Tarik Saleh and Fares Fares’ now completed “Cairo Trilogy”, has been a success story, once and for all putting the director and his star on the international map.
Celebrated at the time-honoured Cirkus venue in the heart of Stockholm’s dear old Djurgården area, the 61th national Guldbagge Awards proved a grand slam for Eagles of the Republic, the third and final instalment in Tarek Saleh’s “Cairo Trllogy”. Instigated with The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) and followed by Cairo Conspiracy (Walad min al-Janna, 2022), this intricately devised exposé of often corrupt and/or politically charged goings-on in contemporary Egypt has most illustriously established the reputations of director-writer Saleh and his constant protagonist, actor Fares Fares, on the international map. The two latest parts both played the main Cannes competition, where Cairo Conspiracy won the Best Screenplay Award, and both eventually also became Sweden’s Oscar submission.
Eagles of the Republic also managed to set an all-time record in Guldbagge nominations, eleven in all, and ultimate winning six of the beetle-like (or why not scarab-like) trophies, for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Male Actor, Best Makeup, Best Costume, and Best Visual Effects. Shot in Turkey’s Istanbul and Sweden’s Gothenburg, this co-production between Sweden, Denmark, France, Turkey and Finland was supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. The story centres around one of the big-name film stars of the Egyptian film industry who gets the honour of portraying the country’s president in a highly glorifying biopic, gradually drawing him into a vortex of intrigue and peril. After a job well done on his Cairo saga, Saleh’s reportedly setting sights on Alexandria and more noir-like tales.
Also fêted at the ceremony was Kevlar Soul (Kevlarsjäl), Maria Eriksson-Hecht’s intimate social realist story about two young brothers growing up in a rough projects area with an alcoholic father. The first feature filmmaker received a warmly acclaimed Best Director award, while actors Torkel Petersson and Rio Svensson respectively won the Best Male Supporting Role and the Guldpiga Award for emerging talents.
The true pioneering act of shooting the first ever film mainly in the Meänkieli language of Torne River Vally in northernmost Sweden also paid off for director Jon Blåhed and his team. Raptures (Rörelser), a 1930s story of the evangelical revival movement led by historical figure Toivo Korpela, landed the Best Female Actor Award to Finn Jessica Grabowsky and the Best Original Score Award to Norwegian Rebekka Karijord. Indeed, most Nordic territories had representatives on stage, picking up accolades.
Several well-received 2025 titles, including Fanny Ovesen’s Live a Little (Leva lite), Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja’s Egghead Republic, and Andreas Öhman’s 7 Steps (7 steg), all had a respectable number of nominations, but went home with at best one single prize. In a strong line-up of documentary contenders, including Ragnhild Ekner’s Ultras, Simon Klose’s Hacking Hate, Jon Asp and Mattias Nohrborg’s Being Bo Widerberg (I huvudet på Bo), the final win went to Trans Memoria, Victoria Verseau’s deeply personal revisit to the gender-affirming surgery clinic in Thailand where lives would be redefined.
Also on stage was some decidedly distinguished dame presence, including immortal pop icon Siw Malmkvist, further immortalised in Stina Gardell’s documentary My Life as Siw (Filmen om Siw), which won the Audience Guldbagge. Equally immortal, not least within the national film industry since at least half a century back, is PR force of nature Ylva Swedenborg, recipient of this year’s Honorary Award. And with three consecutive years as sine qua non Mistress of Ceremony, Shima Niavarani may just have to get used to this job, quite possibly at least half a century to come.
All the winners are listed below:
BEST FILM: Eagles of the Republic Producers: Linus Stöhr Thorell, Johan Lindström, Linda Mutawi, Alexandre Mallet-Guy
BEST DIRECTOR: Maria Eriksson-Hecht for Kevlar Soul (Kevlarsjäl)
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Jessica Grabowsky for Rakel in Raptures (Rörelser)
BEST ACTOR IN LEADING ROLE: Fares Fares for George Fahmy in Eagles of the Republic
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Anki Lidén for Monika in The Home (Hemmet)
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Torkel Petersson for Bo in Kevlar Soul
BEST SCREENPLAY: Tarik Saleh for Eagles of the Republic
BEST EDITING: Stefan Sundlöf, Magnus Svensson for The Dialogue Police (Dialogpolisen)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Josephine Owe for 7 Steps (7 Steg)
BEST SOUND DESIGN: Ulrika Akander, Tove Lidman, Therese Gylfe Jensen for The Dog
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Rebekka Karijord for Raptures (Rörelser)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Peter Hjorth, Anders Nyman, Per Nyman, Mikael Windelin for Eagles of the Republic
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Virginie Montel for Eagles of the Republic
BEST SET DESIGN: Petra Kågerman for Eagles of the Republic
BEST MAKEUP: Saara Räisänen for Eagles of the Republic
BEST SHORT FILM: Dancing Pigeons, directed by Christofer Nilsson
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM: Trans Memoria, directed by Victoria Verseau
THE GULDBAGGE AUDIENCE AWARD: My Life as Siw (Filmen om Siw), produced by Stina Gardell
GULLSPIRA – for extraordinary contributions to children’s films: Jessika Jankert, screenwriter
GULDPIGA – for emerging talents: Rio Svensson, actor
THE AWARD OF HONOUR: Ylva Swedenborg, PR Agent
The winning titles Kevlar Soul, The Home, Eagles of the Republic and The Dialogue Police are top-financed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, as well as the nominated titles Live a little, The Dance Club, Hacking Hate and Ultras.
From Golden Bears in Berlin to Golden Pandas in Chengdu: Nordic titles have won big and small at international festivals, and here is an overview.
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In this special Cannes 2025 episode of Nordic Film Talks, we delve into two Cannes world premieres with the writer/director and lead actor of Eagles of the Republic and one of the lead actors of The Love That Remains.
