During childhood, a lot of Arab children question the content they are exposed to when it comes to animated features. Some of these questions are related to the fact that there are no Arab superheroes, or the fact that there are no animated features that are fully produced by Arabs. But all of this is about to change with the release of the first Arab animated feature The Knight and The Princess.
Al Sahar Animation spotted the market gap and realized the importance of producing an Arab animated feature, and they decided to explore the adventures of the iconic Arab warrior Mohammed Bin AlKassim. After 20 years of production, the movie is set to be released at this year’s edition of El Gouna Film Festival.
VIA El Gouna Film Festival
“Producing an animated feature film, for any first time producer, is no easy task. It’s almost impossible if your production cast have not gone through such a production previously. Moreover, animation production is costly and time consuming by the nature of the medium, it needs a strong heart and great passion to risk your time and money,” producer Alabbas Bin Alabbas told us in an interview.
When the production reviewed Mohammed Bin Alkassim’s story, they felt it was a perfect fit for what they were looking for. A 17-year-old hero, pirates, a love story, villains and a great adventure. They started with a story, then a scenario, then character design, storyboards, dialogue recording, and finally animatex before they started the production stage.
Working with Arab staff increases the risk of trial and error at every step of the production and hence risk of over budget expenses and many unmet deadlines. Alabbas told us he believes that they had an advantage, as they had a dream, and dreams don’t measure costs but carry passion.
The animated feature is stacked with stars from the past and present, such as Mohamed Henedy, Maged ElKedwany, Medhat Saleh, Donia Samir Ghanem, Amina Rizk, and Ghassan Matar. In addition, veteran writer Bashir El Deek is the screenwriter and director of the first animated feature of its kind.
In addition, the team consisted of around 300 people who had the same passion and determination to take this venture to the successful end, which shows the amount of effort that was exerted in the production, and that there is a huge amount of talent available in the region.
Many would argue that there is a lack of technology in the Arab region, which might be the reason hindering Arab animated productions. However, Alabbas said, “technology was never against us but always an advantage. With my Engineering and Computer Science educational background, I had the chance to introduce computer technology to the animation industry locally.”
VIA Riyadh Daily
The producer remembers how they started this venture as dreamers, adventurers and risk takers, and now they believe they did a fantastic job that will get the interest it deserves. The adventure is always challenging, but at the same time adventure with its uncertainty and discovering new grounds is very interesting, he explained.
Actors and crew members were in disbelief when they heard about the release of the movie as they thought that the production company had given up on the film. “They were impressed by our tenacity to finish the film, and when they saw the trailer they were so happy with the final result,” Alabbas expressed.
The production company expects that the audience might compare the production to foreign productions, and they welcome it. Alabbas mentioned, “If people compare our movie to western animated movies, it is to our advantage, as I hope they will be proud of what the Arab world achieved in producing a world-class animated feature film, The Knight and The Princess.”
