| Documentary biopic about13th-century Sufi mystic poet is a film festival hit.
"Rumi Returning" Wows Santa Fe Festival
In proclaiming the 2007
Santa Fe Film Festival's "great pleasure to present the U.S.
premiere of Rumi Returning," Jon Bowman, Executive Director
of the festival, noted that, "This is exactly the kind of
endeavor we like to get behind - not only a work of extreme
visual beauty, but also a feature exhibiting immense passion
and conveying a profound, spiritual message certain to
resonate deeply with viewers." Resonate deeply, it did.
On a blustery, December Saturday afternoon at the largest
venue in Santa Fe, the line to see Rumi Returning began
forming two hours before the start of the documentary biopic
about the 13th-century Sufi mystic poet who inspired the
whirling dervishes of Turkey. Hundreds of those hoping to
buy last-minute tickets were turned away.
"Of the several films I had the opportunity to see at this
year's festival, Rumi Returning was the most beautifully
filmed, and the most thought-provoking and intellectually
stimulating," said Bob Ross, a talk show host for KSFR
Public Radio Santa Fe, after the movie. "For the first time
in my life I truly began to sense the broad importance and
beautifulness of the Islamic religion. Rumi Returning is
simply a magnificent movie that people of all cultures
should see and discuss."
Discuss, they did.
Most of the sold-out audience stayed in their seats at the
end of the movie and talked with filmmakers Kell Kearns and
Cynthia Lukas. They did not leave until organizers suggested
it was time to prepare the theater for the next festival
screening. Seeming to sum up the crowd's reaction, Candace
Mathews declared that, "Its message of universal peace in a
time fraught with strife and uncertainties is a balm."
Information
about Rumi Returning can be found online at
http://www.rumireturning.com.
©Copyright
2007 by AlternativeApproaches.com
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