DIRECTOR: Tarik Saleh
PRODUCERS: Kristina Aberg, Fredrik Zander
PRODUCTION CO: Atmo, Memento, Bufo
SCREENPLAY: Tarik Saleh
PHOTOGRAPHY: Pierre Aïm
EDITOR: Theis Schmidt
MUSIC: Krister Linder​
WITH: Tawfeek Barhom (Adam), Fares Fares (Ibrahim), Mohammad Bakri (General Al Sakran), Makram Khoury (Shekh Negm), Mehdi Dehbi (Zizo), Moe Ayoub (Sobhy), Sherwan Haji (Soliman), Abduljabbar Alsuhili (Alasfour)

FESTIVALS: Cannes

REVIEW

“Spy thriller and coming-of-age narrative deftly combine in this sinuous, Cairo-set exploration of political and religious corruption by Tarik Saleh, who received Best Screenplay at Cannes 2022.

When Adam, the humble son of a fisherman, is awarded a state sponsorship to study at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the epicentre of power of Sunni Islam, he imagines his life set on a path of learning. However, his apprenticeship will be of an entirely different nature as he becomes entangled in the institution’s back-door dealings and shady manoeuvrings. Will he be a pawn, victim, or kingmaker?”

– Sandra Reid, Whanau Marama NZIFF 2022

“A handsomely shot work, with Turkey doubling persuasively for Egypt (Saleh was placed on a list of undesirables in 2015 and risks arrest if he sets foot in Egypt)… Boy from Heaven is an ambitiously complex story of religious espionage. It was conceived as a Name of the Rose-style mystery transposed to a Muslim world, but also has much in common with Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet in its backdrop of factions and power plays and in the trajectory of its central character, from innocent greenhorn negotiating a web of alliances to jaded, compromised survivor.”

— Wendy Ide, Screendaily
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FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Canterbury  
Monday, 12 February, 7.00pm

Tauranga  Luxe Papamoa
Wednesday, 06 March, 6.35pm

​Nelson 
Wednesday, 20 March, 6.00pm

Whanganui   
Monday, 08 April, 7.00pm

Dunedin  
Wednesday, 24 April, 7.30pm

​Queenstown     
Tuesday 14 May, 8.00pm

Carterton     
Friday, 28 June, 7.00pm

​Wellington  
Monday, 08 July, 6.15pm

​Palmerston North 
Wednesday, 24 July, 6.00pm

New Plymouth  
Wednesday, 18 September, 6.00pm

Hamilton  
Monday, 07 October, 6.30pm

Timaru  
Tuesday, 05 November, 6.30pm

​Auckland 
Monday, 18 November, 6.15pm
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