The Nile Hilton Incident

2017 1h 51m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 409

ThrillerDramaCrime

Synopsis

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Cairo, 2011. A police officer investigates the murder of a woman in a luxurious hotel in the days leading up to the Egyptian revolution.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Fares Fares
Noredin
Mari Malek
Salwa
Yasser Ali Maher
Kammal Mustafa
Slimane Dazi
Green Eyed Man
Hania Amar
Gina
Hichem Yacoubi
Nagy
Mohamed Yousry
Momo
Mohamed Sanaaeldin Shafie
Noredin's Father

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Tarik Saleh
Writers: Tarik Saleh
Languages: Arabic
Countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Morocco, Sweden

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 2% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 9 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 5 countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Morocco, Sweden.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Part of the "The Cairo Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Tarik Saleh, shot by Pierre Aïm. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Theis Schmidt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Fares Fares and Mari Malek and Yasser Ali Maher carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Tarik Saleh directs. Pierre Aïm behind the camera. Theis Schmidt cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Denmark, France, Germany, Morocco, Sweden. Dialogue in Arabic.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Earned back only 2% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
3Released 9 years ago.
4International production across 5 countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Morocco, Sweden.
5Part of the "The Cairo Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Tarik Saleh, shot by Pierre Aïm. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Editor Theis Schmidt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Fares Fares and Mari Malek and Yasser Ali Maher carry the top of the cast.
9IMDB entry: tt5540188 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Pierre Aïm
Editing: Theis Schmidt
Production design: Roger Rosenberg
Costume design: Louize Nissen
Makeup / hair: Dorothea Wiedermann
Runtime: 111 min · 1h 51m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,250,000
Box office: $81,089
Return: 2% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Nile Hilton Incident (2017)

Awards

Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize
Guldbagge Award for Best Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

The Cairo Trilogy

This modern trio of films features actor Fares Fares. The films operate as a searing critique of Egyptian political, religious, and social institutions. The Nile Hilton Incident (2017): A neo-noir thriller set in Cairo just before the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Cairo Conspiracy / Boy from Heaven (2022): An intense political drama set inside Cairo's Al-Azhar University. Eagles of the Republic (2025): Concludes the trilogy by focusing on an Egyptian actor pressured to star in government propaganda.

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Tarik Saleh

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What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-02-14
★ 7/10
When a young woman is murdered in the high-class Hilton hotel in Cairo, veteran police officer “Noredin” (Fares Fares) is drafted in for what everyone expects to be a routine investigation where nobody really cares. Quite swiftly, however, he begins to suspect that there might be something altogether more sinister going on. It’s not that he’s offended or surprised by the crime or the corruption, indeed he has no compunction in bribing or helping himself - but this crime looks like it might have some political dimension to it when he begins to suspect that sleazy parliamentarian “Shafiq” (Ahmed Selim) is in some way involved. Rumour has it that there is a witness to the crime, so he determines to find “Salwa” (Mari Malek) before the state security people get her some concrete shoes. All the while, there is growing unrest amongst the general population with the regime and it’s enforcers, and so “Noredin” has more than one flank to protect as he closes in on answers that his bosses might prefer he didn’t. Fares reminded me a little here of John Wayne in “McQ” (1974): a disillusioned policeman who knows the system is broken and who has his own unorthodox manner of working, and he delivers the role well. “Cleopatra” cigarettes does well here too, as our investigator is rarely without a cigarette in his mouth, but it seems to help him focus on just about every aspect of his life from sex to avoiding would-be assassins on the street. It’s a quickly paced, dark and grimy thriller that very much puts the noir into film noir and there was something about the conclusion that though fairly wrong, I did think summed up the thrust of just why a revolution was needed in the first place.

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