J. Walter Thompson Beirut, part of the marketing communications brand network in the Middle East and Africa has announced today its partnership with Fathallah Films in Lebanon for the red carpet premiere and MENA launch of “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet” film, produced by Salma Hayek-Pinault and directed by Roger Allers. The film’s world premiere in Beirut will be launched through a multi-channel integrated campaign centralized around the main theme of Gibran’s book, the spirit of humanity.
This is the first time Lebanon has ever hosted the world premiere of any film. “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet” is being distributed across MENA by Fathallah Films. The premiere’s red carpet event will be held on Monday 27 April 2015 at Cinema City in the Beirut Souks and released to the public on Thursday 30 April 2015.
Emmy award winning actor Salma Hayek-Pinault – who lends her voice to the character of Kamila in “Kahlil Gibran The Prophet” and is of Lebanese origin – will attend the red carpet event together with other Hollywood A-list stars, the film’s director Roger Allers – who is known for his work on ‘Beauty and The Beast’,‘Aladdin’ and ‘The Lion King’ and the film’s music composer, Oscar winning Lebanese, Gabriel Yared.
“We partnered with J. Walter Thompson because of their reputation for producing innovative solutions that ignite the consumer’s passion. The team in Beirut have done a tremendous job in a very short space of time, bringing alive the film’s enticing storyline and Gibran’s compassionate message, across multiple channels,” commented Mohamed Fathallah, Managing Director of Fathallah Films.
Virgin Radio, Lebanon will be rolling out an initiative on April 2 inviting Lebanese people to upload a photo of their humanitarian act of kindness to Instagram with the #MyGibranGoodDeed hashtag. Anyone residing in Lebanon is eligible to take part. The lucky winners will walk the red carpet and watch the world premiere with the stars, along with a selfie with Salma Hayek-Pinault.
The virtual unrolling of the premiere’s red carpet is tied to the nation’s good deeds on Instagram – the more good deeds uploaded to Instagram the more the red carpet is unrolled. The creative agency also created captivating communication assets for the launch using selected stills from the film as a starting point.
“We are so proud and happy to be part of such a great project. “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet” is the masterpiece of the most prominent Lebanese artist, philosopher and writer, and the animated feature comes today as an impeccable tribute that will be greatly appreciated by all audiencesfrom all ages. We worked together with Fathallah Films to create a one-of-a-kind memorable launch that gives the feature film the hype it most deserves,” shared Nicolas Geahchan, Executive Creative Director, J. Walter Thompson Beirut.
Since its publication, Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold over a 100 million copies worldwide. Fathallah Films released a magnificent 2’13” trailer, for the film’s launch in Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East, produced by The Refinery in California.
