Dervisi - 1955
ABOUT THE FILM : Dervisi
Kinoteka na MakedonijaDervishes
Year: 1955
An evening of Ramadan, Skopje, 1951. Silhouettes slip down a deserted little street and enter an old house. Several men sitting cross-legged are sipping on coffee. The modest building houses the tomb of an ancient Rifai dignitary and his family. Strange practices are going to take place in this temple. In an adjacent room, one of the men dons the attire of sheikh, the officiating priest, and breaks into the prayer for Ramadan.
Bowing down, the believers chant the incantations faster and faster, louder and louder. They enter a trance, rise and form a circle. Side by side, they sway from one foot to the next, banging on percussion instruments.
The mortification rituals can begin. The sheikh pierces the cheeks of the young men with a stylet. The older men skewer their own cheeks with a dagger. An iron ball with jingle bells hangs heavy at the end of the sharp knife. Stoic, the dervishes do not spill a drop of blood. This is not something for the faint of heart!
Nationality: Macedonian
Length: 9' 44"
Genre: documentary
Sound: sound
Original elements: black & white
Producer: Vardar Film
Original language: Macedonian
A BRIEF HISTORY : Dervisi
Ljube Petkovski’s camera leads the trance to create this documentary of exceptionally beautiful images.
Dervish orders can be found from the Balkans to Pakistan. Although their rites differ, their members are recognized throughout the Orient as wise men, poets and healers. Darwish means mendicant in Persian.
“Like shadows fading in the morning light, the mystical and pagan sect is disappearing, a consequence of human cultural evolution,” explains Aco Petrovski. And yet several fraternities still exist in Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. The most well known has been established in the Tekke quarter of Tetovo since the 14th century.
Dervish orders were tolerated during the communist period, although the Bosnian Sunnite clergy was hostile to this type of “heretic deviation”. The 16th-century monastery in Tetovo was forced to give up part of its premises for a socialist tourism complex complete with hotel, restaurant and café. Today, two other tekkes have been renovated in Macedonia, one in Kičevo and the other in Kanatlarci, as part of the country’s heritage protection programme.
Aco Petrovski (1923-2001) is, along with Trajce Popov, one of the masters of Macedonian post-war cinema. In 1950, he helped found the National Film Archives, which soon became Vardar Films. After several years in Skopje television and a stint as producer at the Community of Film Workers, he returned to Vardar Films. His career marked the history of Macedonian cinema through his unflagging efforts to engrave the memory of his people on film.
