December 2023
Konya, Turkey

A film by Vincent Moon 
Produced by Petites Planètes, Rana Gorgani, Souffle Collectif
Images by Vincent Moon, sounds by Julien Colardelle Recorded at the Irfan Cultural Center, Konya

 

« Once more, the small circular space is packed. Mostly families, a lot of women, and a deep feeling of devotion just before the ‘show’ starts at the Irfan center of Konya. It’s Saturday evening, one of the last events of the week, and the Sufi ensemble is ready to perform. But is it still a performance? I have always been researching the liminal space between figuration and abstraction, first in music then in religious happenings - on that path, the radical aesthetic proposal of Islam, mostly an “aniconism”, is a powerful, some would say psychedelic, way to the divine. As I am searching for the best spot to document the ceremony, I end up at the balcony, overlooking the circle of men. From that position, their own bodies become more abstract, more prompt to generate patterns in the space. I start to focus on shadows, elements of the bodies, circles inside circles inside circles… The music is exceptional, the play on breathing captivating. The whole context of the show disappears, and we all try to grasp that divine spark in the infinite void of their movements. »

WATCH THE COMPLETE PLAYLIST - • IMPRESSIONS FROM KONYA •  

10 films from the official and impressive Sema ceremony with 37 whirling dervishes to the long nights of dancing at Hiçhane or outside the mausoleum, from various collaborations of Sufi dancer Rana Gorgani with Ozgur Baba or Sadegh Azmand to entrancing circles all over. A cinema trip into the heart of modern and ancient sufism.