The Sultan and the Saint
A One-Hour Docudrama in Development from Unity Productions Foundation
The Sultan and the Saint tells one of
the great, lost stories from history.
Set in a past period of East-West
conflict, it speaks with urgency to
our present. Two men of faith, one
an itinerant Christian preacher,
the other the ruler of a Muslim
Empire, bucked a century of war,
distrust, and insidious propaganda
in a search for mutual respect and
common ground.
It is the story
of Francis of Assisi and the Sultan
of Egypt, and their meeting on a
bloody battlefield during the period
of Christian-Muslim conflict known
as the Crusades.
Many people reference the Crusades in various
ways, but few know the most important facts:
• That the Crusades began with dehumanizing
rhetoric that tapped into something primal and
dangerous and violent in the human mind.
• That it resulted in four generations of escalating
conflict that was directed not only at Muslims,
but also Jews, Orthodox Christians in the East,
and eventually other Europeans. • And that it seemed to have no end. But then—
while sliding on the evermore slippery road to
apocalypse—Francis of Assisi undertook one of
the bravest risks in the history of peacemaking
by crossing enemy lines to meet with the Sultan
of a supposedly cruel and Satanic enemy
• And that Sultan responded with one of the
greatest humanitarian acts in the history of
warfare by saving the hated Crusaders from
starvation when the flooding of the Nile trapped
their army of 50,000.
• And finally, that this little known encounter
between these two men helped suck the
venom out of the conflict and ultimately ended
this seemingly endless war.
The Sultan and the Saint
This is big history, important history. Not only does
it speak directly to the conflicts of today, the story
itself is very dramatic with many fascinating twists
and turns, and with central characters who are
more compelling than even their legends claim.
On one hand there is Francis, a starry-eyed would-be
knight in provincial Assisi, captured as a prisoner
of war and imprisoned for a year, then released
as an abused victim of violence, whose one
solution to witnessing so much hatred was a
radical reorganization of his life and values.
And there is a forgotten Muslim prince, the young
nephew of the brilliant Saladin, Richard the
Lionheart’s famous opponent, who was raised in
the Sultan’s palace and groomed for the throne
by his mother steeped in Islamic learning. Two
more unlikely protagonists are hard to imagine.
And yet the meeting between these two men, at a
crossroads moment, changed history.
Production Approach.
Such a dramatic story requires a cinematic approach
equal to it. We will be supplementing commentary
from our nine world-renowned historians and
scholars with large-scale reenactments, utilizing
moving camera platforms and feature-film quality
art design. Actors will play the roles and recite
dialogue largely lifted from the historical record. A
team of twelve stunt men will bring authenticity to
the action sequences. Music will be composed by
Emmy-Award Winner John Keltonic. We will have
a star narrator, and are currently reaching out to
Jeremy Irons. (Narrators for our previous films
have included Susan Sarandon, Mos Def, and Helen
Mirren.)
Past Broadcasts.
UPF’s previous national PBS Broadcasts include:
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (2002); Cities
of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain (2006);
Prince Among Slaves (2007); Islamic Art: Mirror of
the Invisible World (2011); and Enemy of the Reich:
The Noor Inayat Khan Story (2014).
Funding.
We are in the final stages of funding, with only
25% of the 1.5 million dollar budget remaining.
Underwriters donating $25,000 or more can
have their names appear in the credits of the film
Beyond the Broadcast.
Prior to broadcast, UPF will coordinate 40 film
screenings in collaboration with various national
and local partners, including local PBS affiliate
stations. UPF has a proven premiere model,
having already conducted over 100 similar
premieres for previous films, and we expect up to
20,000 attendees for this film. In addition, using
our proven classroom outreach model, several
thousand high-school and college classrooms
will receive and watch the film and engage
in discussion about its themes. We are also
budgeting for publicists to lay the groundwork
for reviews in major press and media outlets.
UPF films are routinely reviewed in major radio,
magazine, and television outlets. The film will also
have an interactive website, which will introduce
users to guided webpages and activities, including
videos. UPF has experience in launching major
digital platforms around films with its 2007 film
Prince Among Slaves, (broadcast nationally on
PBS and awarded “Best Film” at the American
Black Film Festival). This website was funded by
the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The potential for The Sultan and the Saint to do
the same is enormous, and we intend to bring
our full experience and resources to make the
release of the film as big as the topic deserves. This will be a major film, and one that will deliver
an important social good at a critical moment in
our history.
For more information contact:
Jawaad Abdul Rahman, UPF
(703) 582-3854 | [email protected]