New Egyptian film The Cairo Conspiracy weaves a complex web of intrigue

Luna Leederville’s latest international movie release The Cairo Conspiracy follows the exploits of Adam – a young university student turned government informant – superbly played by Palestinian actor Tawfeek Barhom.

Adam comes from a poor fishing village and is overjoyed when he is granted a scholarship to Egypt’s most holy and prestigious house of learning – Al-Azhar University in Cairo – one of the world’s largest hubs of Islamic Sunni knowledge.

Despite his father’s reluctance to see his son leave the village, he finally gives him his blessing, and Adam is soon thrust into a heady world of politics versus the state; where he is used as a tool by the powerful Egyptian State Security Service to try and influence the election of a new Grand Imam.

Elected through the Supreme Council of Scholars that congregate at Al-Azhar University the Grand Imam wields enormous power, and the President is therefore keen to elect a ‘tame’ Grand Imam.

Hard-boiled State Security intelligence agent Colonel Ibrahim (Fares Fares) deftly uses Adam to try and compromise some of the ‘less preferred’ candidates for the highest religious office in the land, leaving the President’s preferred choice for Grand Imam untarnished.

The Cairo Conspiracy, directed by Swedish-Egyptian film-maker Tarik Saleh, is a slick and well-constructed political thriller that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats throughout.

The character development is superb as we are drawn into a complex web of intrigue surrounding the machinations between the State and Church, and the performances are nothing less than outstanding.

The Cairo Conspiracy commences at Luna Leederville on May 4, 2023.

By Mike Peeters