Product Details

• Actors: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Farshad Aryana
• Directors: Aryana Farshad
• Writers: Aryana Farshad, Janelle Balnicke
• Producers: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Farshad Aryana, Aryana Farshad, Pamilla Parker Mosher
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Wellspring Media
• DVD Release Date: January 13, 2004
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000E6EL8
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #99,561 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Join filmmaker Aryana Farshad on a mesmerizing journey deep into the heart of her native Iran. Shot entirely on location, this unprecedented cinematic tour reveals spiritual rites and rituals hidden for centuries. From the women's chamber of the Great Mosque, to the temple-caves in the land of Zarathustra, to the sacred dance of the Dervishes in Kurdistan, discover religious ceremonies and locations never before seen by the outside world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystic Iran: The Unseen World, April 3, 2006

By	E. Suzukovich III (missoula, MT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great documentary for anyone who is interested in the religions of Iran. This is a rare film in that it disscusses Iranian religious philosophy from an Iranian woman's perspective. This documentry is one of the few that allows people a glimpse into the women's section of the mosque in Qum and features women derveshes, which until recently was almost unknown to many sufi scholars. Most importantly, Farshad drives in the point that Iran/Persia has always had religious diversity and that Persians have their own unique ways of expressing these beliefs. It also demonstrates the role of women in Iranian/Persian religious culture. Finally, this documentry provides non-Iranians with something that is often excluded in western and Iranian State media, in that it shows that Iranians are not mindless slaves to the Ayotollah or to Islam, but have their own views and ideas about religion and society beyond cannonical regulations (which is not that different from the USA). And though a great deal of this video focuses on kurdish sufis, it is still a great educational experience.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystic Iran: The Unseen World, April 25, 2005

By	Brian H. Appleton "persophile" (San Jose, Ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First it came as a revelation to me and to many Iranians and foreigners that women dervishes even exist in Iran. For me this film apart from its beautiful cinematography and exquisite portrayal of Persian landscape, architecture, history, people and religions, came as close as is humanly possible to portraying an altered state of consciousness on film. I think this documentary is as close as a spectator can get to having a religious experience. The soft purring voice narration of Shohreh Aghdashloo as a caravan of jewels passes by your sences and the obvious compassion in the hearts of the dervishes of Kurdestan combine to make this film truely unique and in a spiritual dimension. I highly recommend this to anyone yearning for the path of the Sufi...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not all Sufis wear suits., June 26, 2005

By	Chai "Chai" (LA, CA USA) - See all my reviews

A common misconception about Sufi's are that only those practicing in the Islamic tradition are truely Sufi's. Actually Sufi practices predate Islam and many Sufi's in order to survive embraced Islam.

People bringing Sufism and Orientalism to the West include Meher Baba, Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan, G.I. Gurdjieff, Yogananda, Swami Muktananda Kirpal Singh, Trungpa Rimpoche, Tartang Tulku, Norbu, and many others. In addition to Easterner's, today there are American, French, British, etc... spiritual teachers continuing these traditions.

Let's not get bogged down with "correctness" but focus on the value within these teachings.