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
Tawfeek Barhom, Fares Fares, Mohammad Bakri, Makram J. Khoury, Sherwan Haji, Mehdi Dehbi
Sweden/France/Finland
2022
In Arabic with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
La venue de l'avenir
Four cousins are tapped to investigate an abandoned house that is their joint inheritance. As they explore, they learn their story of their ancestor Adele (Suzanne Lindon) and her foray into Paris in the age of Impressionism.
Auction
Inspired by a true story, writer-director Pascal Bonitzer has crafted an inquiring, witty drama about the art market. When a long-lost Egon Schiele masterpiece reemerges, art appraiser Alex is initially skeptical. And yet...
Sinners
This year's unexpected box office sleeper is that rare beast, a genre movie full of bold invention and surprise. We are in Mississippi in the early 1930s, and the opening of a new blues joint on the edge of town is the signal for all hell to break out.
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
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)