swedish-Lebanese actor Fares Fares -- looks nothing like the general turned president, and is much taller than him, but that does not seem to be a problem.
The Egyptian military has for decades held a sizeable stake of the economy, and after Sisi seized power it "took over the film industry within a year", Saleh said.
He said he was inspired to write his film after a television series called "The Choice" came out in Egypt, in which actor Yasser Galal plays Sisi as he rises to power.
"Galal, who's this tall, very handsome actor, plays him. And when I saw that TV series, I was like, this is absurd. I mean, El-Sisi is 1.66" metres (5ft 4ins) tall, Saleh said.
The Egyptian leader was portrayed as "very noble in every interaction", and the Islamist president he toppled in 2013, Mohamed Morsi, was depicted as "cross-eyed", he added.
Sisi 'under pressure'
Saleh said he asked himself what he would have done if he lived in Egypt and the authorities asked him to direct such a story.
The result is "Eagles of the Republic", in which a filmmaker is also forced against his will to direct the propaganda film.
Egypt has been ruled by a president hailing from the military since 1952 -- with the exception of Morsi, who was elected after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.
Since the worst-ever Gaza war broke out after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Egypt under Sisi has walked a diplomatic tightrope.
It has condemned Israel and rejected US President Donald Trump's proposal to take over Gaza and push its more than two million inhabitants into neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.
But it has also mediated in truce talks and kept diplomatic relations with Israel.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Hong Kong warns downloading game could be national security crime
Beijing is extremely sensitive to even subtle hints of dissent, and in 2020 imposed a national security law in Hong Kong that has effectively quashed any political opposition. In "Reversed Front: Bonfire", developed by a Taiwan-based company, users can "pledge allegiance" to entities including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and "Uyghur" to "overthrow the communist regime". Although the game takes place in a historically different universe, the description reads: "This game is a work of NON-FICTION. Any similarity to actual agencies, policies or ethnic groups of the PRC (People's Republic of China) in this game is INTENTIONAL." On Tuesday police in Hong Kong said "Reversed Front" was "advocating armed revolution" and promoting Taiwan and Hong Kong independence "under the guise of a game". Downloading the game could see players charged with possessing seditious material, while making in-app purchases could be viewed as providing funding to the developer "for the commission of secession or subversion", police warned. Recommending the game could constitute the offence of "incitement to secession". Although players can choose to "lead the Communists to defeat all enemies", the game description makes clear they are meant to be the villains. The Communists are described as "heavy-handed, reckless and inept" and accused of "widespread corruption, embezzlement, exploitation, slaughter and defilement". Many of the other playing roles correspond to flashpoint issues for Beijing -- including self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, and Xinjiang, where it has denied accusations of human rights abuses against the minority Muslim Uyghurs. Hong Kong's vibrant civil society and political opposition have all but vanished since the imposition of the national security law, which was brought in after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019. OpenAI last week said it had detected and banned a number of "likely China-origin" accounts targeting "Reversed Front" with negative comments. "The network generated dozens of critical comments in Chinese about the game, followed by a long-form article claiming it had received widespread backlash," said OpenAI. On Wednesday Apple appeared to have removed the game from the Hong Kong version of the App Store, after it had been available the day before, an AFP reporter saw. It was not available on Hong Kong's Google Play on Tuesday, local media reported. But the game's developer said it had seen a surge in searches since Tuesday's police announcement, jokingly implying it was thankful to authorities for the visibility boost.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Police make 'mass arrests' in LA during nighttime curfew
Looting and vandalism in the second-biggest US city have marred the largely peaceful protests over ramped-up arrests by immigration authorities. The demonstrations, which began Friday, and isolated acts of violence prompted Trump to take the extraordinary step of sending in troops, over the objection of the state governor. The protests again turned ugly after dark Tuesday, but an hour into the overnight curfew only a handful of protesters were left downtown, with police making several arrests as they warned stragglers to leave. "Multiple groups continue to congregate on 1st St between Spring and Alameda" within the designated downtown curfew area, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) wrote on X late Tuesday. "Those groups are being addressed and mass arrests are being initiated." Police arrested 25 people on suspicion of violating the curfew as of Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing an LAPD spokesperson. The number of arrests was likely to rise as law enforcement worked to remove the remaining protesters from the area, the newspaper said. Earlier, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she had issued the curfew "to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting." One square mile (2.5 square kilometers) of the city's more-than-500 square mile area will be off-limits from 8:00 pm and 6:00 am (0300 to 1300 GMT) for everyone apart from residents, journalists and emergency services, she added. One protester told AFP the arrest of migrants in a city with large immigrant and Latino populations was the root of the unrest. "I think that obviously they're doing it for safety," she said of the curfew. "But I don't think that part of the problem is the peaceful protests. It's whatever else is happening on the other side that is inciting violence." At their largest, the protests have included a few thousand people taking to the streets, but smaller mobs have used the cover of darkness to set fires, daub graffiti and smash windows. Overnight, Monday 23 businesses were looted, police said, adding that more than 500 people had been arrested over recent days. Protests against immigration arrests by federal law enforcement have also sprung up in cities around the country, including New York, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Austin. 'Provide protection' Trump has ordered 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, along with 700 active-duty Marines, in what he has claimed is a necessary escalation to take back control -- despite the insistence of local law enforcement that they could handle matters. A military spokeswoman said the Marines were expected to be on the streets by Wednesday. Their mission will be to guard federal facilities and to accompany "federal officers in immigration enforcement operations in order to provide protection." Demonstrators told AFP the soldiers "should be respected" because they had not chosen to be in Los Angeles, but Lisa Orman blasted it as "ridiculous." "I was here for the Dodger parade," she said, referring to the LA team's World Series victory. "It was 100 times bigger," she said, branding the idea that Marines were necessary as "a big show" that Trump wanted. The Pentagon said the deployment would cost US taxpayers $134 million. Photographs issued by the Marine Corps showed men in combat fatigues using riot shields to practice crowd control techniques at the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach. Late Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said his state would deploy its National Guard "to locations across the state to ensure peace & order" after solidarity protests. "Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest," Abbott wrote on X. The Texas National Guard "will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order." Behaving like 'a tyrant' In sprawling Los Angeles on Tuesday, it was largely a typical day: tourists thronged Hollywood Boulevard, celebrities attended red carpet premieres, tens of thousands of children went to school and commuter traffic choked the streets. But at a military base in North Carolina, Trump was painting a much darker picture. "What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and national sovereignty," the Republican told troops at Fort Bragg. "This anarchy will not stand. We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy." California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has clashed with the president before, said Trump's shock militarization of the city was the behavior of "a tyrant, not a president." In a filing to the US District Court in Northern California, Newsom asked for an injunction preventing the use of troops for policing. US law largely prevents the use of the military as a policing force -- absent the declaration of an insurrection, which Trump has mused. The president "is trying to use emergency declarations to justify bringing in first the National Guard and then mobilizing Marines," said law professor Frank Bowman.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Labubu toy sculpture sold for $150,000 at China auction
The rabbit-like figures sporting mischievous grins began as a character created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, and are made by Beijing-based toy brand Pop Mart. They have been endorsed by celebrities such as Rihanna and Dua Lipa, and fans have queued overnight outside stores hoping to snag one, with analysts pointing to the phenomenon as evidence of China's growing soft power. On Tuesday, a teal sculpture depicting a Labubu character with a furry body and head fetched an eye-watering 1.08 million yuan ($150,260) at an auction held in Beijing, according to the auction house's app. The sculpture is "the only piece of its kind in the world", according to Yongle International Auction. It was offered alongside other Labubu paraphernalia including a brown statue that sold for 820,000 yuan. Pop Mart has over 400 stores globally, including 30 US branches. The worldwide frenzy has seen people go to desperate lengths to acquire their own Labubu. Last month a London branch of Pop Mart suspended in-store sales of the toys, fearing violence from would-be buyers who failed to get their hands on the limited-edition Labubus. In Singapore, CCTV footage captured a family stealing Labubu dolls from a claw machine, according to Singaporean online media outlet AsiaOne. Burglars broke into a store in California last week and took several Labubu dolls along with electronics and other valuables, American news outlet ABC reported. In China, the toys have been promised as freebies for new bank customers -- an incentive quickly shut down by local regulators, according to Chinese media reports. The toys have spawned a booming resale market as well as an online community of fans sharing tips on how to customise their dolls. Knockoffs -- many of which are also made in China -- have flooded online platforms, dubbed "Lafufus" by social media users.
