“DOUNIA AND THE PRINCESS OF ALEP”, an animated feature film by Marya Zarif and André Kadi, premiering at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma on October 9 and 16, 2022
–
Maison 4:3 and Tobo Studio are pleased to announce that Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo, the first film by Marya Zarif and André Kadi, will premiere at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma on October 9 and 16, 2022.
A portrait of present-day Syria too rarely shown in cinema, this animated feature film follows the story of a six-year-old girl who leaves her native Aleppo for a new world. This young girl, very small with her arms wide open facing the unknown, is Dounia, an Arabic first name which means “the world”.
Seeking to move away from the clichés maintained in the face of Eastern communities, Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo is a fable filled with magic that tackles the themes of migration and spirituality with all that surrounds them: both joy and fear, dreams and mysteries.
Synopsis
Dounia is 6 years old, she leaves Aleppo with a few nigella seeds in the palm of her hand and with the help of the Princess of Aleppo, Dounia makes the trip to a new world…
After its appearance at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo will be in theaters in the spring of 2023.
About Marya Zarif, screenwriter and director
A multidisciplinary creator, Marya has developed expertise as a multiplatform designer, screenwriter and director and has accumulated fifteen years of experience in youth content. She is trained in communication and dramatic writing, and graduated from INIS (Institut national de l’image et du son du Québec).
Born in Syria, Marya grew up in Aleppo. She knows the hometown of Dounia very well and the various issues that the Syrians have been experiencing since the start of the war. Like many Syrians in the four corners of the world, including a large pool of creators with whom she has many ties, the great drama in her native country pushed her to get involved. In 2013, she co-created “The House of Syria”, in homage to Syrian culture.
She believes in a Syrian culture that is well anchored in the world, multiple, warm, inclusive, colorful, gentle and today nomadic, a vision that she inspires through her creative direction of the organization. Under his direction, The House of Syria has presented several narrative installations and artistic performances in the public space.
Continuing her commitment, in 2015 Marya co-founded “I want to play”, a foundation that aims to transform the lives of Syrian refugee children through play. in Syria, was the recipient of the YMCA Medal for Peace in 2016. Marya was invited to speak about the work of the foundation at a TedX conference in Montreal in October 2016 called “Crush War with Joy”. In 2020, she created, scripted and co-directed her first youth animation web series, Dounia. Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo is his first feature film.
About André Kadi, director
Arrived in Canada in 2007 as a comic book author and musician, André joined the ranks of Frima where he remained for more than 11 years. Director of the artistic department, founder of a branch of the studio in Bordeaux, he opened a 2D animation studio there in 2012, where he notably produced the MaXi and Agent Jean series before co-founding Du Coup Animation in 2018 with his partner , Marie-Michelle Laflamme, then Du Coup Production in 2021. Rigorous studio director and director of most Du Coup projects, he co-directed Dounia in 2020 for Tobo with Marya Zarif. Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo is his first feature film.
About House 4:3
MAISON 4:3, is a film distribution company founded in 2014. Distributor-Boutique, the company puts all its know-how at the service of creators and their films, to set up launch strategies and support works at the different stages of their diffusion. MAISON 4:3 puts forward deeply human projects that are both promising and atypical.
***