Ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup kicking off next month, England Football and Disney have today unveiled a new animated short film, Ella: A Modern Day Fairytale.

The animation shines a light on Disney-inspired Shooting Stars - a programme for primary school aged girls, supporting them to develop fundamental movement skills and introducing them to football through Disney storytelling.

The film is a modern re-telling of Disney’s Cinderella story, and is narrated by Lioness legend and broadcaster Alex Scott.

It tells the story of Ella, a primary school girl who follows her passion to play football, overcoming barriers along the way. She receives help from her ‘three Lioness Godmothers’, Leah Williamson, Lucy Bronze and Lauren James, who have all been animated as Disney-inspired characters for the film.

The animation will be made into printed books which will be distributed for free to primary schools up and down the country from September. The ambition is to get Ella’s tale of positivity and triumph into the hands of as many children as possible and to encourage more schools to bring the Disney-inspired Shooting Stars programme to their playground. The programme supports girls aged 5-11 nationwide to develop fundamental movement, listening and speaking skills through the magic of Disney storytelling, in partnership with England Football.

Using the magic of Disney storytelling from films such as The Incredibles 2, Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, Aladdin and Guardians of the Galaxy, Disney-inspired Shooting Stars enables teachers to bring the magic of Disney to the playground.