LES CERCLES DU MAUSOLÉE
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
« The drops of the divine are multiple in Konya. And it’s while am on one, leaving a gorgeous moment of music at the nearby Hiçhane place that I decide to make some last images of iconic Rumi’s mausoleum in the middle of the night. The green dome is a marvel - under it lies the magnificent tomb of Rumi, that everyday thousands of people contemplate in devotion - and with selfies. And while am slowly filming the architecture under the stars, I realize that the gathering on the square is finally happening. A few days before I witnessed in amazement the interdiction of live music and dances by the police in front of the sacred place. But this night the number of people seems to exceed the rulers, the party is on. It’s going fast - and I am late. Only time to drop my bag on the floor with my recorder on top, and the camera dance starts. A quick moment and the air is filled with that rare feeling of timeless encounter - on the precipice and the dome in the back, dancers are growing in numbers, many daf players suddenly join as well, the volume raises, all in an intense ecstatic movement. Surrounded by the graves of the initiators of the whirling dervish tradition, old and new come together. Sacred and profane in a circle, from Persian nomadic souls to twin children dressed the same way, from random poets to Sufi musicians, from passers-by to the divine, everybody gets in. Up to that couple of dogs which, at the very last second, bark intensely and start to fight around my bag. The recording is still on, and am trying to jump inside their circle to save it. A man arrives and throw a bottle of water to the dogs, the kick the microphone away, which rolls on the floor and ends up in my hand, still on. Cut, someone says. »
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.
Rana Gorgani https://danse-soufie.com/