The Nordic & Baltic Oscar Contenders series at Scandinavia House returns this season with screenings of films chosen by the Nordic & Baltic countries to compete for the Oscar nomination for the Best International Feature Film! On December 7, see Sweden’s official nomination for the 95th Academy Awards, Cairo Conspiracy (dir. Tarik Saleh, Sweden/France/Finland/Denmark, 2022). Director Tarik Saleh will be present for a film talk and Q&A after the event.

Adam, the son of a fisherman, is offered the ultimate privilege to study at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the epicenter of power for Sunni Islam. Shortly after his arrival, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar collapses and dies in front of his students, setting off a ruthless battle for influence to take his place. Soon Adam becomes a pawn in a ruthless power between Egypt’s religious and political elite, leaving him to navigate covert machinations on the search for the next incumbent.

“A gripping thriller about espionage…[that] also functions as a coming-of-age story”—The Playlist

This screening will take place in-person at Scandinavia House in Victor Borge Hall.

This program is supported by the Consulate General of Sweden in New York.

About the Director

Tarik Saleh started as one of the top graffiti artists in Stockholm in the 80’s. He directed and wrote the screenplay for The Nile Hilton Incident that won ‘The Grand Jury Prize’ at Sundance 2017, received a Guldbagge Award for ‘Best Film’ in 2018, was nominated as ‘Best Foreign Film’ at the César Awards and was a box office hit with more than 400 000 tickets sold in France. He also directed the Hollywood film The Contractor (2022), several episodes of the futuristic HBO-series Westworld (2018) and Tommy (2014) with Ola Rapace, Moa Gammel and singer-songwriter Lykke Li for whom he also directed the music video I Follow The Rivers that had about 60 million views on Youtube.

His film debut came with Metropia (2009), a dystopic animation with Stellan Skarsgård, Juliette Lewis, Vincent Gallo and Udo Kier. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival as the opening film for Critics’ Week. Tarik Saleh also directed the documentaries Gitmo: The New Rules of War (2005) and Sacrificio: Who Betrayed Che Guevara (2001) together with Erik Gandini. Tarik Saleh founded the production company Atmo with producer Kristina Åberg.