RIYADH: Visitors to the Riyadh Book Fair are able to enjoy three daily showings of the 45-minute film “The Road to Makkah”, a film on the great traveler Ibn Battuta's journey over 650 years ago to the holy city. The film relates Ibn Battuta's journey from his home town of Tangier in Morocco and the trials and tribulations he experienced as he crossed thousands of miles of desert to reach Makkah to perform the Haj pilgrimage. “The film is attracting a lot of visitors and special tickets are on offer for family showings,” said Muhammad Al-Shaqrani from the fair's “film corner”. The film, which offers insightful comparisons between the Haj pilgrimage as it was carried out in the past and the pilgrimage of today, was produced by the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies and King Abdul Aziz Public Library with the help of the Zamil Group. The character of Ibn Battuta is played by actor Shams Al-Deen Zainoun and the film was recorded over a period of four years in both Morocco and Saudi Arabia at a cost of SR60 million. Other expenses involving staff and technical assistance were covered by the Saudi government. The “Road to Makkah”, which has been shown to the public previously in Al-Khobar and to over 600,000 viewers in some 30 other cities around the world following its translation into numerous languages, has been awarded prizes at film festivals in Houston and Boston in the US, and Paris, France.
