Ahmed Sarym Sajeel - AS

Hello Readers! Whilst Rumi remains our greatest inspiration in designing the character as well as the story-line, we did seek inspiration from 21 st century works of cinema in order to make the piece more contemporary. The protagonist in our eyes is walking the path the mystic poet had walked centuries ago, yet the metamorphosis of an individual has remained constant in time. Thus, our project touches upon the raw human emotion that is as relevant as it had been in the times of Rumi. Canadian film maker and meditation teacher Daniel Schmidt ’s documentary film, Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds (2012) helped us delve into an individual’s personal enthusiasm for meditation and inner-peace amidst traumas as well as triumphs. The documentary drew on Schmidt’s own background in philosophy, his experience in the television, music and animation industries. The film incorporates footage of water vibration from German cymatics researcher Alexander Lauterwasser. Similarly, Richard Linkl...

Hello Readers! For our movie opening project, ‘Rumi’s Protégé’ I have taken on the positions of Writer/Director. I’ve had previous experience of working on screenplays and developing ideas for movies and thus, I felt right at home wearing the hats for these roles. With the help of my teammates, the idea we have come up with falls under the genre of ‘Psychological-Drama’ as it follows the journey, physical and spiritual, of its teenage protagonist. One of the main inspirations behind ‘Rumi’s Protégé’ is naturally the life, times and behavior of the late 13 th century poet, Mawlana Jalauddin Rumi and his Sema (more popularly referred to as the Sufi dance) – a physically active meditation. Rumi performed his dance for the first time when his spiritual leader died. He lost himself in dance in order to express his grief and loss. The mystic poet and father of Sufism according to many, he was walking towards a goldsmith, but came away dancing to the melodic sound of a ham...