Director Tarik Saleh: ‘I don’t think Muslims are used to films where religious arguments are taken seriously’

The Swedish-Egyptian film-maker behind The Nile Hilton Incident discusses the rewarding reaction to his spy thriller Cairo Conspiracy – and how being a graffiti artist set him freeWhen you’re confronted with a truly groundbreaking piece of art, a certain disorientation is sometimes what you experience first. “A lot of journalists ask me: ‘What is real? What is real in this film?’” says the Swedish director Tarik Saleh, suddenly seized by a chuckling fit. “And I think this obsession is because the way the media portrays Muslims is so fictional that when people see a fictional film...