Sunday, 28 December 2014: The Prophet
Sunday, 28 December 2014, 20:00
Venue: (see Locations and Tickets for further details)
Programme category: Transition Forest Row
Director: Gary Tarn, UK 2014, 75 mins, Not Rated
"Beloved by generations of readers, scorned by the critics, Gibran’s spiritually portentous language is beautifully read by Thandie Newton while Tarn – assembling images from his travels – sometimes illustrates the prophet’s journey, sometimes finds a metaphorical representation of the text. Tarn demands a viewer alive to both words and pictures, but marrying Gibran’s inclusive, dogma-free vision to the affection with which the camera views everything from a London nude bicycling demo to Lebanese shoemakers at work, he delivers a heady rush of affirmation. Tarn’s expansive, intimate, lovely film lets us share the connectedness of humanity, as we see lovers, workers, families all over the world getting on with the business of being alive."
Trevor Johnson, Time Out
Takes Kahlil Gibran’s classic book and spins it into a cinematic exploration of love, life and loss. Shot in Serbia, Lebanon, New York, Milan and London and narrated by British actress Thandie Newton who delivers Gibran’s captivating prose with an intimate reading, woven into a score for orchestra, guitar, cello and synthesiser the result is a beautifully evocative film.
"a pleasure to watch. Tarn’s own music is dovetailed with the words as he travels between Lebanon, Serbia, New York, Milan and London, teasing out images that underscore Gibran’s text, in a visual essay that owes something to Werner Herzog and Chris Marker." Derek Malcolm, The Evening Standard
Further reading
- Official film site
- The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
- Thandie Newton tells the story of finding her “otherness”
