Back to listing

• Producer and voice actress Salma Hayek-Pinault visits Lebanon for the premiere and tours Gibran Museum
• Red carpet premiere of acclaimed film marks upcoming theatrical release in Lebanon and Kuwait on April 30 followed by Qatar and UAE on May 7
• Segment director Mohammed Saeed Harib, Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi and the film’s creative team attend the Beirut premiere

Doha, Qatar; April 27, 2015: It is home-coming time for Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, as the acclaimed film based on the international bestseller by the beloved Lebanese poet is poised to release in Lebanon on April 30 and in Qatar on May 7.

Producer and star, Salma Hayek-Pinault, who has ancestral roots in Lebanon, attended the red carpet premiere on Monday evening at Cinema-city Beirut Souks as part of a tour that included a visit to the Gibran Museum.

The film’s Lebanese connection also includes Academy Award-winning composer Gabriel Yared (The English Patient), who scored the animated film which is presented in segments directed by some of the world’s leading animators and a through-line narrative written and directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King).

Co-financed by the Doha Film Institute, Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet will open in cinemas in Lebanon and Kuwait on April 30, and in Qatar and UAE on May 7 ahead of its US release scheduled for August 2015. The film is being distributed in the Middle East by Media International Pictures.

Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet is a project we are extremely proud to have been involved with from the very early stages. This film has touched the hearts of many from its world premiere last year at the Toronto International Film Festival and its Middle East premiere in Doha at the second Ajyal Youth Film Festival in December. The screening in Beirut is particularly meaningful as it brings the film to the home of Kahlil Gibran and allows Lebanese audiences to celebrate his work through this captivating movie.”

At a press conference yesterday in Beirut Salma Hayek-Pinault talked about her connection to her Lebanese grandfather through Gibran’s book and the personal significance of the film.

“Through this book I got to know my grandfather, through this book I got to have my grandfather teaching me about life,” she said, “For me this film is a love letter to my heritage.”

Since its publication in 1923, Kahlil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’, has become a classic around the world. It is regarded as one of the best-selling books of the 20th century and has been translated into more than 40 languages.

Writer-director Roger Allers recreates the book’s essence in a beautiful and charming tale that remains faithful to the spirit of Gibran’s original text. Interwoven with Gibran’s lyrical and inspiring words on the true nature of love, work, freedom and marriage, the film is anchored in the story of an unlikely friendship between a mischievous young girl and an imprisoned poet, with stunning “chapters” from a host of award-winning and renowned international artists and musicians including Freej creator Mohammed Saeed Harib, Tomm Moore, Michal Socha, Joan Gratz, Nina Paley, Joann Sfar, Bill Plympton, and Paul and Gaeton Brizzi.

The voice cast includes Liam Neeson (Taken, The Lego Movie), Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), John Krasinski (Monsters University), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon) and Alfred Molina (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). Gabriel Yared’s score is complimented by additional music from Damien Rice, Academy Awards-winners Glen Hansard, and Lisa Hannigan and a cello solo by Grammy winner Yo-Yo Ma.