SD Release:
September 1, 2008 SD Feed for Record: Sunday August 31, 2008,
1800-1900
ET/511 HD Release: TBA Analog Rights: Unlimited Releases/ 3 Years September 1, 2008 – August 31, 2011 HD
Rights: Unlimited Releases – August 31,
2011
A
Screening DVD is on its way to your Station
Dear
colleague:
Gamble everything
for love (Mevlâna
Jalâluddin Rumi)
American Public Television is
proud to present Rumi Returning, a
celebration of Mevlâna Jalâluddin Rumi’s life
and legacy. Persian mystic and poet Rumi is one of the
most famous Sufis—or adherents to Sufism, the esoteric branch of Islam. For the
800 years since Rumi’s death, Rumi’s name and philosophy have been synonymous
with respect among Muslim, Christian and Jewish peoples and with spiritual
teachings of love and peace. Filmed in HD mainly in Turkey and featuring Sufi
music, popular poetry translated by Coleman Barks, clips of the Whirling
Dervishes Rumi inspired, and architectural masterpieces of medieval Islam, the
one-hour documentary is “a stunning tapestry of the past, the present and the
timeless”—and offers our troubled planet the hope of peace.
"Listen
to the reed and the tale it tells. How it sings of
separation. 'Ever since they cut me from the reed
bed, my wail has caused men and women to weep. Whoever
has been separated from his source longs to return to that state of
union.” (Kabir
Helminski)
Rumi
Returning follows Rumi from his childhood as his Muslim
family flees Afghanistan as war refugees, to his transformation from philosopher
to poet seeking the answer to his burning question: “How can we explain with
words the feeling of the heart?” to the present as one of the world’s great
voices for peace and universal love. The favorable responses to the film at
screenings around the world is summed up by Jon Bowman, Executive Director of
the Santa Fe Film Festival, who noted: "(It is a) great pleasure to
present the US Premiere of Rumi
Returning....This is exactly the kind of endeavor we like to get
behind - 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."
Rumi
Returning features:
Coleman Barks (seen in Bill
Moyers’ Fooling with Words) and
pre-eminent translator of Rumi’s poetry into English. “If Rumi is
the most read poet in America today, Coleman
Barks is in good part responsible. His ear for the truly divine madness in
Rumi’s poetry is truly remarkable." (Huston
Smith, The World’s Religions.)
Here is one of Barks’
translations:
"Gamble
everything for love If you're a true human being If you don't want that
gamble, Leave this gathering. Half-heartedness does not reach into
majesty. You set out to find God, But you keep stopping
for long periods
of time at mean-spirited roadhouses.
Gamble everything
for love
if you're a true
human being.
If not, leave this gathering."
Andrew Harvey, who dubbed Rumi
“the Shakespeare of the soul.” Harvey is the youngest student ever to be
awarded a fellowship to All Soul’s College at Oxford , England ’s highest
academic honor, and a foremost Rumi scholar. His over 20 books include one on
inter-cultural mysticism from Buddhism (The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying)
and another on Christianity (The Son of Man).
Akbar S. Ahmed. Dr. Ahmed is “the
world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam,” according to the BBC. “Akbar
Ahmed’s voice needs to be heard and his courage
strengthened.”(Elie Weisel, Nobel Peace Laureate)
Üzeyir Özyurt, a Dervish, fakir,
and world-traveling emissary of the Sufi Way . He is director of the Dervish
Brothers Center , Konya , Turkey. “He
glows!” (Consensus of everyone who has seen “Rumi
Returning”).
Rumi Returning
includes
an educational outreach component. A Rumi curriculum is included on www.rumireturning (late July 2008). It contains several
extensive Lesson Plans (modeled on those that accompanied Islam: Empire of
Faith) for high school and college teachers.
Among the U.S cities where Rumi
has a significant following are: New York,Los Angeles, San Francisco,Chicago, Washington, DC, Denver, Asheville, Greenville, Stockbridge,
Frederick, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Seattle, New Haven, Ithaca, San Diego,
Lake Tahoe, Dearborn, Oklahoma City, Ashland, Phoenix, Tucson, and Little Rock.
Rumi Returning
is distributed
and presented by American Public Television (APT) Exchange. It is produced by
Heaven on Earth Creations. Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lukas are the producers. It
is underwritten by the Turkish Cultural Foundation. Local underwriting is permissible.
Please contact me if you have
questions. I will be in touch with
you during July and August about your carriage plans. A fact sheet
follows.
Very truly yours,
Regina Eisenberg
R Eisenberg Presents, Inc. regina@reisenbergpresents.com510.550.1706 2340 Powell Street, Suite 333 , Emeryville , CA 94608
"Listen
to the reed and the tale it tells. How it sings of
separation. 'Ever since they cut me from the reed
bed, my wail has caused men and women to weep. Whoever
has been separated from his source longs to return to that state of
union.” (Rumi. Translated by Kabir
Helminski)
Concept: Rumi
Returning is a one-hour documentary celebrating Mevlâna
Jalâluddin Rumi’s life and
legacy.Filmed in HD in Turkey and featuring Sufi music,
popular poetry translated by Coleman Barks, clips of the Whirling Dervishes Rumi
inspired, and architectural masterpieces of medieval Islam, the film is “a stunning
tapestry of the past, the present and the timeless”—and offers our planet
much-needed hope for peace.
Feeds:
SD
Feed for Record: Sunday
August 31, 20081800-1900
ET/511 HD:
TBA
Rights:
SD
& HD: Unlimited/3 years (through August 31, 2011)
Noncommercial cable: Granted
School re-record: Granted
VOD:
Granted
V-Chip
Rating:
Audio
Visual:
Scheduling
Suggestions: Biography/Documentary/Culture/Religion/Islam
Pair with Wide
Angle or air during Ramadan (Sept. 1) or Diversity Awareness Month
(October).
Outreach
Materials:
Study outlines
for high school and college teachers and group-discussion guidelines for
intercultural and interfaith dialogues will be available on
www.rumireturning.com. For more information, contact Cynthia Lukas (producer),
480-585-9725, cynthia345@msn.com
.
Related
Merchandise:
DVD (for
Individual viewers)
$26.95, plus
$4.95 shipping and handling.
877-585-7864 or
visit www.rumireturning.com
Underwriter:
Turkish Cultural
Foundation
Local
Underwriting:
Local
underwriting is
permissible
Producer:
Heaven on Earth Creations, Inc
Kell Kearns
Cynthia Lukas
Presenter/
Distributor:
A Free Offer from American Public Television (APT), APT Exchange
Publicity &
Promotion: Dawn
Anderson
American Public Television (APT)
dawn_anderson@aptonline.org (617)
338-4455 x149
Viewers:
Heaven on Earth Creations
8001 E. Paraiso Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
"Gamble
everything for love If you're a true human being If you don't want that
gamble, Leave this gathering. Half-heartedness does not reach into
majesty. You set out to find God, But you keep stopping
for long periods
of time at mean-spirited roadhouses.
Gamble everything
for love
if you're a true
human being.
If not, leave this gathering." (Rumi,
Translated by Coleman Barks)
regina@reisenbergpresents.com 510.550.1706 R Eisenberg Presents, Inc. 2340 Powell Street, Suite 333 , Emeryville , CA
94608
Sufi Mystic Rumi
Remains America ’s best-selling poet
Presenter/Distributor: APT (Exchange)
R Eisenberg Presents, Inc. 
