Dear Sobhi
I'm fairly certain there are no period films about Rumi from Iran, and
in general 'ecstatic transformation' isn't very common a theme in
Iranian cinema either (although there are many films that make overt
use of mystical Islamic themes/symbols).
There are a few recent films that very beautifully touch on
transcendent spirituality in a way that strikes me as very much
influenced by Sufism and the Persian mystical poetic tradition. But
few do so very directly. For this kind of work you might look at
Nar-o-Ney (Pomegranate and Reed Flute) by Saeed Ebrahimifar (1989) if
you can find it. It's a very under-appreciated film, permeated with
references to these themes. Also some of Bahram Beizaei's work - like
"The Travellers" - is suffused with these mystical/poetic themes, if
in an oblique way.
If you're looking for a documentary that deals with contemporary
"sufi" practice, the film "Mystic Iran" made by Aryana Farshad has
some interesting ethnographic content on mystical religious practices,
in particular in Iranian Kurdistan. In my view it's not a great film
overall (too exoticising/orientalist in its representation at times
for me), but still fairly worthwhile.
In general there's a lot of impressionistic or documentary work on
Mowlana Rumi and sufism that is more or less worthless - I can think
of one or two documentaries I've seen that are pretty unwatchable
unless you love the contentless Coleman Barks translations of his
poetry which they sell in bales to gullible English readers. So I'd
urge some caution while going down the "Sufi cinema" path--
Best wishes
Kamran
Quoting Sobhi Al-Zobaidi <[log in to unmask]>:
> hi
> I am looking for films that depict or deal with Rumi, Sufis and ecstatic
> transformation. especially looking for films from Iran, Turkey, India and
> the Arab world. if you have any suggestions
>
> thanks
> sobhi
>
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--
Dr Kamran Rastegar
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
IMES, University of Edinburgh
19 George Square
Edinburgh, UK EH8 9LD
+44 (0)131.650.4177
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