“Being patriotic is what you do when you have nothing to do but be proud”

Tarik Saleh (Estocolmo, Suecia, 1972) vehemently repeats the definition of a political filmmaker, but again repeats the plots of tension and political investigation undermined by corruption in institutions and the insidious influence of religion in political institutions. power in Egypt.

It is an electric thriller political. On the last run, it’s up The Cairo Trilogy. Trance El Cairo Confidential (2017) Conspiracy in Cairo (2022), joins our movies this March 13th Águilas de El Cairowhere his fetishist actor, the famous Fares Fares, plays a movie gala he presided over to turn into a government propaganda tool.

Please. Why are you pursuing the title of political filmmaker?

Response. I’m a misunderstanding. El thriller Politics doesn’t mean you have an agenda; in terms of the dynamic process of power. I’m a purist in this regard to the seventh art, I enjoy genre cinema, but I have a little problem with Beloved Egypt, which is that I want to be honest in what I do. Now it is very difficult because people are very nervous. Therefore, the situation in this region is very explosive.

» Any wrong step can lead to disaster. Especially for Egypt, given its location. Look at your elders: genocides in Sudan and Gaza, political changes in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, who knows what is happening now in Libya… Egypt has a very important position as a stabilizing factor. It is not a small country, it is not a country, but a significant one that culturally informs the rest of the Arab world in music, culture and film.. If you were a political filmmaker, it would be a huge responsibility. My only responsibility is to my audience: don’t upset them, give them suspense and make sure they create what’s to come. Y, so supuesto, ser veraz.

P. Do you believe that the Arab public admires movie stars in a form that is culturally different from the West?

R. Yes, no matter what I feel, Egypt and the United States are very similar, there is more cinema than cinema. Europe is different. In Egypt, many people cannot write, so the seventh art is a form of communication. People go to these movies and these artists to long for dreams that can never happen. Actors do things that normal people can’t do. It is a poor man’s billet to travel to some place; you can be a different person within two hours. This brings great hope. These stars make them so big.

P. Can you research the phenomenon in Egypt?

R. There are a thousand Arabs. With the Egyptian studio system and its stars in Hollywood, this phenomenon is massive. When I lived in Egypt in the 1990s, I remembered that Adel Emam had a play and every week he would come in buses from Saudi Arabia to see it.

P. What are the side effects of loving so much influence and power?

R. Today we have a problem with this idol cult. Let’s keep the star reality who is the president of the united states is an actor who is the darling of the free world fighting against russia as the president of ukraine. I’m not judging their merits, I’m just saying that the actors and stars of reality I am good at acting and I am good at thinking.

P. Its protagonist is popularly called the pantalla faraon. Is anyone worth seeing as the biggest movie star today?

R. No doubt my brother Mohamed Ramadan is now in Egypt. It’s the biggest. But historically, my favorite is Ahmed Zaki. Also, Adel Emam is mostly alive and an incredible actor with a dark career. But if we talk about the world in general, then Tom Cruise will arrive. He only saved cinema after COVID by forcing Paramount to release Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski, 2022) en salas. We all owe it to you.

P. Do you think President Abdelfatah el-Sisi and his government will see the film?

R. I think not, because messenger could end up with problems. But yeah, I still feel like I’d enjoy them. You know this. The complicating factor is the people who eat it.

P. But is it possible to screen it at festivals in Egypt?

R. Por supuesto que no. However, my films are very popular in Egypt because there is huge piracy there. I get a lot of postcards and messages from people in the area. WITH Conspiracy in Cairo (2022) received many comments; many people loved them and many people hated them, just like all movies.

P. What does Egypt, the land of his father, represent to us?

R. I love Egypt. Alejandria is my favorite place in the world. It is very important to me, but not patriotic because I absolutely do not believe in patriotism. I believe that being a patriot is what you do when you have nothing to be proud of. You have not lacked anything in life, so you are proud of where you come from. It’s absurd, a coincidence. Try to log something in the same place!

P. He is quite a chameleon, not only because he grew up in two cultures, but also because of his aspects as a documentarian, journalist and urban artist. How much do they contaminate all their ways of approaching art?

R. Demasiado. It is a constant contamination. Graffiti taught me how to plan to build something without a permit. In urban art, you can’t paint any questions on this wall because it will tell you no. Simply pin it and then people will criticize it. So I’m going to the cinema. I saw this movie but I liked it.

P. How many clichés are you allowed in your characters?

R. That’s a good question. There is a very fine line. As a man in today’s world with four hijas and a wife, I often find myself in a minefield trying not to measure my life. I always feel like a cliché sometimes. There is something ridiculous about a man trying to be a man. In the film, the main character lives under the pressure of maintaining the image of a seducer and is drawn into an absurd relationship that becomes dangerous when a woman appears who really attracts him. I play with elements of the femme fatale archetype because I love the masterpieces of Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang and Hitchcock. It’s all there, but I’m going to be authentic.

P. At what point is the film director a distorted version of the same thing in his fiction?

R. In fact, the person I identify with the most is the producer, Dr. Mansoor. It is based on a real director. It was easy for me to write it down because it holds my work: he’s the adult in the room. You have to maintain stability. Vision is bigger than ego.

P. Would he sell his soul to the devil as his lead actor?

R. Never. And I say this with confidence because they offered it to me. When you are in my position, you will receive lucrative offers from the States with unlimited possibilities to do whatever you want. I was very rich, but I live in Sweden, we have free healthcare and education. We maintain a normal lifestyle, art remains the most important. In Hollywood, working on big machines like Westworld is dying as an artist little by little. It’s better to be honest. Only I have a cinema, I can make a cinema.

P. What criteria led you to recommend the soundtrack to Alexandre Desplat?

R. Music has always fascinated me. When I write, I keep sensitivity in my head. He sent her a guide and charmed her. We met in Paris and connected because we also grew up watching Egyptian cinema. That’s what the film was immediately about: a man who sells his soul piece by piece. And that’s what I figured out.

P. How is the engineering tailored to the requirements of your films?

R. It is very easy because My films have commercial releases. I am very careful where the money comes from. There are local conspiracy theories in Egypt: they say I’m a Zionist, that I’m paid by the Muslim Kingdom… It’s funny. But if you read the logos, you will see that it is a co-production between France, Suecia, Denmark and Finland. The answer for those who want to know where the money comes from is the numbers on my previous films. People refer you because they believe they will make money.