Saudi-Egyptian animated film champions Arab voices, stories

“The Knight and the Princess,” Egypt’s first animated feature film, created by a Saudi company, recently had its world premiere at the third edition of the El Gouna Film Festival to the delight of the audience.

Scripted and directed by prominent screenwriter Bashir El-Deek and co-directed by Ibrahim Mousa Mostafa, with character designs by the late cartoonist Mustafa Hussein, this long-awaited action-adventure animated comedy is the latest production from Saudi-led animation company, Alsahar Animation.

The animation is a fictionalized account of the adventures of 7th century Basra-born warrior Mohammed Bin Alkassim, who at the age of 15 sets off to save women and children abducted by pirates from merchant ships in the Indian Ocean. His heroic adventures ultimately bring him face to face with King Daher, the tyrannical ruler of North India, and his treacherous sorcerer, Gandar.

The film features a starstudded voice cast, including Egyptian mega stars Medhat Saleh, Donia Samir Ghanem, Mohamed Henedy, Maged El-Kedwany, Abdel Rahman Abou Zahra, Abla Kamel and Lekaa Elkhamissi.

“The Knight and the Princess” was born of a dream to tell an Arab story featuring a real Arab hero and is premised on the belief that “Arab stories are better told from an Arab perspective by Arab talents,” according to the press release.

“From the start, when we decided to produce an animated feature, our aim was that the story has to come from our culture, and (be) done by Arab artists,” Alabbas Bin Alabbas, founder and president of Alsahar Animation, told Arab News.

“It is self-expression of our history, culture and artistic point of view. We felt we have something to convey to our society and the world at large. Making a decent and respectful effort to tell our story from our perspective was the right thing to do,” he added.

Now that the film is finally hitting the big screen, Alabbas has reason to be optimistic about the future of the Arab animation industry.

“The ball (is now in the court of) those who used to say we need to do something for our new generations that makes them proud of their heritage,” he said.

“The Knight the Princess” is set to have its European premiere at the 9th Malmo Arab Film Festival, which runs from Oct. 4-8.