Maya Sanbar’s animated short film, Footsteps On The Wind, tells the story of two siblings who go on a mysterious journey after tragically losing their parents. The 17-time Grammy Award-winning Artist Sting gave his refugee-inspired song “Inshallah” to Maya Sanbar so that she could create an animation film as a therapy tool for traumatized refugee children and to raise awareness of the growing refugee crisis around the world. It is the first animated short film ever made to a song by Sting. Footsteps On the Wind has won a variety of awards including the Oscar-qualifying Awards at Cinequest Film Festival and Flicker’s Rhode Island International Film Festival.
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. I imagined myself in that circumstance, wanting to bring my family to safety in a very dangerous situation.” Sting
Footsteps on the Wind follows the plight of Noor and her little brother, Josef as they journey far away from home, orphaned from a devastating earthquake.
The Official Trailer for Footsteps On The Wind directed by Maya Sanbar
Director Maya Sanbar is a multimedia artist who can relate to the plight of refugees as her own family has a history of refugee displacement, her father having fled Haifa, Palestine in 1948. Maya joined forces with co-directors Gustavo Leal and Faga Melo, the founders of the Brazilian award-winning film production company Dirty Work to create an animated film to the haunting tune, Inshallah, produced by her company Chasing the Light Studio. Maya, who wrote the screenplay for the film with Pedro Paulo de Andrade, has worked on a variety of films and documentaries including Wajib, Freak Show, House in the Fields, The Idol, The Muslims Are Coming, The Time That Remains, and Trouble The Water.
Footsteps On The Wind was co-produced by Kristín Ólafsdóttir, Gillian Gordon, and Fernanda Zaffari. Kristin Olafsdottir’s latest films are Rebel Hearts, Against the Current, and InnSæi. Olafsdottir’s feature films and documentaries have been nominated and awarded at many film festivals including Sundance and Toronto International Film Festival. Gillian has produced successful TV series for the BBC, and ITV, worked as a development executive at Film & General Productions, Make Waves Media, and ITV. Fernanda is a journalist with over 20 experience who has secured coverage for The World Cups, Oscar Awards, Elections in Europe, the refugee crises, and most recently, the Covid pandemic.
Screenwriter Pedro Paulo de Andrade’s films have accumulated more than 50 awards, including the Grand Prize of the Brazilian Film Academy in the Best Fiction Short Film Category. Recently, Pedro wrote four episodes of the TV series Fathers, co-directed the short film Framed with Luiza Campos, and wrote the manifesto for the Opening of the 27th Mix Brasil Film Festival. He is currently directing two feature films: The Remains and Open Rehearsal in addition to writing the feature film screenplay Wide Awake. The screenplay was developed by Gillian and Award-winning published authors Sita Brahmachari and Onjali Q. Rauf.
Footsteps On The Wind will be screening at the Oscar-qualifying film festivals Tirana International Film Festival from Sept 24th – Sept 30th, Urbanworld Film Festival from Sept 29th – Oct 3rd, and Encounters Short Film Festival from Sept 1st – Sept 30th.
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