Salma Hayek and a delegation from the passion project she produced, animation pic “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet,” pranced down the red carpet of the second Ajyal Youth Film Festival in Doha, as the event, where 450 youths are the jurors, wrapped on a high note.
“The Prophet” was partly financed by the Doha Film Institute. “I have to say that the first support that I got was from Doha,” Hayek said during a presser.
“For us it was very important to have in the project someone who was also from the region,” she added. “As international as this film is, it does have the Middle East at its core, and this was important for us.”
The out-of-competition Doha gala screening of “The Prophet” was preceded by the first live performance of themes from the film by composer Gabriel Yared, who conducted a 20-member orchestra on stage, which also performed two of his pieces from “The English Patient” and “The Talented Mr Ripley.”
Also on hand were writer-director Roger Allers, co-directors Mohammed Saeed Harib and Joan Gratz, and producers Clark Peterson and Jose Tamez.
