'Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet' Gets Stunning First Trailer

As you may have gathered, we're very excited for the forthcoming release of Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.  The adaptation of the beloved book is to bring Gibran's famous poetry alive, in chapters designed and directed by various animation luminaries including Song Of The Sea's Tomm Moore, Sita Sings the Blues director Nina Paley and animation icon Bill Plympton. Fresh from the announcement GKIDS are to release the film theatrically in North America this August, we now have the first full-length trailer for the film.

With such an impressive pedigree, it's unsurprising the trailer is drop-dead gorgeous. The majority of the preview features the wrap-around story (directed by The Lion King's Roger Allers) which sees a young girl (played by Beasts Of The Southern Wild's Oscar-nominated Quvenzhané Wallis) befriend persecuted poet Mustafa (voiced by Liam Neeson).


We'll admit to being surprised at the style of animation used here. In stills it appears to be traditionally animated, but in motion, it becomes clear it's actually CG designed to look hand-drawn. It employs a style that is sometimes known in the videogame world as "Cel-shading."As a result, the animation quality isn't quite as fluid, but it often looks beautiful all the same. Best of all though, you get a sneaky peak at the various chapters. It's a wonderful look at the varied styles on offer, and shows us that we're in for a treat.  In the trailer at least, Moore's work is the stand-out here, with his distinctive style used to great effect.

The Prophet will open in New York and LA on August 7th 2015, before opening wider the following week. Sadly, no UK release has been confirmed as yet.