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.
Cinematography
Every frame looks like a vintage travel poster come alive.
Direction
Two directors, one vision: old Hollywood grandeur meets French sensitivity.
Production
Hand-drawn in 2012? In this economy? Respect.
Director
Jean-Christophe Lie
Max Renaudin
Maki (voice)
Simon Abkarian
Hassan (voice)
Vernon Dobtcheff
Le vieux sage (voice)
Roger Dumas
Charles X (voice)
Ronit Elkabetz
Bouboulina (voice)
Mohamed Fellag
Mahmoud (voice)
Déborah François
Zarafa adulte (voice)
Thierry Frémont
Moreno (voice)
Philippe Morier-Genoud
Saint-Hilaire (voice)
Mostéfa Stiti
Pacha
François-Xavier Demaison
Malaterre (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Zarafa caused a 'giraffe mania' in 1820s France—ladies wore their hair 'à la girafe' and giraffe-spotted fabrics were everywhere.
The directors spent years researching 19th-century Egypt and France, and it shows in the architecture, costumes, and even the hot air balloon technology.
FR
