Including work from nine of the biggest names in animation, The Prophet,’ directed by Roger Allers, is set to premiere as the opening film at the 2015 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Producer Salma Hayek called on nine of the biggest names in animation to work on the film and will be in Annecy for the premiere of Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet at the Festival’s opening ceremony on Monday, June 15th.
The movie, based on the classic, internationally acclaimed and best-selling book by celebrated Lebanese author, Kahlil Gibran, is set on the imaginary island of Orphalese, where a mischievous and mute eight-year-old girl named Almitra fortuitously meets Mustafa, a political prisoner under house arrest, and they form an unlikely friendship. But on the day that they meet, the government tells Mustafa that he is finally free and soldiers quickly escort him to a boat that will take him back home.
On the way, Mustafa shares his poems and views on existence with the people of Orphalese while Almitra secretly follows him. At each step along the way, she dreams up sumptuous landscapes that illustrate his words. When the little girl learns that the government has plans to kill Mustafa, she decides to try anything to help him.
Director Roger Allers (The Lion King) and artistic director Bjarne Hansen created the animation style for the storyline, while artists from around the world elaborated and directed the eight segments illustrating the poems of Khalil Gibran.
“Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet has been read by more than 120 million people all over the world, so it was a real challenge for me to adapt it to animation,” Hayek said. “I decided to get help from nine of the best animation directors around -- Tomm Moore, Michal Socha, Joan Gratz, Nina Paley Bill Plympton, Joann Sfar, Mohammed Harib and Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi -- each one was completely free to imagine a story based around the poems.”
Source: Annecy International Animated Film Festival
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
