Zarafa

Come sit with me by the campfire, little ones, and I will tell you the tale of ZARAFA, the most wonderful giraffe in all the world. The year was 1817 and a French slave driver named Moreno was capturing people from an African village. Brave little Maki escaped to a river, where he found a herd of giraffes. Cruel Moreno, vowing to recapture Maki, killed a mother giraffe. But a kind Bedouin named Hassan was there too, and he named the enchanting baby giraffe Zarafa. Hassan wanted to present Zarafa to the Pasha of Egypt, who would give her as a gift to the king of France, in exchange for his help fighting the Turks. Vowing to protect his new animal friend, Maki traveled with Hassan and Zarafa across the fearsome desert to the great city of Alexandria — and from there in a magical balloon to Paris. ZARAFA is as rare as that first giraffe in France, a beautifully animated cross-cultural fable for children of all ages. (In French with subtitles) – B.B.