Official selection of the Parabola and Damah Film Festivals shown at the Musee de L'Homme in Paris, France, and special screenings in London and Cairo.
Emmy award winning actor Peter Boyle and academy award winning actress Ellen Burstyn narrate this documentary on Jalaluddin Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes, filmed in Cairo, Istanbul, and Konya.
The 13th century mystic and poet Jalaluddin Rumi is the most popular poet in America today. Why? Because although his works were written over 700 years ago, they are timeless. His message is Love. His message is one of no boundaries.
He inspired the Sufi Order known as the Whirling Dervishes, and is known as Mevlana to countless people the world over.
This documentary looks at the roots of Rumi's thought, his poetry, the Whirling Dervishes and the esoteric significance of their dance. It transports the viewer to the newly renovated 19th century Mevlevi prayer lodge in Cairo, where we see whirling dervish's invited from Turkey performing a sema in the sacred space of a prayer lodge not used in over half a century.
Rare footage of a 400 year old Halveti tekke in Istanbul where dervish ceremonies are performed weekly and often visited by semazens of the Whirling Dervishes.
Rumi's tomb is in the ancient city of Konya, in the Anatolian area of Turkey. Rumi taught here for the last forty years of his life, and it was here that he first dictated his famous Mathnawi, 26,000 verses, considered one of the great books of all time.
Semazens turn in the garden of Rumi and by his tomb which rests under a splendid green dome which glows like an emerald under the bright red Konya sun.
Interviewed on screen are Sheikh Abu Bakr al Sirajeddin (Martin Lings), former Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum in London, and the author of "Muhammad," globally recognized as the best book on the Prophet Muhammad in English; world renowned Islamic philosopher and professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, Seyyed Hossein Nasr; Nezih Uzel, the foremost Mevlevi musician in Turkey talks about sacred music; and Halveti/Mevlevi sheikh Omer Tugrul Inanger speaks about the secret meaning of the ney (reed flute).
Original dervish music is heard throughout the film as is the voice of Turkish Hafiz Kani Karaca, considered the world's leading chanter of Mevlevi compositions.
This is a film for everyone. Created in a way that will strike a note in the hearts of people of all paths.
As Rumi said:
“I am neither of the East or the West
No boundaries exist in my breast.”
Photographs ©Shems
Friedlander
Painting ©Ulker Erke
NTSC version available from PAL version available from |
|
| "Pure, Authenitc...It's an Offering!" .. Rudolph Wurlitzer (author, director) |
|
| "In this time, when many tongues presume to speak for God, their god, this film speaks to a truth that is beyond the ability of our human words to describe; the gift of love, the indwelling of God within the soul" Godfrey Reggio, Director |
|
Written, produced and directed by Shems Friedlander, author of Rumi and The Whirling Dervishes, Rumi the Hidden Treasure, and When You Hear Hoofbeats Think of a Zebra. Turkish locations were filmed with the advice and cooperation of Osman Sinav, one of Turkey's leading film directors. Narration by Emmy award winning actor Peter Boyle and Academy Award winning actress Ellen Burstyn.
|
 |
| Semazens in front of Rumi's Tomb in Konya. |
 |
Turning in the garden of Rumi beneath the emerald green dome.
