A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH
When live action Meets cairo Magic:
Crafting an Animated Sequence for a Red Sea Premiere
Some projects stroll into your inbox.
This one burst through the door, glowing, demanding to be made.
This year at the Red Sea Film Festival, a live action feature will unveil a fully animated sequence created inside our Cairo studio, a sequence that doesn’t interrupt the film, but slides into it, dissolving into the story like a secret passage the camera suddenly remembers.
A hybrid dream.
A poetic risk.
A collaboration powered by instinct and trust.
The Creative Constellation: Sara Taibah & Anas Batahaf
At the heart of this journey is our long time friend and multi talented creative force Sara Taibah, a storyteller whose imagination works like a living organism: soft, sharp, emotional, and fiercely intelligent.
Working with Sara is like being handed the blueprint of a dream and asked to build it with real tools.
Then came the fire:
Anas Batahaf, the director shaping this universe.
Anas isn’t a filmmaker who watches from the sidelines.
He dives into the frame, moves through rhythm, and directs with a pulse that pushes everyone toward a higher altitude.
He brings poetry with intention, emotion with precision, and boldness without ego.
He didn’t want animation as an “insert.”
He wanted a rupture, a moment where the film blooms into another dimension without losing its heart.
A living, breathing emotional gateway.
Working with Anas feels like orbiting a star that knows exactly where it wants you to go.
Film Clinic, The Backbone of Trust
None of this could’ve happened without the unwavering support of our co producers, Film Clinic, a team that doesn’t just believe in films, but believes in risks worth taking.
Film Clinic placed real trust in ZANAD:
trust to experiment, trust to craft, trust to merge animation and live action without compromising the film’s soul. They didn’t just stand behind the project, they held the creative space open so this sequence could evolve into something meaningful.
Their support turned a brave idea into a cinematic reality.
A Fairy Tale Whisper, Born in Cairo
The sequence carries a subtle Pinocchio esque fairy tale scent, a spirit of handcrafted emotion, innocent silhouettes hiding deeper truths.
Not imitation.
Interpretation.
Inside our Cairo studio, that spirit transformed into frames:
brush strokes, digital breath, pencil ghosts, and a world that feels like it always lived inside the film, waiting to be unlocked.
Finding the Seam, Then Making It Disappear
The challenge wasn’t animation.
It was invisibility.
We studied the live action scenes like archaeologists:
palette, rhythm, emotional tone, texture, silence.
The animated sequence needed to be a natural extension, not a detour. A memory unfolding. A breath the film was already holding.
A patch so perfectly woven, the audience forgets it was ever separate.
Cairo Craft, Red Sea Ready
Frame by frame, the sequence was shaped by our team in Cairo,
a crew that treats animation not as decoration but as architecture.
As narrative muscle.
As emotional engineering.
This project reminded us why animation exists:
to reveal the invisible.
To express the impossible.
To expand the story without breaking the spell.
See You at the Red Sea
What started as an idea became a shared heartbeat between:
Sara Taibah’s imagination,
Anas Batahaf’s fire,
Film Clinic’s trust,
and ZANAD’s craft.
A hybrid dream stitched into a live action world.
A risk worth taking.
A moment we’re proud of.
See you at the Red Sea Film Festival.
This one carries magic.
This one carries courage.
This one is ZANAD.
