Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo
Six-year-old Dounia must leave her hometown in Syria and embark on a dangerous, but exciting journey, helped along the way by the princess of Aleppo.
Dounia lives with her family in war-torn Syria, and after her mother's death, she grows up with her father and grandparents. Despite the difficult conditions in the country, they have what they need to live. This changes when her father is imprisoned and their home is bombed. Together with their neighbors, the small family flees from Syria.
They embark on a dangerous but exciting journey where they are helped by the princess of Aleppo and some magical seeds along the way. The film is hand-drawn beautifully and naively and addresses serious themes like war and escape. It is easy to understand and accessible for children and handles the themes well through the use of supernatural powers and myths.
«The film’s gentle charm is in part to do with its pleasing, economically graphic animation style.»
– Screen Daily –
Red.
Arabic speech, Norwegian subtitles
The Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo screening is in Arabic with Norwegian subtitles.
Director
Marya Zarif, born and raised in Syria, studied communication and theater at INSIS (Institut national de l'image et du son du Québec) in Canada. In 2013, she co-created The House of Syria, a tribute to Syrian culture, and in 2015, she helped start I want to play, an organization working with Syrian refugee children. In 2020, she created the web series Dounia, which later led to the feature film Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo (2022). André Kadi, a French comic book writer and musician living in Canada, has directed works like MaXi (2017) and L’Agent Jean! (2018). He co-directed the Dounia series and the film adaptation Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo.
This film is part of
Original title دنيا وأميرة حلب
Country Syria, Canada, France
Year 2022
Director Andrë Kadi, Marya Zarif
Screenplay Marya Zarif
Producer Judith Beauregard
Cast Rahaf Ataya, Elza Mardirossian, Manuel Tardos
Distribution Be For Films
Runtime 1h 12m
Language Arabic
Subtitles Norwegian
Genre Animation, Family
Format DCP
Age limit 6 år
Links IMDb
This film is in competition for the Audience Award.