From the award-winning indie team behind the hit animated shorts Invasion! and Asteroids! comes an experience about the sacrifices we can all make to help our larger community, Crow: The Legend. Inspired by the classic Native American legend about the origins of the bird, Crow: The Legend respectfully illustrates the sacrifices the bird must make. As the most beautiful animal of the forest, Crow must risk everything to save those around him. With themes of diversity and self-sacrifice for the greater community, Crow demonstrates how one single act of sacrifice can have a profound impact to our world.
Featuring an all-star cast of voice talent including: John Legend as Crow, Oprah Winfrey as THE ONE Who Creates Everything by Thinking, Sarah Eagle Heart (Native Americans in Philanthropy CEO) as Luna; 83-year-old tribal elder and lifelong Native rights crusader Randy Edmonds as Narrator; Liza Koshy (Hulu's Freakish) as Owl; Diego Luna (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Moth; Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One) as Turtle; and Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians, Fresh Off the Boat) as Skunk.
The cast was assembled because of their advocacy within their own minority communities and desire to shine a light on the first animated indigenous worldview story for a very underrepresented Native American community. According to Sarah Eagle Heart, CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy and THE VOICE of Luna in Crow, Indigenous worldview, as exhibited in Crow: The Legend, is focused on community rather than the western view of individual. "For Native Americans in Philanthropy, Partnering with a studio like Baobab has been an honor and a pleasure. Our advocacy work has been focused on changing the narrative and creating a cultural shift that honors Indigenous Worldview. Our stories, accurate, cultural and historical, have largely been left out of the narrative of America. For this project influencers such as John Legend and Oprah Winfrey are involved, as well as Baobab co-founder and chief creative officer Eric Darnell, a longtime animation professional who wrote and directed all of DreamWorks Animation's "Madagascar" movies with this being one of his latest projects." John Legend and Oprah Winfrey are advocates of social good and are the perfect people to help with cultural healing. In partnership with Native Americans in Philanthropy, Longhouse Media, Vision Maker Media and Baobab Studios, the recently created #GenIndigenous Youth fellowship will help promote the value of authentic cultural storytelling further showcasing Native American stories and perspectives.
Two time Emmy-award winning Baobab Studios is the leading immersive animation studio, whose mission is to inspire you to dream by bringing out your sense of wonder. Baobab was started by industry leaders Eric Darnell (Antz, 4 Madagascar films), Maureen Fan (Zynga VP of Games, Farmville Franchise), and Larry Cutler (Dreamworks' Head of Character Tech, Pixar TD Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Oscar tech judge).
The company's Emmy-award winning VR animation, INVASION!, starring Ethan Hawke, launched to substantial critical acclaim and has become the #1 top downloaded VR. In a first, Hollywood is taking IP from VR to become a feature film: Roth Kirschenbaum Films (Maleficent, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman) has signed on to adapt INVASION! into a big screen feature film "flattie". They just won a 2nd Emmy for their 2nd immersive animation, ASTEROIDS! starring Elizabeth Banks, an official 2017 Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival selection. They also premiered "Jack" at Tribeca, a location based immersive theater experience, starring Lupita Nyong'o.
Their investors include: Comcast Ventures, HTC, Samsung, Shari Redstone's Advancit Capital (vice chairwoman of Viacom/Paramount/CBS), The Chernin Group (Peter Chernin), Horizons Ventures, Twentieth Century Fox, Liz Murdoch (Murdoch family), Evolution Media Partners (TPG and CAA), China's Shanghai Media Group, Youku Global Media Fund (Alibaba), Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
Their advisors include: Alvy Ray Smith (Pixar cofounder), Glen Keane (legendary animator), Glenn Entis (PDI/Dreamworks Anim co-founder, CTO Electronic Arts), Mireille Soria (former co-President DWA, President Paramount animation), Kevin Lin (Twitch COO and co-founder), David Anderman (former COO Lucasfilm), Jane Rosenthal (co-founder Tribeca Enterprises), Jasmine Madatian (former EVP Comms, Amblin), and Bing Chen (former Youtube Global Head of Creator Development & Management).
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