''The Knight and the Princess'' is a 2019 Egyptian animated musical action-drama notable for being the first-ever Egyptian animation feature film. It was directed by Bashir el-Deek, produced by Alabbas Hamidaddin, and created by cartoonist Mustafa Hussein. The film stars Haitham Elkhamissi,

Mohamed Henedi Mohamed Henedi Ahmed Abdel Gawad ( ar, محمد هنيدي أحمد عبد الجواد) is an Egyptian comedian actor born in Giza, Egypt, on 1 February 1965, and has gained a cinematic bachelor's degree. Henedi started his career in 1991 in s ...

Donia Samir Ghanem Donia Samir Youssef Ghanem ( ar, دنيا سمير يوسف غانم; born 1 January 1985) is an Egyptian actress and singer. She is the daughter of actor Samir Ghanem and actress Dalal Abdel Aziz; and sister of Amy (Amal). Donia graduated from ...

, Medhat Saleh,

Maged El Kedwany Maged El-Kedwany aka Maged Nabil Elkedwani اى ماجد نبيل الكدوانى( ar, ماجد الكدواني: born: 10 December 1967) is an Egyptian actor. He began acting in the 1990s, playing supporting roles. He won the Muhr Arab - Feat ...

, Lekaa Elkhamissi,

Abla Kamel Abla Kamel Mohamed Afifi ( arz, عبلة كامل محمد عفيفي ) is an Egyptian actress. Biography Originally from Nikla Al Inab in Beheira Governorate Beheira Governorate ( ar, محافظة البحيرة ', , "the governorate of ...

, Abdel Rahman Abou Zahra and

Saeed Saleh Saeed Saleh also credited as ''Sa'eed Saleh Ibrahim''; ( ar, سعيد صالح إبراهيم) (July 31, 1940 – August 1, 2014) was an Egyptian comedian actor. Biography Saleh earned his bachelor of arts degree from Cairo University in 196 ...

. The film premiered at the 2019

El Gouna Film Festival The El Gouna Film Festival (GFF; ar, مهرجان الجونة السينمائي) is an annual film festival established in 2017, held in the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna, Egypt. The inaugural festival started September 22, 2017. The psychologi ...

, and released to theatres on 30 January 2020. It was selected to show at the 2020

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

, making it the first Arab feature film to show at the festival.

Plot

The film takes inspiration from the seventh-century tale of

Muhammad bin Qasim Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqāfī ( ar, محمد بن القاسم الثقفي; –) was an Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh (part of modern Pakistan), inaugurating the Umayya ...

, a 15-year-old Arab commander from

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

in the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

era. In the film, he’s a young, idealistic adventurer who plans to rescue the wives and children of deceased sea merchants that have been taken prisoner by pirates and King Daher the Great of Sindh. Before accomplishing his mission, Mohammed falls in love with Princess Lola Benny of Qossah after saving her life, only to have to leave her to go defeat the Daher and his army.

Recognition

''The Knight and the Princess'' was lauded for its representation of Arabs and countering stereotypes often found in Western-produced entertainment. The film was selected to show at the 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival; won the Grand Prix at the 2021 ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival, and was nominated in for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2021 Asia Pacific Screen Awards but lost out to

The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks ''The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks'' () is a 2020 Russian animated film. The film is created by the animation studio . People's Artist of Russia animator, Andrei Khrzhanovsky directed the film. The film is based on the Russian classic, '' ...

References

External links

* 2019 animated films 2019 films Egyptian animated films {{Egypt-film-stub