Series Disappearing World Series
Director Brian Moser
Country/Production UK
Release 1973
Length 52 mins
Format Colour / DVD or VHS / PAL / All region
Location Iran / Asia
Ethnic Group Kurds
Order No RAI-200.8
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A community of Kurds resident in Iran on the border with Iraq forms the subject of this film. Many of the inhabitants of the community are refugees from Kurdish areas of Iraq and the villagers are Qadiri Dervishes – followers of an ecstatic mystical cult of Islam. The unusual manifestations of the Qadiri Dervish faith are explored in this film, both in the context of religious ceremonies and everyday life, with the main focus on the spiritual and temporal power wielded by their leader, Sheikh Hussein. For the Durvishes, Hussein is the direct representative of Allah and, therefore, by serving the Sheikh they are also serving God. In rituals presided over by him they have the power to carry out acts which would normally be harmful, such as having electricity passed through their bodies, eating glass, handling poisonous snakes and skewering their faces. The film includes interviews, not only with members of the cult, but also with the local mullah (representative of orthodox Islam), in an attempt to explore the difference between those two manifestations of the same faith. The film is visually compelling, especially the sequences showing religious celebration and ceremony. F. Barth, 1953. Principles of Social Organisation in South Kurdistan. Universitetets Etnografiske Museum Bulletin No. 7, Oslo. A. Singer, 1973. `Dervishes'. In T. Stacey (editorial director) Peoples of the World, Vol. 15, Western and Central Asia, Tom Stacey and Europa Verlag, [London.] A. Singer, 1974. `The Dervishes of Kurdistan'. Asian Affairs, Vol. 61, Part 2, pp. 179–182. M. Van Bruinessen, 1978. Agha, Shaikh and State. On the Social and Political Organization of Kurdistan. Utrecht.
