Lauded at film festivals around the world, including the acclaimed 2019 Cannes Film Festival, The Swallows of Kabul will screen in selected cinemas across Australia from 20 August 2020. The Swallows of Kabul is based on Algerian author Yasmina Khadra’s 2002 novel of the same name. The cherished tale is brought to life in an exquisite animated film directed by multi-award-winning filmmakers Zabou Breitman and Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec.

The Swallows of Kabul follows two couples living in the Afghan capital in summer 1998, and the impact Taliban rule has on each relationship. Through their individual love stories, unforgettable characters emerge amid the devastating impact of armed combat. On one side sits idealistic Mohsen (Swann Arlaud) and Zunaira (Zita Hanrot) who dream of a better future, and on the other is a disillusioned prison guard, Atiq (Simon Abkarian), and his seriously ill wife, Mussarat (Hiam Abbass). One day, a foolish gesture causes life to take an irrevocable turn…

Writer and Director Zabou Breitman comments on her inspiration to capture the poetry of Khadra’s novel as an animation; “There was the opportunity to turn it into something incredible using animation. The extreme abstraction and sense of time that animation brings can help create a kind of softness that’s conducive to representing the hardness of this narrative.”
Director Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec added “I was in tune with those same ambitions. As I did research and learned more, I saw a potential for graphic richness that you can’t find anywhere else. We had the opportunity to shine a specific light on this complicated story the characters are living through. The opportunity to relate something extremely strong based on a powerful visual concept.”

Following its official selection for the prestigious Un Certain Regard category at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, The Swallows of Kabul release in France grossed the equivalent of a $6m box office. The film was also shortlisted by Variety for the 2020 Academy Awards for Best Animation and was featured as a highlight of the 31st Alliance Française French Film Festival in Australia and New Zealand.
The Swallows of Kabul is produced by Reginald de Guillebon, Stephan Roelants, Michel Merkt and Joëlle Bertossa, directed by Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec and written, adapted and screenplay by Sébastien Tavel and Patricia Mortagne and Zabou Breitman