Theatrical Release of ‘Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet’ Aims to Inspire 1+ Million Students to Wax Poetic

LOS ANGELES (July 20, 2015) — Leading up to the August 7, 2015, theatrical release of the animated adaption of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, inspired by Gibran’s 100-million-copy best-selling book of prose poetry, Participant Media, GKIDS, and Journeys in Film have teamed to launch a common-core-compliant curriculum to augment students’ experience of the film.

Supporting language skills and teaching the art of poetry, the curriculum will be distributed to more than 1 million students and teachers and is available today at journeysinfilm.org and takepart.com/prophet. The curriculum will also explore the life of Gibran, who ranks with Shakespeare and Lao-tzu as one of the three most popular poets in world history. It will also address the subject matter of his poetry, which touches on universal issues including freedom, children, marriage, work, eating and drinking, love, good and evil, and death.

The Prophet is one of the bestselling books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies in more than 40 languages, since its original publication by Alfred Knopf in 1923.

With a voice cast that includes Liam Neeson, Salma Hayek-Pinault, Quvenzhané Wallis, John Krasinski, Frank Langella and Alfred Molina, the film adaptation features a narrative story written and directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King), with individual “chapters” based on Gibran’s poems that were designed and directed by acclaimed animation directors from around the world, including Tomm Moore (Oscar® nominee for The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea), Joan Gratz (Oscar winner for Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase), Bill Plympton (Oscar® nominee for Guard Dog and Your Face), Nina Paley (Annecy winner for Sita Sings the Blues), Joann Sfar (Cesar winner for The Rabbi’s Cat), Paul and Gaetan Brizzi (Fantasia 2000), Michal Socha (Chick), and Mohammed Harib (Freej).

The film’s score is by Oscar® winner Gabriel Yared (The English Patient), with additional music by songwriters Damien Rice, Oscar® winner Glenn Hansard (Once), and Lisa Hannigan, and with performances by Grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet Soundtrack Album is available on Warner Bros. Records.

Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet was produced by Salma Hayek-Pinault, Clark Peterson, José Tamez, and Ron Senkowski, and executive produced by Steve Hanson, François Pinault, Jeff Skoll, Jonathan King, Julia Lebedev, Leonid Lebedev, Naël Nasr, Haytham Nasr, Jean Riachi, Julien Khabbaz, and William Nix. The Doha Film Institute (DFI) co-financed the film with Participant Media, MyGroup Lebanon, FFA Private Bank, Financiére Pinault, and Code Red Productions. Production took place in France, the U.K., Ireland, Poland, Canada, and the U.S.

About Participant Media
Participant Media (http://www.participantmedia.com/) is a leading media company dedicated to entertainment that inspires and compels social change. Founded in 2004 by Jeff Skoll, Participant combines the power of a good story well told with opportunities for viewers to get involved. Participant’s more than 60 films include Lincoln, Contagion, The Help, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Food, Inc., Waiting for ‘Superman,’ CITIZENFOUR, and An Inconvenient Truth. Participant has also launched more than a dozen original series, including “Please Like Me,” “Hit Record On TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt,” and “Fortitude,” for its television network, Pivot. Participant’s digital hub, TakePart, serves millions of socially conscious consumers each month with daily articles, videos, and opportunities to take action. Follow Participant Media on Twitter at @Participant and on Facebook.

About Journeys in Film
Over 12 years, Journeys in Film has proven the value of using feature and documentary films as teaching tools. They develop film-based curriculum in subjects ranging from language arts, social studies, math, and science to global issues such as poverty, global health, the environment and cross-cultural understanding. Journeys in Film has partnered with USC’s Rossier School of Education to reach thousands more teachers and millions more students in the U.S. and internationally. Together, they are working toward establishing “The Center for Global Education through Film.”

About GKIDS
GKIDS is a distributor of award-winning feature animation for both adult and family audiences. Since opening in 2008, the company has scored six Best Animated Feature Oscar nominations — second only to Disney — with The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, and the two current releases, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya from Studio Ghibli cofounder Isao Takahata and Tomm Moore’s highly anticipated Song of the Sea. GKIDS also handles North American theatrical distribution for Oscar winner Hayao Miyazaki’s famed Studio Ghibli library of films, one of the world’s most coveted animation collections with titles like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke. GKIDS is longtime producer of the New York International Children’s Film Festival, an Oscar-qualifying event and North America’s largest festival of film for children and teens. NYICFF jury members include Uma Thurman, Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Gus van Sant, Christine Vachon, Henry Selick, and James Schamus. www.gkidsfilms.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jason Allen / Participant Media / jallen@participantmedia.com
Joanne Ashe / Journeys in Film / joanne@journeysinfilm.org