Ahmed Helmy, Hend Sabry

Source: Front Row

‘His Weakest Creatures’ - left to right Ahmed Helmy, Hend Sabry

Egyptian star Ahmed Helmy is teaming with Cairo-based Tunisian actress Hend Sabry for Omar Hilal’s His Weakest Creatures.

The film reunites Egypt’s Film Clinic and Dubai-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment, producers of the Arabic adaptation of Perfect Strangers, Netflix’s first Arabic language original feature.

They are producing alongside Saudi Arabia-based Arabia Pictures, after collaborating on upcoming Saudi fantasy rom-com A Matter of Life and Death, and B Square headed by Ahmad Badawi, the producer behind Egyptian hits Welad Rizk 3, Kira & El Gin and El Ruby House.

Hilal previously directed Voy! Voy! Voy! in collaboration with Film Clinic. The film was Egypt’s submission to the Academy Awards, and grossed over $6m across the region.

His Weakest Creatures sees Helmy play a principled zoologist working in Cairo’s historical Giza Zoo. The story is set in 2007, when Cairo’s historic Giza Zoo, now undergoing a major transformation, had long fallen from its former splendor. At home, he also faces mounting pressures: a modest income that barely sustains his family, and the strain of an unexpected pregnancy threatening to tip them into crisis. When a wealthy visitor offers to “adopt” surplus animals from the zoo, he is drawn into a wrenching moral dilemma.

His Weakest Creatures marks a return to the big screen after a three-year hiatus for Helmy, whose credits include Wahed Tany and X-Large.

Sabry’s credits include Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated Four Daughters, Netflix series Finding Ola and the Egyptian box-office hit Kira & El Gin.

The film is currently in pre-production and principal photography begins on November 14 in Cairo.

Mohamed Hefzy, founder & CEO of Film Clinic, said: “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.”