J. Walter Thompson Beirut, part of the world’s best-known marketing communications brand network in the Middle East and Africa announced today its partnership with Fathallah Films in Lebanon for the red carpet premiere and MENA launch of “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet” film, produced by Salma Hayek-Pinault and directed by Roger Allers. The film’s world premiere in Beirut will be launched through a multi-channel integrated campaign centralized around the main theme of Gibran’s book, the spirit of humanity.
This is the first time Lebanon has ever hosted the world premiere of any film. “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet” is being distributed across the Middle East and North Africa by Fathallah Films. The premiere’s red carpet event will be held on Monday 27 April 2015 at Cinemacity in the Beirut Souks. The film will be released to the public in Lebanese cinemas on Thursday 30 April 2015. Emmy award winning actor Salma Hayek-Pinault – who lends her voice to the character of Kamila in “Kahlil Gibran The Prophet” and is of Lebanese origin – will attend the red carpet event together with other Hollywood A-list stars, the film’s director Roger Allers (famous for his work on ‘Beauty and The Beast’, ‘Aladdin’ and ‘The Lion King’) and the film’s music composer, Oscar winning Lebanese, Gabriel Yared.
Mohamed Fathallah, Managing Director of Fathallah Films, said “We partnered with J. Walter Thompson because of their reputation for producing innovative solutions that ignite the consumer’s passion. The team in Beirut have done a tremendous job in a very short space of time, bringing alive the film’s enticing storyline and Gibran’s compassionate message, across multiple channels.”
Insight into what hosting an A-list red carpet film premiere means for the Lebanese people and especially for a film inspired by a Lebanese author’s worldwide best selling book, drove the J. Walter Thompson Beirut team to delve deeper into Gibran’s philosophy, and bring home his ‘spirit of humanity’ to the nation.
Principle to the launch in Beirut is a social responsibility activation, supported by Virgin Radio Lebanon. The initiative invites Lebanese people to upload a photo of their humanitarian act of kindness to Instagram with the #MyGibranGoodDeed hashtag. Anyone residing in Lebanon is eligible to take part. The activation begins on 2 April and lucky winners, randomly selected over a period of 2 weeks, will walk the red carpet and watch the world premiere with the stars. They will also have the opportunity to take a selfie with Salma Hayek-Pinault. The virtual unrolling of the premiere’s red carpet is tied to the nation’s good deeds on Instagram – the more good deeds uploaded to Instagram the more the red carpet is unrolled. A stand at Cinemacity in Beirut Souks displays how many meters of red carpet still need to be unrolled before the Hollywood celebrities arrive.
Captivating communication assets for the launch were created by J. Walter Thompson Beirut using selected stills from the film as a starting point. The team’s poster for the film, which focuses on the character of the little girl Almitra, inspired the direction for the communication assets.
Commenting on the project, Nicolas Geahchan Executive Creative Director J. Walter Thompson Beirut said, “We are so proud and happy to be part of such a great project. “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet” is the masterpiece of the most prominent Lebanese artist, philosopher and writer, and the animated feature comes today as an impeccable tribute that will be greatly appreciated by all audiences from all ages. We worked together with Fathallah Films to create a one-of-a-kind memorable launch that gives the feature film the hype it most deserves ”
Kahlil Gibran was born in Lebanon in 1883. As a young man his family emigrated to Boston in the United States, where he wrote his best selling novel “The Prophet” which was published in 1923. Since its publication, “The Prophet” has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold over a 100 million copies worldwide.
Fathallah Films released a magnificent 2’13” trailer, for the film’s launch in Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East, produced by The Refinery in California.