In Production

DRAMAS:

Prince of Travelers (working title)
In 1325, in what would become an epic journey over land and sea, a young Moroccan man, named Ibn Battutah left his home in Tangier to travel to Mecca to fulfill his Hajj. Thirty years later, he returned home as one of the greatest explorers of all times. Driven by curiosity and sustained by faith, Ibn Battutah traveled to the far corners of the Islamic world, from Turkey to North Africa, where caravans still dare the Sahara, to the peaks of China, the steppes of Russia, the seas of the Maldives, and the reaches of Western Africa, eventually logging over 75,000 miles. His feat – an accomplishment virtually unknown to the West – is, according to a National Geographic feature “a story of Arabian nights, elaborate caravans, whirling dervishes, and forbidden cities; a world of brigands and bow-and-arrow battles, of privileged life and lavish banquets with turbaned sultans, and mirages wrought by threadbare fakirs.” Amazingly, much of this world still exists today, but like Ibn Battutah’s life, it is sparsely documented and barely relayed to the West.

The feature film will meld history with a modern cultural exposé. It will follow Ibn Battutah’s journey from Tangier to New Delhi to paint a wholesome picture of the region by focusing not just on Ibn Battutah—whose personality and exploration serve as the omnipresent guide of this film—but also on the modern Middle East as Ibn Battutah would have seen it if he were to retrace his steps today.

The film will be shot in high definition and feature the spectacular sights of the Middle East . In addition, traditional and new-age Arabic music will give an epic sense to the film.

Prince of Travelers is produced by Tangier Pictures, 18th Street Films’ sister company.