Rumi, The Wings of Love takes viewers into a secret world rarely seen by outsiders. Nearly eight centuries after his death, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, Sufi master and mystical poet, is ever-present in the whirling ceremony of today's Mevlevi dervishes.

Rumi 'existed outside the differences which divide men'. In this extraordinary video, Rumi's universal words and essence ares eamlessly interwoven with his history and story of awakening.

Shems Friedlander has been given unprecedented access to document sacred ceremonies. The Halveti zikr, Mevlevi semas, and the Gharib, or secret, sema - not seen for over 100 years - were filmed in Cairo, Istanbul, and the Garden of Rumi in Konya.

This unique footage set to Mevlevi music is enhanced by interviews with Sheikh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din (Martin Lings), philosopher and author Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Sheikh Omer Tugrel Inançer, who reveals the hidden meaning of the ney, or reed flute.

Official selection of the Parabola Cinema of the Spirit,
and Damah Spirituality in Film, festivals, 2002.

The second film Come to Life, al-Mahya, is an insider’s look at the khalwa, the annual spiritual retreat which has been a traditionof the Khalwatiya Sufi order in Cairo for over 500 years. As an added feature the dvd also includes an interview with the director, Shems Friedlander, the first person to be allowed to film this secret and sacred ceremony.

‘Sacred solitude: a look at a Sufi spiritual retreat.’ —Mostafa al-Badawy, author of Man and the Universe.

Reviews:

'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

'Friedlander's film, both brilliantly and with tactful subtlety, translates the shape of Rumi's love into image and sound.'
-Nur Elmessiri