On Monday, May 19th, Global Vision Productions organized the premier screening of Love is a Verb in Washington, D.C. Love is a Verb is the first feature-length documentary about Turkish Muslim leader, Fethullah Gülen, and the global movement he has inspired. The screening took place at E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C. The film brought a full house to the theater, with upwards of 350 guests in attendance.
According to Global Vision Productions’ website, “Love is a Verb is an examination of a social movement of Sufi-inspired Sunni Muslims that began in Turkey in the l960s and now reaches across the globe. The group is called Hizmet, the Turkish word for service, or The Gülen Movement after its inspiration, leader and beloved teacher Fethullah Gülen, a man that Time Magazine named as one of the most influential leaders in the world in 2013.
“Through a co-operation with the people inspired by Gülen, we had an unprecedented access to the ideas and actions of the movement around the world. We met teachers who crawled through a tunnel to open a school in Sarajevo during the war and the students whose lives they changed. We met a Sufi conductor whose orchestra is composed of children whose parents were once at war. We got a glimpse of the interfaith work the movement provides in Turkey, including a visit to Rumi’s exquisite shrine. We went to their schools in Turkey, in Somalia, in Iraq. We meet a Kurdish teacher in Iraq who credits everything she is to her former Turkish teachers who stayed during the bombings, and a Kurdish woman who had also gone to one of the Turkish schools in Iraq and is now working as an engineer to bring water to the dessert. Finally, in Somalia we follow two Turkish doctors putting their lives at risk in a place where other relief organizations have deemed too dangerous, a place where they sleep under armed guard.”
Terry Spencer Hesser is the Writer, Director & Producer of Love is a Verb. The film has already won numerous awards, including Best Documentary Maryland IFF 2014, Official Selection of the Maryland International Film Festival in Hagerstown, MD, and Official Selection of the USA Film Festival in Dallas, TX.
Global Vision Productions is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 that aims to produce educational movies and documentaries around the topic of faith and interfaith understanding. The organization is dedicated to making rich, educational materials for use in high schools and universities, public and private libraries, community and cultural centers, and in centers for religious education. Its work is funded through the kindness of individual contributions and grassroots fundraising activities.
In North America, the film has already held screenings in Chicago, Illinois and Houston, and will hold upcoming screenings in Los Angeles, Toronto and New York. Feel free to visit the film’s website at http://www.loveisaverbmovie.com/movie/.
