Skip to main content
Boy From Heaven film image, director Tarik Saleh

Boy From Heaven

This event has passed

North American Premiere

Suspenseful and provocative, Tarik Saleh’s film explores the tension between Islam and the Egyptian state. It’s the story of Adam (Tawfeek Barhom), a young man who has been awarded a scholarship to Al-Azhar, the school and mosque that sits at the centre of Islamic thought. Adam looks forward to a bright future, but there are powerful men with other plans. Soon, he finds himself a pawn in the struggle between State Security agents and radical religious leaders.

Boy from Heaven has the shrewd plotting of a thriller, with intrigue, betrayal, murder, and more. It’s also a fascinating exploration of religion and politics, and the uneasy relationship between the two. Saleh directs with brio and a sure sense of place, and his lead actor is superbly expressive: the wide-eyed Barhom radiates angst and repressed energy, claiming our sympathy from the first moments of the film.

Compelling… an intriguingly damning portrait of the corruption currently hitting Egypt on all levels.”—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

 

Best Screenplay, Cannes 2022

Director
Cast

Tawfeek Barhom, Fares Fares, Mohammad Bakri, Makram J. Khoury, Sherwan Haji, Mehdi Dehbi

Credits
Country of Origin

Sweden/France/Finland

Year

2022

Language

In Arabic with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
125 min
Action & Suspense Award Winners Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Giant

Dir. George Stevens
198 min

This was the Yellowstone of its time: a big, sweeping modern Western built around an imposing ranch and family dynamics -- except Giant is much more subversive. James Dean strikes it rich as Jett Rink, much to the disgust of his former boss, Rock Hudson.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Familiar Touch

Dir. Sarah Friedland
90 min

A loving portrait of an octogenarian transitioning into an assisted living facility, this award-winning first feature by choreographer Sarah Friedland has a simplicity and warmth that's exceptionally poignant.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Super Happy Forever

Dir. Kohei Igarashi
94 min

This beguiling film depicts a man’s return to the Japanese seaside town where he met his now-deceased wife five years earlier. He tries to relive the past, and in the film's final section -- a flashback to 2018 -- the audience is afforded that privilege.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

A Streetcar Named Desire

Dir. Elia Kazan
122 min

"I don't want realism. I want magic!" declares Blanche du Bois, the tragic heroine who meets her nemesis in her sister's husband, Stanley Kowalski, in Tennessee Williams' great play. Brando's performance as Stanley is a turning point in American acting.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light
Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light film image; painted reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows that combine to look like a flower

Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light

Dir. Paul Wagner
118 min

Drawing on her copious correspondence and the world's leading scholars, this is a definitive documentary on the life and work of "the mother of American Modernism."

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

While You Weren't Looking

Dir. Catherine Stewart
72 min

The changing landscape of South African politics and lifestyles is portrayed through a trio of artfully counter-pointed relationships.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Producer

Kristina Åberg, Fredrik Zander

Screenwriter

Tarik Saleh

Cinematography

Pierre Aïm

Editor

Theis Schmidt

Production Design

Roger Rosenberg

Original Music

Krister Linder

Director

Tarik Saleh headshot, Boy From Heaven director

Tarik Saleh

Tarik Saleh was one of the top graffiti artists in Stockholm in the 1980s. He directed the documentaries Gitmo: The New Rules of War (2005) and Sacrificio: Who Betrayed Che Guevara (2001) together with Erik Gandini. His film debut Metropia (2009), a dystopian animation, premiered at the Venice Film Festival. He directed and wrote the screenplay for The Nile Hilton Incident (2017), which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. He directed episodes of the HBO series Westworld (2018), the Showtime series Ray Donovan, and the action thriller, The Contractor (2022), starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Kiefer Sutherland.

Filmography: Gitmo: The New Rules of War (2005); Metropia (2009); Tommy (2014); The Nile Hilton Incident (2017)