Participants at next week's International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) will hear about a new animated musical celebrating the birth of Jesus—promoted by filmmakers as "a faithful adaptation of the narrative from the Gospel of Luke in both story and song."

To be released on DVD by Glorious Films this fall, The Promise: The Birth of the Messiah "leverages optical motion technology to blend traditional animation techniques with the performance talents of ballet dancers and dramatic stage actors," filmmakers said. "The result is a unique and worshipful story experience that will inspire audiences young and old for years to come."

Todd Shaffer, writer and director of the movie, will promote The Promise at ICRS, scheduled for June 23-26 at the America's Center Convention Complex in St. Louis.

Shaffer told Christian Retailing that The Promise is "a unique film that is unlike anything ever seen in the Christian or general market."

"Our animated musical has biblical muscle, high production value, beautiful music and an original filmmaking voice that transports this very familiar story from Christmas 'fable' to the incredible game-changing story that it is," said Schaffer, who has more than 20 years of production experience working on 100-plus projects, including commercials, feature films, television shows and animated movies.

He noted that Christian retailers should support the musical because of "four defining characteristics."

"First, our story tells the complete biblical nativity story," said Shaffer, a preaching elder at Renaissance Church in Montreal, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. "Second, our music is beautiful, and the songs tell the story. Third, our animation brings a level of sophistication that is unique even to the general market. The blend of live performance and animation allowed us to approach our production as a Broadway musical.

"Fourth, we sought to make this film as accurate as possible," he added. "We sought the counsel of conservative biblical scholars for everything from first-century Jewish marriage customs, the details of the temple furnishings, to what language the lower Jewish classes would have written. All of these qualities combine to make The Promise a powerful and entertaining experience that our team believes could be one of the biggest animated films to ever hit the Christian retail market."

To watch the trailer of The Promise, which will not be screened at ICRS, visit http://www.gloriousfilms.com/thepromise/.

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