The award-winning singer / songwriter lends his voice to Maya Sanbar’s story of two siblings on a mysterious journey after tragically losing their parents; film created to raise awareness of the growing refugee crisis around the world.
Maya Sanbar’s 2D animated short film, Footsteps on the Wind, tells the story of two siblings, Noor and her little brother, Josef as they journey far away from home, orphaned by a devastating earthquake. The film was created as a therapy tool for traumatized refugee children and to raise awareness of the growing refugee crisis around the world. Grammy-Award winning artist Sting contributed his song ‘Inshallah’ to Sanbar to accompany the impactful visuals.
“To me, ‘Inshallah’- which means ‘if God is willing, then it shall come to pass’ - sounded like a prayer that people in this situation may recite,” shared Sting. “I imagined myself in that circumstance, wanting to bring my family to safety in a very dangerous situation.”
Multimedia artist Sanbar joined forces with award-winning Brazilian film production company Dirty Works’ co-founders Gustavo Leal and Faga Melo to create the short using Sting’s haunting tune, “Inshallah.” The film was produced by her company, Chasing the Light Studio.
Sanbar wrote the screenplay drawing from her own personal knowledge of refugee displacement, her father having fled Haifa, Palestine in 1948. The screenplay was written in collaboration with Pedro Paulo de Andrade. Footsteps On the Wind was co-produced by Kristín Ólafsdóttir, Gillian Gordon and Fernanda Zaffari.
Footsteps On the Wind will be screening at the Oscar-qualifying film festivals Tirana International Film Festival from September 24 – 30; Urbanworld Film Festival from September 29 – October 3; and Encounters Short Film Festival from September 1 - 30.
Source: Chasing the Light Studio
