"Meetings with Remarkable Men" (film)

Peter Brook (arcoridio); Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Wiki edit

Sufi Whirling Dervishes at Mawlānā Rumi's tomb, Konya, Turkey (Intension/wiki)

Meetings with Remarkable Men is a 1979 British film directed by Peter Brook based on the book of the same name by Greek-Armenian mystic, G. I. Gurdjieff, first published in English in 1963.

Shot on location in formerly Buddhist Afghanistan (except for dance sequences, which were filmed in England), it starred Terence Stamp, and Dragan Maksimović as the adult Gurdjieff.

The film was entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival and nominated for the Golden Bear.

The plot involves Gurdjieff and his companions' search for truth in a series of dialogues and vignettes, much as in the book. Unlike the book, these result in a definite climax -- Gurdjieff's initiation into the mysterious Sarmoung [Shraman?] Brotherhood.

The film is noteworthy for making public some glimpses of the Gurdjieff [Sufi dance] movements. More

• The [dance] movements are purportedly based upon traditional dances that Gurdjieff studied as he traveled throughout Central Asia, India, Tibet, the Orient, and Africa where he encountered various Indo-European and Sufi orders, Buddhist centers, and other sources of traditional culture and learning...