Film Clinic and Front Row Filmed Entertainment have announced the start of principal photography for Egyptian director Omar Hilal’s new feature His Weakest Creatures on November 14.

The film will unite two of Egyptian cinema’s biggest stars – Ahmed Helmy and Hend Sabry – on the big screen for the first time.

It marks the first big screen role after three year hiatus for Helmy, who is known for films such as El Nazer (2000), Keda Reda (2007), and X-Large (2011).

Helmy will play a principled zoologist working in Cairo’s historical Giza Zoo, struggling to uphold his values amid dwindling resources and quiet institutional decay, while facing faces mounting financial pressure at home.

When a wealthy visitor offers to “adopt” surplus animals, he is drawn into a wrenching moral dilemma that tests the limits of integrity, sacrifice, and love.

Tunisian-Egyptian actress Sabry, whose recent credits include Netflix’s Finding Ola (Season 1 & 2), Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated Four Daughters, and the Egyptian box-office hit Kira & El Gin will play his wife as she navigates faith, fear, and survival.

Both stars have teased their upcoming collaboration in the past but it is the first time details on the project have been announced.

Cairo-based Film Clinic and Dubai-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment previously collaborated on the Arabic language remake Perfect Strangers, which was Netflix’s first local-language original feature.

The partners are joined by Arabia Pictures, following their collaboration on the Saudi fantasy rom-com A Matter of Life and Death, as well as B Square, which is headed by Ahmad Badawi, the producer behind Egyptian hits Welad Rizk 3, Kira & El Gin and El Ruby House 

Hilal previously made waves with breakout hit Voy! Voy! Voy!, which was Egypt’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards, and grossed over $6M across the region.

“His Weakest Creatures is one of the most ambitious projects we’ve ever undertaken,” said Film Clinic founder and CEO Mohamed Hefzy.

“This partnership unites producers who are not only commercially sharp but deeply committed to stories that resonate far beyond our region.”

Gianluca Chakra, CEO of Front Row Filmed Entertainment, added “This story shines a light on animal welfare, a topic rarely explored in Arab cinema but ultimately, it’s about humanity: the empathy, choices, and resilience that define us.”

Blending dark comedy, drama, and suspense, His Weakest Creatures is billed as a sharp allegory of love, survival, and moral compromise, culminating in an unexpected finale.

“Growing up in Cairo, the Giza Zoo was both a place of wonder and quiet tragedy. His Weakest Creatures captures that tension between beauty and decay, love and loss. I’m grateful to have partners who share a passion for fearless, meaningful storytelling,” said Hilal.

The film is currently in pre-production with principal photography due to commence on November 14 in Cairo, Egypt.

Hilal is represented by Front Row subsidiary talent and management agency 75east.

November 4, 2025 6:00am

https://deadline.com/2025/11/front-row-film-clinic-hilal-weakest-creatures-helmy-sabry-1236606421/