Film Stills: Stills of Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta

Stills and behind the scene photos during the shooting of a Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta, an IMAX film directed by Bruce Neibaur and shot by Director of Photography, Matthew Williams.

Ibn Battuta, a 14th century Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, is considered to be one of the greatest travelers of all time. He journeyed more than 75,000 miles (121,000 kms), a distance that even surpassed his near-contemporary Marco Polo’s travels. This distance was left unsurpassed by any individual explorer until some 450 years later with the coming of the Steam Age.

Over a period of 30 years Ibn Battuta visited much of the known Islamic world, including North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Southern and Easter Europe, the Middle East, and South, Southeast & Central Asia and China.

The film tells the amazing story of Ibn Battuta’s first Hajj pilgrimage between 1325 and 1326 from Tangier to Mecca.

Chems Eddine Zinoun, a professional dancer and actor, and dear friend, played the lead role in the Journey to Mecca. On November 12, 2008, shortly after the shooting of the film, Chems was killed in a car accident. He was 28yrs old.

Chems, who came from a family of distinguished professional dancers, performed dance around the world and had roles in several films, including Daniel Merrick’s The Objective which was premiered and won a prize at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC.