Salma Hayek presents "The Prophet" in Mexico

In her new film as a producer, Salma Hayek and the rest of her team worked for free in order to bring a story based on the work of poet Gibran Khalil Gibran to life.

The animated film "The Prophet" premieres next Friday in Mexico, and the actress told the media about the experience of working in it.

"It was hard to collect the money ... US$12 million, which is very low for an animated film," she said.

"We were all working for free, six years working on it because we worshipped the book and were adventurous into trying to get experiment this and because of its deep and cheerful message," she said during the presentation of the film in a hotel in Mexico City.

"The Prophet" narrates the story of a man stranded on an island, who becomes the friend of a woman and her mute daughter.

In Spanish, their voices are provided by Sandra Echeverría and young Loreto Peralta.

The film features the work of Roger Allens, director of "Lion King".

"It's based on a philosophical book written by an Arab and we worked with ten directors, where each one had the freedom to develop each one of the stories in it," Salma said.

Hayek will be in Mexico just for the weekend because she has to return to New York, where she is shooting "Drunk Parents" along Alec Baldwin.