 Divinity
within
Stills from a documentary on Kurdish derwishes
By Jahanshah
Ardalan
August 21, 2003
The Iranian
"Beyond
Words" will be be shown at InFACT Theatrical Documentary
Showcase, starting Friday August 22nd at Arclight Cinemas
at 6360 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. For showtimes click here.
It will also be shown at iranian.com's mini film fest at Live Oak
Theater in Berkeley on Saturday September 6th and at at least four
more
theatrical screening around the U.S. to comply with the regulations
set forth by the Academy of Motion
Pictures for qualifying documentaries.
The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeing
new lands, but in
seeing with new eyes.
--
Marcel Proust
"Beyond Words" was mostly shot in the
Iranian Kurdistan. At first I went there to look further into my
family's
1000 years
of
documented
history in Kurdistan. An old childhood mystery about Kurdistan
gradually took over and changed my focus. That enigma, shrouded
in
myths and folk tales,
centered on the elusive men of the Ghaderi order of Derwishes
or
Sufis
in
Kurdistan >>> See stills
For years I had heard about them but had never seen
any of
them for myself. On my first visit to Kurdistan I was permitted
not
only to witness, but
record their ceremonies in one of the oldest cities in Kurdistan.
I considered it a privilege to have been given the chance.
Over a
period of 8 years
I went back to Kurdistan to gather more footage of these seemingly
ordinary men.
Their initial chants prepare them for a journey.
Passion fuels and music guides them.
If necessary, they slash their way through what one thinks one
knows.
Their dance is a celebration of discovering the divinity within.
The divinity shared by all.
As different as these ceremonies appeared from anything I had
experienced before,
I gradually came to realize that I had witnessed it all before.
Performed by different people with different religions in different
languages.
"Beyond Words" is a film about these personal trips
on a journey made by
many.
Sometimes the further you go away, the deeper you go within.
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