‘El Leila El Kebira’ (or ‘The Grand Night’ in English) is famously known, to this day, as the puppet-operetta that remains engraved in Egyptian folklore. You’ll struggle to find an Egyptian household without an individual that appreciates its vivid, playful, and witty take on Egypt’s Moulids. The original work, which was written by Salah Jahin and scored by Sayed Mekawy back in the 1960s, tells a beautiful story about identity and the significance of one’s stories and origins.
In pursuit of keeping this Egyptian story alive, an Egypt-based animation studio that goes by the name ‘Giraffics’ is breathing new life into it; and they’re striving to bring it to audiences around the world as a renovated, exciting animation feature.
Their journey has already started and has already proved to be rewarding, but they’re still on the road to fully realize the popular masterpiece’s revival. Upon applying the passion project for the second time in one of the biggest festivals for animation, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, they were accepted in the MIFA pitches section. Inevitably, this helped get them a lot of attention and support. They even got the consultation of Max Howard, an expert on the field who worked on titles like Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994)!
Watch the trailer below to get a glimpse of the work of over 40 Egyptian artists and read on to get a grasp of their ongoing journey through our interview with Giraffics CEO and the film’s producer, Ahmed Hamouda.
How The Dream Started
“For me, the story starts way back when I was a child. Like many children, I was raised on movies like ‘The Lion King’, ‘Pocahontas’, and ‘Toy Story’. And these really influence my childhood,” recalled Hamouda.
“And in parallel to that, my grandfather and uncles told me a lot of stories. And that made me wonder, why can’t I see movies about those stories as well? After my grandfather died, Amr El-Attar — who works with us at Giraffics — suggested that we venture into ‘El Leila El Kebira’ (‘The Grand Night’). I profoundly loved it when I was a child. My uncles used to sing its songs together. And now, I appreciate it as a work of art that was ahead of its time,” he shared.
Subsequently, they started working on it and decided to take it to festivals and France. They were most prominently accepted as the official selection in the Annecy International Film Festival – MIFA Pitches section. Essentially, that’s a huge deal because it’s one of the key animation film festivals on a global level. After that, esteemed experts from the industry started getting on board.
Getting Animation Gurus From Around the World on Board
Upon consulting experts at different festivals and conferences around the world, Hamouda became even more convinced that pulling off the legendary story’s adaptation is a promising possibility in Egypt even though he couldn’t deny that Egypt’s animation game is quite behind in comparison.
“One of the experts that basically helped us, in the beginning, was Max Howard,” said Hamouda. Howard had worked as a studio executive at Walt Disney and Warner Brothers and helped bring globally celebrated titles like The Lion King (1994), Aladdin (1992), and Space Jam (1996) to life. When he first saw the trailer, he really felt the potential of the story of ‘El Leila El Kebira’ (‘The Grand Night’), and he started to help us tell the story.”
Additionally, they got the consultation of ‘Acting for Animators’ author, Ed Hooks. “We invited him to Egypt a year ago, and it was quite a pleasant experience. He joined us in exploring El Hussein, the Great Giza Pyramids, and Ancient Egypt, and he talked to the people there. Then he started teaching us, through his experience, how to tell the story without compromising its integrity and origins, and at the same time, bring it to international audiences.”
They even managed to get the consultation of Maggie Malone, who was a creative executive at the Walt Disney Animation Studios for 18 years and is now producing a feature-quality animated series based on one of Roald Dahl’s books at Netflix. Malone worked on massive titles in the world of animation. Among them are ‘Frozen’ (2013), ‘Moana’ (2016), and ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ (2012). “We managed to convince her to help us and she has a lot of experience with the commercial aspect of animated features. She basically helped teach us how to present and sell the work.”
According to Hamouda, they’re set out to create a movie that the children of Egypt, children around the world, and long-time fans of ‘El Leila El Kebira’ (‘The Grand Night’) can enjoy and appreciate.
Salah Jahin (drawn above by Essam Azouz) wrote ‘El Leila El Kebira’ (‘The Grand Night’) back in the 1960s as a puppet operette.
The Biggest Challenges and the Future of Animation in the Region
“Usually, the movies of big studios like Disney and Pixar cost between $150,000,000 and $250,000,000. But recently, studios from around Europe have started producing movies that could compete with them while costing between $2,000,000 and $20,000,000. That’s the common range in Europe and that’s the model we’re studying and expecting to recreate in Egypt,” elaborated Hamouda when asked about the financial challenges of creating animated features.
Hamouda is hoping that the success of ‘El Leila El Kebira’ (‘The Grand Night’) will affect the North African market, especially in Egypt. “I imagine that if our journey ends in a successful animated feature, the demand for more beautiful animated movies will rise. We have a lot of talents in Egypt, but they lack financial incentives and a strong education. I imagine this will change as well.”
Egypt’s animation industry still requires infrastructure to tell its stories in beautiful animations that are on the same level as Disney’s movies, but Hamouda hopes that Giraffics can help pave the way and become an integral part of that infrastructure.
