Zarafa

A sweeping, hand-drawn adventure that balances peril and warmth, sweeping you along on a heartfelt journey across deserts and skies.

Directed by

Jean-Christophe Lie, Rémi Bezançon

Genres

Family, Animation

Starring

Max Renaudin, Simon Abkarian, Vernon Dobtcheff

Overview

Inspired by the true story of the first giraffe to visit France, Zarafa is a sumptuously animated and stirring adventure, and a throwback to a bygone era of hand-drawn animation and epic storytelling set among sweeping CinemaScope vistas of parched desert, wind-swept mountains and open skies. Under the cover of darkness a small boy, Maki, loosens the shackles that bind him and escapes into the desert night. Pursued by slavers across the moon-lit savannah, Maki meets Zarafa, a baby giraffe – and an orphan, just like him – as well as the nomad Hassan, Prince of the Desert. Hassan takes them to Alexandria for an audience with the Pasha of Egypt, who orders him to deliver the exotic animal as a gift to King Charles of France.

How it feels

Warm, earnest, tense and melancholic. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Friendship, freedom, survival, coming-of-age

Content

Mild violence. No gore, sexual content or swearing.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Watch the trailer on YouTube (opens in a new tab)