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Annika Pham Half a dozen Sweden pics and co-prods are set to storm the Croisette, flagships of the solid public support system in place, and fully or partly shot in a foreign language. Headlining the slate are the completion entries “Triangle of Sadness” by former winner Ruben Östlund (“The Square”), shot in the English language, and the Arabic-speaking thriller “Boy From Heaven” by Tarik Saleh (“The Nile Hilton Incident”), set in Cairo.

In 2017, Swedish-Egyptian director Tarek Saleh’s breakthrough film “The Nile Hilton Incident” was the subject of much controversy and was ultimately banned in Egypt due to its in-depth portrayal of police corruption in modern-day Egypt. Five years later, Saleh is back with “Boy From Heaven” (“Walad Min Al Janna“), a transfixing feature tackling the harsh realities that occur in the country, this time exploring the complicated and corrupt relationship between religion and politics.

It’s early days at the Cannes Film Festival, so awards prognostication might seem a little premature, but still, it’s hard to imagine that the phenomenal performance given by Swedish-Lebanese actor Fares Fares in Tarik Saleh’s searing political thriller Boy from Heaven will go entirely unnoticed by this year’s jury. Topping the work he did in Saleh’s 2017 Sundance hit The Nile Hilton Incident, Fares commands the screen from the moment he arrives, playing a character whose disheveled appearance conceals a ruthless efficiency, a laser-focused mind and an entirely pragmatic concept of morality.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentSwedish/Egyptian director Tarik Saleh is in competition in Cannes with “Boy From Heaven” his second film to delve into the underbelly of modern Egypt — and the Arab world at large — following his 2017 political thriller “The Nile Hilton Incident,” which depicted political power abuse and police corruption. “Nile Hilton” won the grand jury prize at Sundance and was banned in Egypt.In Saleh’s new potentially explosive pic, the young protagonist Adam, who is the son of a small-town Egyptian fisherman, is offered the privilege of studying at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, which is the epicenter of power of Sunni Islam.

SAG Award-nominee Alexandra Billings (Transparent) will star in, and executive produce the upcoming trans revolutionary indie feature, Queen Tut.

A loved-up pensioner who fell for her Egyptian toyboy, who is 46-years younger than her, has made a "priceless discovery" about her lover after being forced to spend time apart.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentEverybody has to start somewhere. Cate Blanchett — long before her two Oscars and starring roles in film, TV and on stage — had an oddball beginning in showbiz.On March 28, 1994, Variety mentioned “Police Rescue,” a big-screen version of the hit Aussie TV series, in which she appeared.

Aida Takla-O’Reilly, the Egyptian journalist who was president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association twice and was its longest-serving member, died Sunday in Los Angeles. The HFPA did not disclose her age or cause of death.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMemento International has closed major sales on Ursula Meier’s Berlin contender “The Line,” and “Boy from Heaven” by Tarik Saleh, the Swedish-Egyptian helmer of “The Nile Hilton Incident.” A religious and political thriller, “Boy From Heaven” is set in Cairo, in a Koranic school following the collapse of a grand imam which marks the start of a ruthless battle for influence.The movie is headlined by Tawfeek Barhom and Fares Fares, who previously starred in “The Nile Hilton Incident.” Saleh’s Stockholm-based outfit Atmo is producing the movie with Memento. Memento International has sold the film to Benelux (Cineart), Spain (La Aventura), Italy (Movies Inspired), Greece (Cinobo), Hungary (Vertigo) and Middle East (Falcon). Other territories in negotiation.

Iraq through a series of concerts and other projects to support culture and education.The audience at the Iraqi National Theater were on their feet, overcome with emotion as Shamma played a night of classics from the Iraqi songbook and modern compositions.“We will work on lighting the stage, to get out of the darkness into the light,” he told the crowd, before kicking off the evening with, “Sabah El Kheir Ya Baghdad,” or, “Good Morning Baghdad.” Behind him, an orchestra, including young women musicians, played traditional instruments.The 59-year-old Shamma is considered a modern-day master of the oud, a pear-shaped stringed instrument similar to a lute whose deep tones and swift-changing chords are central to Arabic music.Born in the southern city of Kut and raised in a conservative family, he received his first oud lesson at the age of 11 and later graduated from the Baghdad Academy of Music in 1987.He fled Iraq in 1993 during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and gained international fame, performing around the world and receiving dozens of awards. In Cairo, he founded the House of the Oud, a school dedicated to teaching the instrument to new generations.Shamma, who currently lives in Berlin, returned to Iraq for the first time in 2012 to perform in a concert hosted by the Arab League.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentEgyptian producer, director, writer and mentor Marianne Khoury is being honored with the Legion of Honor, France’s highest prize.Khoury, who is the niece of late great Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, is a managing partner in prominent Cairo-based Misr International Films, which Chahine founded. She has directed several documentaries, most recently “Let’s Talk,” which premiered at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam in 2019 and interweaves a treasure trove of archive material with cinematic conversations between four women from different generations in her family.Besides having worked closely with Chahine, who was one of Arab cinema’s leading lights, Khoury –– who holds economic degrees from Cairo and Oxford Universities –– has shepherded some 30 Arab films and docs, many of which are centered around themes of identity, memory, marginalization and womanhood, and launched Zawya, which is Egypt’s first art house cinema circuit.

EXCLUSIVE: Middle Eastern outfit S Productions is producing local versions of U.S. hits Why Women Kill, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and The Affair after striking a format rights deal with licence-holder ViacomCBS Distribution Group.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAs the spread of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant prompts uncertainty around how the winter film festival calendar will play out, two events in the Arab world — the Cairo Film Festival and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea fest — have soldiered on, providing a measure of hope for the global festival circuit.Cairo, which kicked off Nov.

Alissa Simon Film CriticOne of three Arabic-language films in the Cairo Film Festival international competition, the feminist dramedy “Daughters of Abdul-Rahman” shows how many Jordanian women put the traditional expectations of their patriarchal society ahead of their own desires and the resulting collateral damage.

Alissa Simon Film CriticIn the gripping, naturalistic drama “The Flag” (“Alam”), a Palestinian-Israeli teen, living in a village in the Galilee, undergoes a political awakening catalyzed by a pretty, outspoken girl from his high school class.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentNBCUniversal Formats has partnered with Dubai and Cairo-based production company S Productions on the first international adaptation of comedy drama series “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce,” which will air on prominent Dubai-based broadcaster MBC.The Arabic-language redo, retitled “45 Rules of Divorce,” is being produced by S Productions in association with Universal Studio Group for both MBC’s MBC4 channel and its Shahid streaming platform.The Arabic

UNESCO has announced Perth is to join their Creative Cities Network as a City of Crafts and Folk Art – the first in the UK.

Naman Ramachandran Palestinian filmmaker Said Zagha was turned away by Egyptian authorities in Cairo on his way to the El Gouna Film Festival to pitch his new project.The U.K. permanent resident has a Jordanian passport that indicates he is of Palestinian origin.

In today’s Global Bulletin, “Minari” star Han Yeri signs with Echo Lake Entertainment in the U.S.; Beijing and Cairo announce hopeful in-person festival details; AMC Plus snags Berlin-set Cold War drama “Spy City”; Cineflix Rights will distribute Israeli cop drama “Manayek”; Deepika Padukone steps down as head of Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image; Australia’s Screenwest unveils Rikki Lea Bestall as its new CEO; “The Last Five Years” gets a West End run; Harry Collet to star in mental health

Mitchell Krauss, a Middle East correspondent for CBS News who was wounded in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, died on January 27 at Northern Dutchess Hospital in New York, near his home in Rhinebeck. He was 90 and died from kidney failure.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTwo powerful figures in the Arab world, Egyptian screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy and Tunisian-born actor and model Hend Sabri, have been named Officers of the Order of Arts and Letters, France’s highest honors.The ceremony took place in Cairo on Wednesday, and the honor was given by Stéphane Romatet, the ambassador of France in Egypt.

Apparently, dating a Kardashian can be quite forgettable.

Rita Ora has apologised again, after it emerged that her 30th birthday party last month was a double breach of COVID-19 rules. Aside from the fact that she shouldn’t have been having a birthday party at all, she should also have been in self-isolation at the time of the event.According to the Mail On Sunday, Ora flew by private jet to Egypt on 21 Nov in order to perform at the W Hotel in Cairo.

Rita Ora was supposed to be self-isolating when she broke lockdown rules to throw a birthday party, it has emerged. The Mail on Sunday reports that Ora flew to Egypt in a private jet on 21 November to perform at the five-star W Hotel in Cairo, for which she was paid a six-figure sum.

the singer apologised after she was caught breaking England’s lockdown when she attended a party at a London restaurant in celebration of her 30th birthday.  Rita has now admitted she failed to self-isolate for two weeks after returning from a work trip to Egypt.

dad had this staggered back and forth relationship where I lived with him when I was 15 after my granddad died.

CAIRO -- Mahmoud Yassin, an Egyptian actor and pillar of the country's film industry during the second half of the 20th century, has died. He was 79.Yassin had suffered age-related health problems in recent years and was pronounced dead in Cairo early on Wednesday, according to his family.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Australian production company Pop Family Entertainment has set Peter Duncan, the creator of long-running comedy series Rake, to adapt The First Casualty, Australian Journalist Peter Greste’s memoir which covers his time in prison in Cairo on terrorism charges.Greste and two of his colleagues were arrested in Egypt in 2013 and convicted to multiple years in prison.

incredible structures ever discovered around the world, with those in Cairo and Mexico some of the most recognisable.But did you know there is one a lot closer to home?Aberdeenshire in fact.Hidden away in woodland on the Balmoral Estate in Royal Deeside is an incredible pyramid structure which rises above the trees.The unbelievable stone cairn, which is one of eleven to be found on the estate, stands like a miniature version of those more famous pyramids built in Ancient Egypt.Erected by Queen

A British pensioner aged 80 is planning to wed her 35-year-old Egyptian toyboy – even though she’s 10 years older than his mummy.

An 80-year-old woman says she can't wait to marry her 35-year-old Egyptian toyboy - and she's adamant he doesn't want her for her money.