Documentaries

Simavnalı Bedreddin / Inspirations

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Simavnalı Bedreddin (Inspirations)focuses on the enlightened wisdom of the Ottoman sufi Sheikh Bedreddin, a jurist and scholar of Islamic Law. The film aims to uncover his identity and his sufi philosophy underlying his opposition to Ottoman orthodoxies. The multilayered documentary unfolds in a quest to Bedreddin’s multicultural legacy in the collective memory of the Balkans and the Middle East, namely Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Macedonia. Inspirations traces the influences of Bedreddin’s enlightened dissidence within the first serious revolts against the Ottomans, depicting his extraordinary life story, his egalitarian approach regarding diverse religions and ethnicities, and his firm opposition to the centralization of the power structure. The main interview is with Prof. Cemal Kafadar of Harvard University, who is also the supervisor of the documentary and an expert in Ottoman Empire’s Construction Period. Other interviews include the Bedreddini dervish Selahattin Çağ, French historian Prof. Michel Balivet of University of Provence and Greek historian Dr. Dimitris Kastritsis of Yale University.

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