ZARAFA

Playing Saturday, November 10th at 11:00AM in Theatre 1 Click HERE to buy tickets!

“A colorfully compelling kids flick with darker historical undertones, Zarafa is a smart and successful freshman animation effort from writer-director Remi Bezancon, here teaming up with The Triplets of Belleville supervising animator Jean-Christophe Lie … a broadly appealing and action-packed tale about an escaped slave boy and the giraffe he befriends during his long trek from Africa to France.” – Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter

Inspired by the true story of the first giraffe to arrive on French shores (it was gifted to the king in 1827 by the Egyptian viceroy Mehemet Ali), Zarafa is a beautifully-animated, hand-drawn tale of friendship and high adventure.
Under a baobab tree, an old man tells a story to the children around him: The story of the everlasting friendship between a young Sudanese boy named Maki, and Zarafa, an orphaned giraffe, a gift from the Pasha of Egypt to the King of France, Charles X. As the tale begins, young Maki is kidnapped by an evil slave trader but quickly escapes to find himself on an epic journey. Maki is determined to rescue his new friend, the orphaned giraffe Zarafa, from the Bedouin prince who is taking her to France. Stowing away on the journey, he looks for opportunities to escape with her, thus beginning a thrilling adventure that takes them to Alexandria, Marseille and Paris. But the slave trader is on the same route and he is still angry about losing Maki and wants him back!

(Directed by Rémi Bezançon & Jean-Christophe Lie, France and Belgium, 2012, 78 mins, NR) HD Digital Presentation

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