ACCLAIMED BIOGRAPHY OF RUMI HEADING FOR PBS
TO BE PREVIEWED IN CONNECTICUT
RUMI RETURNING
DATE: Sunday, MAY 4th, 2008
2 PM EST Till 4 PM
Wesleyan University
Beckham Hall, located on the 2nd floor of the Fayerweather Building (#45),
45 Wyllys Avenue,
Middletown, CT.
(Parking will be in Parking Lot E.)
RSVP
RSVP@American-Peace.org
860 634 0777
If you have not yet RSVPed,
you are still welcome to join in.. Seats are available
The movie is FREE, but a suggested contribution for $5/person is suggested.
TO DOWNLOAD A POSTER
PLEASE CLICK HERE
Rumi Returning, a visual, ecstatic feast of a documentary, has played to sold out audiences in
select cities around the world. Now it will play at Wesleyan University in Middletown for a one-time Sneak Preview on Sunday, May
4, 2:00-4:00 p.m.. The filmmakers Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lukas will be present for a dialogue after this special screening, which
is co-sponsored by the American Muslim Peace Initiative and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Wesleyan University. The
screening event will be at Beckham Hall, located on the 2nd floor of the Fayerweather Building (#45), 45 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown.
(Parking will be in Parking Lot E.)
The producers of Rumi Returning have recently signed a presentation agreement with American
Public Television with plans to release the High Definition biography of the 13th century mystic, whirling dervish from Turkey,
to PBS in September, 2008.
“In 25 years as a documentary maker I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Producer-Director Kell
Kearns. “Everywhere we’ve test-marketed Rumi Returning it sells out. In
Monterrey,
Mexico over 1100 folks crowded the theater, with many unable to get in.
Again, at the Santa Fe Film Festival, people had to be turned away.”
Rumi Returning sold out the theater at the Washington National Cathedral and a second screening
had to be hastily added. It sold out also. “This was a record response,” Evan Anderson, Director of the Cathedral film series, exclaimed.
“We were deluged.”
Two more screenings were rapidly set up in the Washington D. C. area to accommodate audiences. These
were at George Washington University and the Annandale First Presbyterian Church.
Audiences not only show up, but, under the spell of the 800 year old spiritual genius who is the best
selling poet in the United States, they stay afterwards to discuss Rumi’s message of unity among all cultures and faiths. Jon Bowman,
Executive Director of the Santa Fe Film Festival described the movie as “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."
The waiting in lines to see the film may be over this Fall when PBS
stations around the country will be able to broadcast Rumi Returning to home audiences. “We are grateful to American Public
Television for their commitment to bring Rumi Returning to the nation,” said Co-producer and Writer Cynthia Lukas. “Our film has
become a phenomenon because Rumi speaks to a deep hunger in humankind to realize its oneness, and live in peace. We hope that through PBS
Rumi’s splendid message reaches not only into every home but into every classroom.”
Given the positive reaction at the two thousand member Middle Eastern
Studies Association Conference in Montreal, Canada last November, is not unrealistic to think that Lukas’ hope may come true not only in the
United States but in classrooms around the world. Religious Studies Professor Art Buehler of Victoria University, New Zealand, commented
that, “Of all the films made about Rumi to date this is the only one I would show to my university students without any reservations.”
Rumi Returning is scheduled for
the International Sufi Festival in
Fez
Morocco in April and the Tel Aviv Spirit Film Festival in May.
The movie was shot on location in
Turkey, amidst the places of Rumi’s life. Onscreen commentators include Coleman
Barks, whose books of Rumi’s poetry are largely responsible for the current Rumi mania; Akbar Ahmed, Professor of Islamic Studies at
American
University; and Rumi scholar Andrew Harvey.
For RSVP: email to RSVP@American-Peace.org, 860 634 0777.
If interested in becoming a co-sponsor please email to us.
